My suggestion for small communities is to start native.

But be respectful to foreign residents – i.e. embed english translations into your promotional media and be upfront that the spoken language will be mostly portuguese. Also, always ask your speakers to have the slides in english.

When things get larger, english may or may not become more prevalent.

Still, don't make your portuguese speakers feel pressured to speak in english. This is a very common occurrence.

#portugal #communites #tech

But the language barrier also impacts the audience...

Even those that do OK in english will spend a considerable amount of brainpower to sustain a conversation. Not to mention that they'll also be less inclined to ask questions.

Foreign residents don't usually have this problem because it's no different than speaking english in their everyday lives. But they can't provide critical mass for local communities to take off.

Think globally, yes, but act locally.

4/4 🧵

#portugal #communites #tech

There are cultural reasons for this but, be warned, from observing a number of meetups struggling over the years, I've come to the following unpopular conclusion...

When you discourage communities from operating in the local language, you're killing them before they even get a chance to start.

Embracing folks that don't speak portuguese is an honorable goal, but one that must be balanced with embracing folks which struggle with english – i.e. most locals.

2/4 🧵

#portugal #communites #tech