Thank you for your comment – very insightful and thought-provoking, as always!

You are quite right, we need to get rid of our preconceived ideas of what the middle classes are “supposed to look like” in order to notice that they are, in fact, there. So I guess that the important point for expat entrepreneurs is not to take anything for granted, especially not the fact that the bulk of the population will be able to afford their products.

Getting your French to the point where you can discuss everything is quite an impressive achievement! I am so very grateful that I grew up with French as my mother tongue, because I wouldn’t want to have to learn it all over again as a second language!

I feel the same about my Spanish as you do about your French – I used to speak it quite well but haven’t had the opportunity to practice in years. It is now so rusty that I wouldn’t presume to use it with clients, as it would probably be painful for them to listen to!

Have a great weekend,
Emmanuelle

This was brought home to me when I worked in tourism in Morocco. One day a client commented about Morocco not seeming to have any middle class. I pointed out that they were all the people on motor scooters. My client had assumed those were the very poor. I pointed out that the middle classes had the means to buy motorocycles, and the poor were FAR poorer than that, and were all the people on foot.

In the past few years, the situation has changed, where the middle classes are now buying a family car, and the poor are now able to buy motor bikes.

I liked your point above about needing to speak the local language well enough to conduct business in that language, as expats often wonder how WELL they need to speak the local language. In my own case, I speak French quite well enough to communicate about everything; however I would be hesitant to conduct business in French because I really massacre the grammar to the point it would get in the way of being respected as a business person.

Thank you for this excellent article.