For my upcoming business of copy guide, Copy Zone, I interviewed three working copywriters about their experiences getting client work.
Only afterwards, I realized a curious and unintended thing had happened:
All three of these copywriters are non-native English speakers. To be fair, one of them is writing copy in his own language (Spanish). But the other two are working and writing in English, and successfully so.
I bring this up because a few days ago, I got a comment and a question from a new reader:
I love your writing and how you take your readers (us) on the journey with you.
I mean, is it even possible for me (a non-native copywriter) to write close to your writing style and finesse?
I don’t know about my writing style and finesse. If there is something fine and stylish about my writing, I think it’s mainly the result of work.
But on the broader question of whether it’s possible for a non-native speaker copywriter to succeed… well, the case studies I will include in Copy Zone definitely show that yes, it is possible.
On the other hand, most people never do anything, and never achieve anything.
One of my favorite “fun” writers is William Goldman, who wrote the screenplays for movies like The Princess Bride and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Goldman also wrote books, including one about Hollywood called Adventures in the Screen Trade.
And in that book, Goldman said that, in Hollywood, nobody knows anything.
In spite of huge money being on the line… in spite of a bunch of smart and ambitious people working day and night to identify or create the next hit… nobody in Hollywood has any clue of what will end up being successful or why.
My belief is that it’s not just Hollywood where nobody knows anything.
The world is a complex and mysterious place. The only way to find out the answer to many questions is to run the cellular automaton a few million steps and see what ends up happening.
And if you want an example of how weird and unpredictable life can be, then take me.
I am technically a non-native English speaker, though I consider English to be my first language. Meaning, I didn’t grow up speaking English for the first decade or so of my life… but today English is the language I know best, because I’ve done most of my reading, writing, and arithmeticking in English.
I’m not giving myself as an example of somebody who succeeded in copywriting despite a non-native level of English skill.
All I want to point out is that, at birth, and for some years after, nobody could have predicted I would end up speaking English as my first language. And even fewer bodies could have predicted that, one day, I will make my living writing sales copy.
So can you make it as a non-native copywriter?
You certainly can. I imagine you knew that already.
But will you make it?
Well, here’s something else you probably knew already. That’s a question that only you, and a bit of time, can really answer.
Last point:
If you want to know when my Copy Zone guide is out, or if you want occasional free advice on the business side of copywriting, then grab a spot on my daily email newsletter.