Reddit reviews Kiss, Bow, Or Shake Hands: The Bestselling Guide to Doing Business in More Than 60 Countries

Adjust demeanor and appearances as required. It's called marketing yourself. Presidents do it. In fact, there are entire books that aim to teach you just that.

TL;DR Wall of text, Warsaw specific info on salaries and renting flats, some cultural advice, Poland = Great.

I see there's some really good advice but usually from people outside Warsaw and Warsaw is really quite different from the rest of the country. I lived there for 10 years so I'll offer some hints.

As an American graphics designer at a decent company, you can easily make around 8000 PLN before taxes. Being an American and having experience from there will give you the upper hand if you apply for a job at an international company. I don't exactly know what tax rules apply to non-Polish citizens so you have to figure that out for yourself but it's around 5500 PLN if Polish tax laws apply. Anyway, applying for a graphics design job will get you much more money than teaching English, simply because there is a lot of people already doing that. I think you can expect somewhere around 4-5k before taxes so not really worth it in your position.

Renting a flat is quite tricky. Warsaw is big and public transport quality varies depending on the place you're at but is usually very good. Assuming your husband will be working in downtown (Śródmieście), you'd want to rent a flag in Śródmieście, Żoliborz, Ochota, Mokotów, Wola, maybe Wilanów or Praga Północ (avoid Praga Południe, they sound similar but are very different). Avoid northern and southern outskirts because you'll be stuck in traffic and overcrowded buses that will take an hour to get you to your workplace. Targówek, Bemowo, Białołęka, Bielany, Wawer should rather be out of the question. Ursynów goes both ways because metro (subway) is there so if you can rent something near a stop then it's ok but sucks otherwise.

You might be used to long commutes from the US but it's entirely possible to spend 40 minutes a day or less on commuting both ways so don't waste your time.

Someone has already mentioned gumtree.pl for renting a flat (renting a flat in Warsaw is here). szybko.pl is also very popular in Warsaw. There are two ways to rent a flat, either directly from a person owning the flat or through an agency. If you rent through an agency, you'll have to pay them a hefty amount for doing simply nothing since you yourself found the ad. It usually amounts to around 1 monthly rent. Landlords will also expect an upfront security payment of 1 monthly rent, as a sort of insurance for anything you might break in the apartment while you stay there. You also need to know that a lot of apartments are rented without the furniture, even if it's there on the photos, you need to look in the description. I assume you don't speak Polish so this might be hard for you. In this case, I would suggest contacting an agency, like metrohouse - I know this one caters to English speakers but there surely are others and asking them to find offers that might be interesting for you could be a good solution. You'll have to pay for that service of course but if you find an ad on a website yourself and it's from an agency, you'll pay either way so that's an option to consider.

Rent prices differ tremendously. You can have a big apartment in an unsafe neighborhood for dirt cheap but you won't be happy about it because it's far, far away from any civilization and well, unsafe. You should be able to rent something really comfortable for around 3000 PLN or less a month, with furniture and all the home stuff that you need (dish cleaner, fridge, sometimes a tv, also washing machine; be aware that each apartment has its own washing machine but we do not usually have dryers). Utilities are usually paid separately and will amount to ~300 PLN a month if you don't have children, this includes electricity, water, heating. You will need an Internet connection as well, in most of the places it's cable provider UPC, you can get Internet without the TV if you want. It's not expensive, 30 Mbps will cost you around 60 PLN. One more thing to remember is parking. There's a paid parking zone in downtown and extends to other places too so if you get a flat in that area (here's a map, everything in red and blue is paid parking zone), you will either need a parking garage or work something out with the landlord (it's possible to get a pass for your car if you live in the zone but it's quite some paper work to do so be clear about it with your landlord if you need it).

Overall, you'll need around 8500 PLN after taxes to live comfortably, including your student loans. That's not really that much for two people but might be a lot for only one. You said your husband got a good job offer so I'm assuming it's somewhere around that. 3000 PLN for flat and utilities, 2300 PLN for your student loan and ~3000 PLN for very comfortable living.

Now about how it's like in Poland - I'm Polish so I might be biased :) Warsaw is also quite different from the rest of Poland so I'll offer two views for you. You'll be OK in Warsaw, it's a really nice city, a lot of people speak English, even at local shops. The food is great and quite cheap, although some things might be expensive to get, like good steak. I really loved the city itself but it depends on what you like, and some people hate it. It's a fast paced, crowded (not as much as LA or NY of course, but still) but very active. If you enjoy partying, you'll find it more difficult than in other more tourist friendly cities (Cracow, Wrocław) but there are a lot of great clubs, pubs and restaurants around downtown. There's a lot of great things to see there but that's for another post, you can also get a lot of info on the Internet. One nice thing is that you're only around 6 hour drive (by car or train) from the Baltic sea to the north or Tatry mountains to the south. Even closer are the Mazurian lakes (north-east). Poland is quite a beautiful country although obviously not as diverse as US. It's only as big as New Mexico, and considerably smaller than California (Texas is twice its size). In three hours (by train, longer by car) you can get to Cracow which is a very well known tourist destination, a lot of things to see here and around the city (Auschwitz concentration camp museum, Wieliczka Salt Mine and a number of things in Cracow itself).

As I said, Warsaw is quite different from the rest of the country. In small towns and villages it's possible you won't find anyone speaking English so if you're lost and want to ask for directions - tough luck (less of a problem now with GPS and Google Maps). They will be also far less tolerant. You didn't mention race but it can be a problem if you're not white, even in Warsaw but obviously less so than in smaller cities or towns. But generally everyone are quite friendly, unless they do not look friendly and first impression won't usually fail you here. Even if they don't speak English, everyone will try to help you out, maybe they know someone who speaks it and they'll call them and pass you the phone so that you can ask questions or something.

Someone else mentioned the weather so you should know already. It's way colder in winter but around the same in the summer as LA, here's temperature and humidity comparison between Warsaw and LA for the past 5 years.

One more thing I wanted to tell you is to be aware of cultural differences. Americans are often seen as obnoxious and for a good reason. Yelling at restaurants and laughing loudly so that the people in the pub across the street can hear you will make other people want to stab you with a blunt fork multiple times. Keep your voice down around other people. "Customer is always right" is not always the rule, just because you're paying for something doesn't mean you get to boss or badmouth the clerk. Be polite. Sorry if this offends you but I have really seen numerous Americans behave this way. Also, tipping rules are not as strict as in the US, you should tip waiters, pizza delivery guys and taxi drivers but not hairdressers and in general, it's not 100% mandatory. If you're not happy with the service, you don't tip. I generally suggest this book, it's about business interactions but a lot of it translates great to everyday life. It's not about Poland specifically so you might find it interesting for other reasons.

In general - the opinions I've heard about Poland, and Warsaw in particular, are almost always positive, including from Americans. Not only from tourist point of view, also expats claim Poland is great. If you want to try something else, it can be a great experience for you. If you both get jobs, you will live very comfortably with a lot of expendable income (for Polish standards) but you won't save any substantial amount in USD simply because we don't make nearly enough here ($30k a year is a good salary in Warsaw and great elsewhere). Our beer is cheap and girls are beautiful (though that may, or may not, be relevant to you) so come along!

For software maybe look at Passolo or Catalyst. Haven't used either, know they're pretty popular. Maybe there's something newer, IDK

https://www.sdltrados.com/products/passolo/

http://www.alchemysoftware.com

LISA is defunct but LRC is still around https://www.localisation.ie

You also want to look at Terminology Management

http://www.cotsoes.org/sites/default/files/CST_Recommendations_for_Terminology_Work.pdf

OAXAL was designed for this sort of thing but I don't think anyone used it much.

IRL advice -

Hire someone bilingual w/native language being + residing in the country that's the localization target (don't have a Spaniard "localize" something for the Latin American market or vice versa). What country is the target? I know people in Poland, some of the Scandanavian ones. Usually it takes a team to do this correctly. You never automate translation/localization unless it barely matters.

\> business scenarios

Fair chance some of them will be offensive, unintentionally hilarious, or just not make any sense cross-culturally. Watch out for any gestures. OK sign means "You're an a--hole," for instance in about half the world. Also, in a lot of the Islamic world male-female interactions differ and it's considered a slight to shake with the left hand rather than just mildly odd/rude like in the US. Skirt length is an issue in parts of Asia. And you have to avoid anything with kings in a few countries and bones in mainland China. Also, things in the Anglosphere that are business concerns often just aren't elsewhere, so they may just be irrelevant.

Most regulations and agencies are also nationally, so that usually will be re-done. Anything HR related should just be done locally. EU member countries on the continent (as well as some former Communist countries) have an impenetrable morass of laws that you will probably need to hire a local bureaucrat to untangle. The US has pretty much no workplace and employment laws compared to most of the first world.

Read Kiss, Bow, Or Shake Hands - not the authors, no relationship.

https://www.amazon.com/Kiss-Bow-Shake-Hands-Bestselling/dp/1593373686

Different cultures perceive what we (Americans) might interpret as concrete agreements to be loose understandings. It's not about values, it's about a cultural understanding of what something is. I have colleagues from India who massage the truth about minor, typically inconsequential facts because it's perceived as easier to glide over these things than discuss inconsistencies. I don't fault them, but it's important to know that this might happen when working in that environment. I'd like to see the contact we signed with Foxconn. I'll bet our negotiators thought everything was settled but left certain parts (like what will be produced at the plant, education levels of core employees, etc.) on the table due to inexperience.

All I'm discussing is in Kiss, Bow, and Shake Hands if you want to look in to it further.