Language Transfer Volunteer-to-Hire Placement in Barcelona for media-capable storytellers! Spread the word!

Language Transfer Volunteer-to-Hire Placement in Barcelona for media-capable storytellers! Spread the word!

I’m looking for someone special to join Language Transfer on a part-time basis as a volunteer with a view to quickly source their own wage through the Patreon campaign!

There are two possible models of collaboration:

Model 1: Media officer (need some help with this job-title!)

-The volunteer dedicates 3 days a week to Language Transfer with the principal aim of getting the support to $3,000 a month on the Patreon campaign (www.patreon.com/languagetransfer), so that they receive $950 per month for their 3 days per week (they will receive smaller payments from when the campaign passes the $2,000 milestone). Eventually the person should be able to stay on full-time at $1,450 per month.

Once their part-time wage is securely sourced, their principal activities would include:

-general dissemination of Language Transfer (graphic, video etc)

-edition of video recordings of open public workshops (this will be the new course format once I finish the current audio production)

-assistance with publication design (coming publication projects)

Model 2: Patreon campaign manager:

-The volunteer is dedicated to the Patreon campaign i.e. maintaining and increasing the support received through this platform. The volunteer will work the hours they choose but have a maximum of 8 weeks to get the campaign to $2,500 at which point they will receive 10% of all Patreon campaign contributions for continuing to run and cultivate the campaign. They will need a similar skill set to the first model.

Background:

Language Transfer is a peculiar and original project with a unique structure, ideology, work ethic and rhetoric.

Language Transfer has been the result of the efforts of just one guy (me, hi!), and online volunteers who have lent assistance in various areas, especially proofing which has allowed me to successfully teach languages I don’t speak(!).

LT courses are currently listened to around 20,000 minutes every 24 hours (which I can detect, it’s inevitably more), and the user feedback is incredible (https://www.languagetransfer.org/user-feedback).

I know that Language Transfer is yet to receive all the support it deserves only because I have never focused on the area of dissemination and support (but on creating new material). I would go as far as to say that I’m a little blocked and conflicted in this area too, so it really is somewhere I need help with. The great majority of LT users know very little about the project, and the little efforts invested in communication have always rendered surprising results!

This does mean that sourcing your own wage really shouldn’t be as daunting a task as it sounds. I know that the support LT needs is ripe for the picking, and I also know it’s something I need intuitive and insightful help with (rather than simply reproducing ‘marketing norms’). Telling the story of LT is complicated business, there are many overlapping stories, it’s hugely interwoven with my own life, ignorance, learning, and other work in activism. And in this clickbait climate, I need a storyteller that understands what true storytelling is, not falling into the traps the current platforms and climate set. I don’t want to sell LT’s story, and the only way to tell it without selling it, is to do so without self-censorship and not exclusively geared at getting support. This is the challenge, and undoubtedly the missing piece of the LT puzzle.

It’s make or break time for LT in the sense that I would burn out if I were to indefinitely continue producing at anywhere near the current pace all by myself, let alone realise all the other actions i wish to through LT …but I’d almost bet my life that it’s ‘make time’!

I’m riding a wave of energy since returning to Barcelona to make the final push and decide if this model is sustainable or not, and of course I can’t decide that until the model has what it needs to function. Before I decide to go part time on LT, I need to know that hiring a team with the current model isn’t possible, and I’m nowhere near convinced! :) 

The medium/long term plan is to have a team of three people: one for media and design assistance, another course-writer/teacher (for later in the campaign), and of course myself. From there, with the freeing up of my time to pursue other actions within the ambit of LT, the project should undergo another metamorphosis creating videos and other media concerned directly with the increasing of language (and self) consciousness!

To apply:

Ideally there’d be many current users of LT that may wish to fulfil this position but I am not at all averse to ‘newbies’! All applicants would first need to take some time to get to know the project better: 

-the product (try at least the first 5 tracks of at least 2 courses to get a feel for the material, and engage with it! Avoid choosing similar languages for a better overview!)

-the usership (user feedback, comments on video updates and posts etc)

-the story of LT (interviews, update videos, newsletters, FAQs, and other relevant info on the site and around).

After this ‘getting to know you’ period, if you are excited by the project you can apply by taking the following steps:

-suggesting a plan of action for either one of the above mentioned positions

-preparing a mock interview with me: what would you ask me about LT? 

Your questions are one of the most important and telling areas in this process. What would you need to know? (and what do you think the usership needs to know?). This should be inspired by your research of the project (not generic questions!)

-sending your CV and/or a few lines about yourself (your motivations, what you have to offer, what you expect to get out of working on LT on a personal level etc)

Let's meet up: https://www.meetup.com/meetup-group-ifjsYwwg/events/248156221/

Thank you and I hope to hear from the energetic, creative, curious, open-minded folk that LT needs! 

Mihalis Eleftheriou