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This is one of the 7 essential meta questions that every new beta should ask, and a bit of a problem that I faced earlier. I was telling my wife what we're building here, and I found it rather difficult to explain the purpose of the site succinctly.

We deal with questions that many ordinary people have about a variety of things, but also have that special twist that being an expatriate brings.

That made perfect sense to me, but only expats really appreciate the special twist, or are certain what you're talking about. I think I almost got it, but I'd like to better explain the twist, without writing a novel, and that's proving to be much harder than I thought it would.

Anyone care to take a stab?

2 Answers 2

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Wow, this was tough. Here's my idea:

We deal with questions people may have when they experience a foreign culture or country for a long period of time.

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    Simpler than mine, I'm liking this one.
    – Tim Post
    Mar 17, 2014 at 15:20
  • 1
    It's simple enough, and it's almost entirelly in Basic English, which I think is a plus on this site.
    – SztupY Mod
    Mar 17, 2014 at 15:32
  • @TimPost It has a problem. That we "deal with any question" because then almost anything will go. Edit suggested.
    – Karlson
    Mar 24, 2014 at 20:37
  • I would recommend "living in a foreign culture". I've had lots of overseas trips of six or twelve months but I've never been an expat. Also I could experience a foreign culture at home in Australia without being an expat.
    – hippietrail
    Mar 25, 2014 at 8:44
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Looking up the definition for expat, you get:

noun noun: expatriate; plural noun: expatriates ɪksˈpatrɪət,-ˈpeɪtrɪət,ɛks-/

1.
a person who lives outside their native country.
"American expatriates in London"
    archaic
    an exile.
    synonyms:   emigrant, non-native, émigré, migrant, economic migrant, guest worker; More
    displaced person, refugee, exile;
    Gastarbeiter;
    informalexpat, DP
    "the level of salary paid to expatriates working overseas"
    antonyms:   national

adjective adjective: expatriate ɪksˈpatrɪət,-ˈpeɪtrɪət,ɛks-/

1.
denoting or relating to a person living outside their native country.
"expatriate workers"
synonyms:   emigrant, living abroad, working abroad, non-native, émigré; More
displaced, refugee, exiled;
informalexpat
"expatriate workers"
antonyms:   native, indigenous

verb verb: expatriate; 3rd person present: expatriates; past tense: expatriated; past participle: expatriated; gerund or present participle: expatriating ɪksˈpatrɪeɪt,-ˈpeɪtrɪeɪt,ɛks-/

1.
send (a person or money) abroad.
"we expatriated the prisoners of war immediately after the end of the war"
synonyms:   settle abroad, live abroad, relocate abroad More

So my suggestion:

We deal with problems uniquely facing those persons living, studying or working outside their native country

I specifically chose "uniquely" there to show that it needs to be for expats only - eg local tax issues affect everyone, not just expats, but inter-country non-residence tax issues affect expats.

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  • "The definition"? What a rare and lucky term that all dictionaries coincide d-;
    – hippietrail
    Mar 25, 2014 at 8:43
  • @hippietrail nope, not bolded. I was merely looking it up, those are the various types I got from a quick google search, and I used that to produce my suggestion. I'm not claiming that's the sole definition :)
    – Mark Mayo
    Mar 25, 2014 at 10:23
  • The usual way to express that distinction is to say a instead of the. This way it makes it look like you're quoting an authoritative source and invite somebody to find some other definition in urban dictionary or some other dodgy source. Anyway it's just a tip for clarity not trying to be persnickety just for the fun of it (-:
    – hippietrail
    Mar 25, 2014 at 11:31

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