How to communicate with people in other countries
How to talk with people in other countries: which apps to use, how to handle time zones and language gaps, and how to be understood with no shared language.
To communicate with people in other countries, you need three things sorted: a channel that works where they live, a way across the language gap, and patience with time zones. For the channel, use what the other person already uses. That is usually WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat or plain email, depending on the country. For language, write short, simple sentences, and use a translator when you need to, either a separate app or one built into the chat. For time zones, agree on one clock and say it out loud. If you want to meet new people abroad rather than reach someone you know, public chat rooms with translation are the easiest way in. The rest of this post goes into each part.
Why I care about this
I built a chat app called Hashti. I am Armenian-Iranian and I live in Los Angeles. My family is spread across several countries and at least three languages. Some of my relatives write Farsi, some write Armenian, some prefer English, and a few switch between all three in one sentence.
So this is not a theory for me. Every week I am trying to be understood by someone in another country. Here is what I have learned, including where my own app helps and where something else is better.
Step one: pick the channel they already use
The biggest mistake people make is asking the other person to install something new. Meet them where they are.
Roughly, and this is my experience rather than a survey:
- WhatsApp is the default in much of Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.
- Telegram is common in Iran, Russia and parts of Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
- WeChat is how people in mainland China talk. Many Western apps are blocked there, which I wrote about in my post on staying in touch with friends in China.
- iMessage and FaceTime work well if you both have iPhones, but many countries are mostly Android.
- Email still works everywhere and is the safest choice for anything formal.
Ask the person what they use. It is a normal question, and it saves you days of messages that never get read.
When the obvious app is blocked
Some countries restrict certain apps, and the rules change. If a message is not getting through, do not assume the other person is ignoring you. Try another channel. Email, a different chat app, or a plain phone call often works when one service does not.
Step two: get across the language gap
This is the hard part. Here are the options, from simplest to most effort.
Write simply
If you share even a little of a language, use it plainly. Short sentences. One idea per sentence. No slang, no idioms, no sarcasm. "I'll touch base later" confuses people. "I will message you tomorrow" does not.
This one habit makes more difference than any app.
Use a translator, carefully
Machine translation is good now. It is not perfect. A few rules I follow:
- Translate short messages, not long paragraphs. Errors pile up in long text.
- Avoid jokes and wordplay. They rarely survive.
- When something important is at stake, like a date, an address or an amount of money, write it as numbers and check it twice.
- If a translated reply sounds rude, assume the translation is wrong before you assume the person is rude.
You can copy text into a separate translation app, or use a chat app that translates inside the conversation. Inside the chat is faster, and it means both people can write in their own language.
Learn a little of their language
Even a few words change how people treat you. "Hello," "thank you" and "sorry, my Farsi is bad" in someone's own language buys a lot of goodwill. You do not need to be fluent to be warm.
If you want to go further, talking with native speakers is the fastest way to learn. I wrote a longer guide on that, but the short version is: talk early, talk often, and do not wait until you feel ready.
Step three: handle time zones without drama
Time zones cause more missed calls than language does.
- Agree on one clock. Say "8pm your time" or "8pm Los Angeles time," never just "8pm."
- Use your phone's world clock. Add the other person's city once and you will stop doing math.
- Prefer messages to calls when the gap is big. A voice note or text can be answered when they wake up.
- Watch for daylight saving changes. Different countries switch on different dates, and some do not switch at all. A call that worked last month can be an hour off this month.
Step four: be patient with culture
Communication is not only words. A few things that trip people up:
- Directness. In some places people say no plainly. In others, "maybe" means no. Do not read too much into tone.
- Response time. A slow reply is rarely an insult. People have jobs, families and different weekends. In Iran, for example, the weekend falls on Friday.
- Formality. When unsure, start more formal and let the other person relax it.
When something feels off, ask. "I am not sure I understood, did you mean...?" is never rude.
Meeting new people in other countries
Everything above assumes you already know someone. If you want to meet new people abroad, you need a place where strangers talk.
Your options:
- Language exchange apps pair you with someone learning your language. Good for practice, but the conversation often stays on the language itself.
- Discord servers and Reddit communities organized by country, language or interest. Free and often good.
- Chat room apps with public rooms by topic. You walk into a room and talk with whoever is there.
Where Hashti fits
Hashti is my app, so read this knowing that.
Hashti is a free chat app for adults, 18 and over, out now on the App Store. Android is in a closed test, so it is not available on Android phones yet.
It has public rooms with names and topics, which you can browse on the Hashti rooms page, plus private chats, calls and a walkie-talkie. Every account is checked once against a government document. The photo is deleted, but a fingerprint of the document stays, so the same document cannot open a second account. Unverified accounts cannot host rooms, speak in voice rooms or message strangers. That matters when you are talking with people across the world, because you want to know the person is real.
The part that matters most for this post is live translation in 29 languages. You write in your language, the other person reads in theirs, and the reverse. It is part of Hashti Plus, which is $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. Everything else in the app is free.
Some honest limits. The app's own interface is in English today. A Farsi one is being built. Translation is machine translation, so the rules above still apply: keep it short, check numbers, and forgive odd phrasing. And Hashti is not a dating app. It is for conversation and community.
If you only need to reach family who already use WhatsApp, keep using WhatsApp. Hashti is for finding people you do not know yet, or for rooms where people from different countries can talk without sharing a language.
A short checklist
1. Ask what app the other person uses, and use that. 2. Write short, simple sentences with no slang. 3. Translate in small pieces, and double check numbers and dates. 4. Learn a few words of their language. 5. Agree on one clock for every call. 6. Assume good intent when something sounds strange. 7. To meet new people, pick a place where users are verified and where translation is built in.
Why this matters to me
Iranians and Armenians abroad have spent decades trying to stay close to people in other countries. For a long time that meant expensive phone cards, then chat rooms, then a dozen apps at once. The tools are much better now. The basics have not changed: be clear, be patient, and meet people where they already are.
Hashti is free, and it is 18+. Hashti Plus — live translation, writing help and catch-ups — is $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year, and nothing else costs anything. How rooms work is on the rooms page, and how reports and the ID check work is on the safety page.