I could write an application in French, and probably also in German although I’m more out of practice. I know most Dutch people speak good English. My son’s football team has an exchange with a youth team in Holland, and even the 11 year olds speak really good english! I think I’d apply in English but maybe try to add a couple of Dutch phrases.
I’ve travelled in quite a few countries where I can’t read the a;phabet. Mime gets you a long way, but a few words of the language will get you further!
Probably not. If the HO wrote the listing in a language other than English, with no English version attached, I would assume they want to communicate in that language.
I’ve been lucky enough to do sits in Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy and Germany and apart from Spain I don’t speak any of the other countries languages. I found hosts from non English speaking countries posting on THS do have at least a basic level of English. The rest I use google translator I find good and lens for putting over foreign language items in a shop or restaurant and it’ll tell you what it is in English.
That’s great! It might be good to have a feel of Thailand before applying. Nov/Dec is normally easy weather wise, although the air quality may be very poor all around the country.
As you know, things in TH (and many other Asian countries I assume) are quite different from USA and Europe. The weather is hot and humid, there are street dogs (both in rural and urban locations), mostly no sidewalks at all or very poor ones, and if in Bangkok - no parks to take dogs for walks.
And then the houses and apartments, while normally comfortable, have they’re issues. It’s very common not to have hot running water in the kitchen, not to have a dish washer and to have little critters crawling in every now and then, no matter how often you clean. I’m sure these are not new things for you, but we did have applicants who found these things difficult. Luckily, we did find a great couple finally 
We do international sits and you learn so much. I think it will be an eye-opener for your children, and a real ‘think outside the box’ experience, as you just have to make things work.
A year ago we had our first sit in France. I couldn’t speak a word of French, hubby some. I remember I bought some meal to cook and I couldn’t read the instructions. I sent a panicked photo to the host, asking them to translate! Well, skip ahead 12 months and I can confirm that GoogleTranslate is a tremendous help, especially the camera function when you’re trying to decipher things. We have since done sits in Portugal, Spain and Italy, and we’re in Thailand now and had stops in many other foreign language countries (mostly travel, not sitting). You figure it out. Most people are really nice and try to help. If they can’t help, they’ll often ask someone else to come over and help! Most dentists, doctors and vets will have some English skills to assist and if not, well…GoogleTranslate 
Be sure to discuss with the host how they would handle an emergency situation (e.g. taxi to vet, or call a neighbour to help etc.).
As @CatsAndDog say: be prepared for differences. Let go of expectations and make do with what you get offered. For example, we are in Thailand now and no toiletpaper go down the toilet, no hot water in the kitchen, and ants come and go. There are stray dogs, the sidewalks are accidents waiting to happen with holes and poles sticking up and cables hanging down and what not (it feels like I’m constantly telling hubby: “mind your head”, “watch your step”). But we are delighted to have access to a lovely walking route around a local dam at the university campus, a swimming pool and aircon. And ‘grab’ taxis are cheap and plentiful. And food stalls everywhere. It is just really amazing. And I think back to France and the fresh produce markets there. Amazing.
Yes, it can be very stressful at times. Initially I was constantly worried I might offend someone by not knowing how to ask for things, or helping myself if the stall holder is supposed to help you, or not weighing fruit at the fruit section, but taking it to the till, and then creating an issue at the till because the fruit has not been weighed! But I have learned to relax. If it comes from a good place in your heart, and you smile apologetically, then people will accept your blunders. And so you learn. And you watch others closely. The one thing I haven’t successfully mastered yet, is asking the waiters what the table next to us ordered, because it looked so good! I ended up being offered a toothpick 
. Oh well. I’ll be sure to enter it in googletranslate next time…
You summarized Thailand pretty accurately @botvot 
Add the heat and humidity and noise levels (cars, motorbikes, karaoke, sellers, dogs, birds, lizards, frogs…) and it’s very likely that the sitter might experience a culture shock if it is a longer sit.
Outside of English speaking countries, we’ve sat in Italy, Spain, and Greece. In 2 out of 3, we sat in more rural areas-still within villages-and found that the further we were away from the cities and tourist areas, the less likely people spoke English. We do learn a few phrases (please, thank you, good morning, beer, toilet, etc.) and use google translate when necessary. We do manage to communicate our way through without much difficulty. In our travels to China and the Philippines, we found the same. Those in restaurants and transport spoke at least a little English and sometimes we just pointed at pictures on menus.
Dan and Nan
About wanting what another table has ordered: What’s worked for me is pointing to their dish and miming eating and pointing at myself, LOL.
I haven’t applied for such sits, but it’s not about language. I want to hang out without the responsibility of pets in countries I’ve not spent much (if any) time in, so I’d pay for accommodations in such cases. But I’m still working. If I were retired and had more free time, I’d explore more international sits. For now, I sit and telecommute.
Most assuredly.
Why not?
The owners usually do and will provide details necessary for pet vet services. They are usually thrilled to assist with local must/nice to know info.
Besides that is also the joy of the adventure and opportunity to explore and learn.
We have done many sits in countries where we don’t speak the language. We’ve been able to navigate our way through the experience just fine. We’ve been full-time nomads traveling the world for the past 7 1/2 years so maybe we have a different perspective 
I have also done quite a few sits in countries that I don’t speak the language, and have coped very well. I found that the pets also understand tone really well, and so long as you have a few commands they understand (always asked the owner/pp for a list of those and their meanings - generally for dogs), and all works pretty well on all fronts.
Hi @Knowmad , we’re a fulltime nomadic family as well. What started off as a 3 to 4 month travel adventure has already turned into 2 1/2 years. Everytime I think that within 6 months we’ll settle back down, the 6 months comes and goes. We’re doing our first international sit this December and while we’re in singapore, maybe we’ll be able to grab some other ones. You never know.