Squirrel said:
RoofRat said:
Nutty
Following this lodgic does this mean that any Brit wishing to ply his trade in the Middle East must first speak Arabic. Well that the Army, Crabs and Pusser home not withstanding most of the expats in the Gulf. So all ex-pats in HK must speak Chinese. Nearly a million Brits in Spain must speak Serbo Croat.
Buisness is different Nutty, but if you go to live in another country, yes you should learn the local language out of principle and curtesy.
I've seen Brits abroad, particularly in Spain, who think shouting louder and putting an O on the end of words makes them Spanish speakers :lol: Either that or they live in one of those ghetto's of English speakers refusing to learn the language.........................
RoofRat
I totally agree Roofrat. People who get sent somewhere on ops have no real choice and merely go where they're sent. If you choose to live somewhere however, and English isn't the native language, you should learn the local language. It actually really p1sses me off to see brits in Spain making no effort to speak Spanish, only mixing in the expat communities and shopping in the supermarkets that only stock imported British food. If all they wanted was the suntan, they should have just joined a health club! I'm not tarring all brit expats with the same brush; some make a great effort to integrate. I do recall an incident when my wife and I were on holiday and we got chatting to an expat couple in a bar, they were talking about where they lived and mentioned that no foreigners lived there, everyone was British.
It didn't occur to the dullards that in Spain, they were foreign.
Really p1ssed me off.
And before anyone asks, both my wife and I are qualified military Spanish Interpreters, so we did hold the moral high ground.
Edited due to mong spelling
Squirrel
Living in Southern Spain you can very easily get by never ever speaking Spanish except when you come up to the NHS, Police, Town Hall, Social Security. Everywhere else both the Spanish and ex-pats in business have ensured that when they want to sell a service or products to mostly affluent Ex-pats they provide both the service and goods in a form that the purchaser wants. THAT BUSINESS as another contributor wrote. If Germans, Brits and Dutch, the three main groups want products from home people will provide this.
I have recently spent over €4000 (Euros) on a kitchen, after visiting three show rooms and being unable to communicate to the standard we felt was needed when spending that amount of money we came upon in a small non ex-pat town, a large Kitchen/Furniture/Electrical Goods Spanish supplier. As soon as we opened our mouths in the show room and indicated an interest the assistant sent for the Logistics Manager his English was far better than our Spanish and after a visited to our Casa and a few photographs. The deal was concluded, why because its business. Yes we are taking Spanish lessons and agree that a working knowledge of the language should be learnt.
I am not sure why you claim the moral high ground when the Forces have paid you to learn Spanish or is it you or your family have a Spanish back ground and you were half way there with the language before going for Interpreter Standard.
I hear Brits in bars who are house hunting say "We want to buy in a small Spanish Village where there are no Brits". No you don't you want to buy in an area where there are Brits who can help you ease into the Spanish customs, rules and regulations. What ever it is someone will have done it and point you in the right direction.
Lets take car tax for instance. Like the UK you pay annually but in a region all cars are taxed on the same day, here its the 1st May but you have 90 days to do it. Take log book to Town Hall, man prints out form with amount to pay dependent on Engine Size and type. This you take to one of six nominated banks and pay within the 90 days. You will also be charged at the same time for any out standing fines registered to that vehicle which must be paid.
Note. registered to that vehicle not the owner or driver, so if you buy a car without making checks you could also gain 20 parking fines. Local council taxes, loans, mortgages etc go with the house not the owner, so if you buy a house on which the previous owner had a €50,000 mortgage and your Solicitor does not discover this, then you now owe the bank €50,000. Locals will assume you know these things cos they have grown up with them
Starting to get the message of why you need the security of a few friendly Brits around until you are up to speed to move to your non-ex-pat village.
Nutty
