Will be taking a fortnight off early in March, and will spend it at my flat just east of Málaga. Will at some stage spend some time on the Costa Del Sol front (from Torremolinos down to Cadiz) to see old friends, basically Spanish teachers who used to come to Norfolk. And as always, a day will not go by with me seeing Britons...(and not all will be commoners who spent half a crown on the airfare) who will raise their voices, uttering monosyllabics v-e-r-y s-l-o-w...and louder by the second when they hear 'no comprende, señor/señora'. Could it be possible for Spaniards to also implement some rule, with anyone from the UK who has either retired, won the National Lottery or counted his money after winding up his drug-business/bank robbing (the latter displayed in a film called 'The Business') having to learn and remember at least a hundred words of Spanish? Summat tells me us Brits'll be up in arms, with the media also eager to assist with their usual contempt.
2007-02-20 19:05:28 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Realise most will not bother to answer, and will express a comical shyness - on account of their - er...'beliefs', and also because they will see 'what's good for the goose...' doesn't apply to Brits who want to live elsewhere in the world with English not being the first language
2007-02-20 19:20:42 · update #1
...the first answer tells me all I need to know. Thanks, Nicole. You don't win the ten points...but take home the ¡Británico e ignorante... y orgulloso de él! award.
2007-02-20 19:26:35 · update #2
Nice one, Felicity....was in the same situation when I went to St. Etienne with a group of old friends years ago - one of them wanted to go to the toilet, but was shy to ask 'No...they're foreigners', he shyly said. It took a chap from the next table in the restaurant to tell him (and us) that WE were the foreigners...and where was the observer from? Hamburg.
2007-02-20 23:39:54 · update #3
A moot point, Moorglade? You betya...but as British tend to do when questions are turned around to test them. They ignore - and have enough sense not to kick off. We can also be very foolish and ignorant at home as well as abroad...but tend to be more defended at home.
2007-02-21 06:04:59 · update #4
Mohammed...so - money and skills wins the day, huh? Would still want to learn the language, no matter how good I was at whatever abilities I'd been awarded for.
2007-02-21 06:12:13 · update #5
It is one of life's paradoxes, isn't it?
'The Brits' are very good at saying
'if they want to come here they must learn English'
or even:
'they should all speak English at home, they shouldn't speak their native language at all, even among themselves in the privacy of their own homes'
Yet, it is quite often though by no means always the case that many of these 'Brits' that leave Britain to go and live abroad are not at all interested in learning the language. I find this quite sad, and hypocritical of the nation generally, but accept that it may not be the same individual in both cases.
Personally I think if people want to go and live somewhere else for whatever reason they should make some sort of effort to learn the language, but I don't think it's right for them to suppress who they are by forcing them to give up speaking their mother tongue at home, nor do I see anything wrong with the children growing up bilingual and learning about their parents' culture.
2007-02-21 10:16:29 · answer #1 · answered by used to live in Wales 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I cringe when I meet Brits abroad who don't even understand that not everyone speaks English. I remember, many years ago, on a camp site in the South of France, a 'fellow' Brit came up to me and asked if I could help him start his car. He asked me because, 'They're all foreigners round here.' I pointed out that there were only two foreign families on the site, the rest were French - he didn't understand.
Migrants should be encouraged to learn English, but instead of just closing the door, how about providing English language lessons? I see no mention of such a scheme in the latest news.
2007-02-20 20:51:08 · answer #2 · answered by cymry3jones 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree with the current proposal going through, that folk who wish to live in the U.K. must at least speak the English language.
But, you make a moot point, should it be the case for all Brits who moive to foreign climes be subject to the same laws in other countries. Then, my answer would be , YES. We cannot be seen to be making double standards.
...And, agreed. Brits can sometimes be very foolish and ignorant abroad.
2007-02-20 20:33:44 · answer #3 · answered by Moorglademover 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I agree with you. It does annoy me when I hear Brits abroad talking as you describe - they'll be at the front of the queue when it comes to demanding that immigrants to this country learn our language.
Anyone going abroad, even for a holiday should make the effort to learn at least a bit of the local language - even a "please" or a "thank you" goes a long way. Take a phrase book and dictionary!
2007-02-20 19:21:54 · answer #4 · answered by chip2001 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The difference is that when brits migrate abroad they take money and skills with them, the same cannot be said for the vast majority of immigrants that come to Britain, they come for the benefits and free services so i feel the least they can do is learn our language.
2007-02-20 21:56:28 · answer #5 · answered by Mohammed A 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Spain needs to put a cap on foreigners owning properties over there if they havn't allready. And yes, if they can't speak the lingo, they shouldn't be allowed to live there!
2007-02-20 22:43:25 · answer #6 · answered by pugsley 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
why would they learn they would not be entitled to the free handouts they recieve if they did the answer is short but to the point
2007-02-20 22:14:22 · answer #7 · answered by PAUL D 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Agreed,give them a taste of their own medicine.
2007-02-21 02:08:28 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
ok
2007-02-20 19:15:19 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋