Comments on: Why most english people who come to live in Spain refuse to learn Spanish ?

By: shannanalps

shannanalps — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:13:30 +0000

Who cares why ?! Go ask them ! May be Spanish language is not so popular.

By: telcozuba

telcozuba — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:36:34 +0000

I got to tell you, having lived in spain, i worked really hard on my spanish, but almost everyone i met under the age of 30 wanted to speak english to work on there english. there is also a difference between english, aussies and americans, i lived near a lot of ex pats working for US companies etc, and it seemd to me most of the americans there were more keen on trying to learn english–assignment was 6 months and i traveled in a lot of the country, but not malga and islands

By: prinz57

prinz57 — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 06:17:30 +0000

because i no understang de la speak espanyol, comprend me?

By: Carlton73

Carlton73 — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:59:12 +0000

In most cases, the Americans living abroad do not give up their US citizenship. Even then, they should respect the country they are living in and respect the people as well. It is a two way street though, and the opposite is also true about non-citizens and naturalized citizens in the US.

By: sue

sue — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:49:34 +0000

well thats what people who live in spain do when they move to america too… people move to a new place, feel like a stranger and do what they can to preserve their heritage, including keeping their language, making communities with other ppl like them…
they usually change some of their habits in order to assimilate to their new home.

By: Sprinter

Sprinter — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:48:11 +0000

I was not aware of this situation, but, as a native speaker of American English (who learned Spanish so that I could better communicate with Hispanics in America), I think people with such an attitude are missing out on a lot. Of course, I have observed that English people who visit the U.S. miss out on a lot because they refuse to learn proper American English and insist on using their primitive European dialect.

I do remember one of my Spanish teachers, who was from the Basque Country, telling the class that if we ever visited the Basque Country in Spain we would be better accepted speaking only English than trying to communicate with the locals in Spanish.

By: sassyk

sassyk — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 13:52:49 +0000

We have reverse problem in the U. S. Unfortunatly, they don’t stay in a closed community.

By: derbydog1953

derbydog1953 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:59:40 +0000

Ho la,Good question that I am sure can be asked in many countries. To be honest, we English are not very good linguists in the main. We learn foreign tongues piecemeal a little phrase at a time over a long period. Not to put too fine a point on it, we are ohhh sooo lazy with regard to learning languages. There is also just a little snobbery. We regard English as the best language in the world so why can’t the foreigners, (meaning the Spanish in Spain) learn it. Crazy world huh?

By: maxima

maxima — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:39:43 +0000

It is my opinion that people should learn the language of the country in which they live (AND USE IT). I live in the Southern US and wish my million, illegal, Mexican neighbors would answer your question. Since they don’t understand English, I guess we’ll have to translate “deportation” for them.

By: rosemary_gaines2000

rosemary_gaines2000 — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 06:32:08 +0000

probably for the same reason so many Mexicans enter the USA [& I'm not talking about the "legals"] & refuse to learn the English language & like idiots, we’ve catered to this misbehavior & everytime you make a call to a business now, you have to press “1″ to get your native language, English!!
It’s an OUTRAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

grr-r-r-r-r-r-~!@#$%^&*~!@#$%^&*!!!!!!