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Original poster

Expats in Spain

31 replies

boo64 · 19/06/2007 15:12

Why is it that Brits in Spain have English language newspapers, radio stations etc and all stick together but I bet many of them are the same people who would slag off immigrants to the UK who stick together and use their original language?

OP posts:
Soph73 · 19/06/2007 15:26

Exactly mother2b sometimes I´m incredibly ashamed to be British. It makes me cringe every time I hear a tourist over here talking to the locals as though they were hard of hearing and listening to things like "I thought they all spoke English" as though they are zoo exhibits. The upside for us is that we can converse now with the local shopkeepers/waiters, etc and can talk about the tourists to our hearts content as they don´t understand what we´re saying

Soph73 · 19/06/2007 15:21

There are more retired Brits in Spain than over here as this is quite a small island and although we have a fairly large Brit community (we don´t live near it btw) most of us over here work. However, my dh and I have tried our very best to learn the language and fend for ourselves. We still get slagged off sometimes by the Canarians but that´s only to be expected because you tend to get tarred with the same brush.

mother2b · 19/06/2007 15:20

this also really annoys me, i leave in a place where there are alot of people froma a lot of different races and nearly all of them make an effort to speak english, they may hang around together but thats up to them! english people are so ignorant, they expect people from different cultures and countries to speak our language fluently but dont make an effort when going abroad, i have a good friend that is brazillian, she speaks excellent english just has a strong accent and when wlking around our local shopping city was apalled at how people treated her, i bet if british people moved to brazil they wouldnt learn portugese!
british people are just so racist and it makes me ashamed to be part of britain!

Original poster
boo64 · 19/06/2007 15:18

Exactly.
It's something that has been perplexing me for a while - it's quite hypocritical. I thought a lot of the Brits in spain were retired so therefore not paying tax?

OP posts:
Soph73 · 19/06/2007 15:18

Would love to stay and chat more about this (we live in Canary Islands) but only have a computer at work and about to finish for the day. Will check back in the morning to see if any more posts (sure there will be).

Soph73 · 19/06/2007 15:16

Can see your point boo64 I think it´s probably because most (not all) of the expats in Spain are working so paying taxes so like to consider themselves "Spanish" but then expect all the comforts of home, forgetting that the same happens in England - why shouldn´t immigrants in England have papers/bars/schools in their native language if they´re working and paying taxes.