Red Eric

You're not the only foreigners in the Viana area - not by a long chalk. Nor the only ones who use that store.

I seriously doubt that none of the staff in the store can speak any English. Chances are there's someone there who spent years in either the US or Canada - but even if that weren't the case English has been on the school curriculum for ages and most youngsters speak a bit, even if they're not always ready to rush it out and dust it off for you. Likewise among the customers. There are probably a good sprinkling of very fluent French speakers there, too.

I agree that taking the matter up with management will be a waste of time though. Foreign language proficiency certainly shouldn't be an essential requirement for anyone working in a supermarket.

gedscottish

Desculpa is informal(tu) "sorry" and Descuple(voçê) is the formal, that's the only difference.

"Excuse me" is Com licença.

gedscottish

It really is the French ones who seem that way though, I never find the ones who are living elsewhere with the same stinking attitude. I think gone are the days where they had big houses to show off, the younger generation spend what they make in France and the only bit of showing off they get to do is when they hire a convertible for their 2 weeks holiday in agust to drive about in.
It did not take me long to realise why the locals don't like them, everything is better and bigger in France and Portugal is terrible apparently!

Ukkram

You people do not live here but have much to say about Viana and the proficiency of the English language by the locals.
I know all the cashiers at our Continente and the floor managers. Not a single one can say more than "OK" in English.
None are youngsters and the average age is 40+

A 10 minute walk to our other supermarket Miranda employs younger cashiers and they all speak good English.
As does the old farmer lady selling veggies at the market. She speaks perfect English but
can we become friends and socialize so we can learn the language?

mfesharne

[QUOTE=Ukkram;11934016]You people do not live here but have much to say about Viana and the proficiency of the English language by the locals.
I know all the cashiers at our Continente and the floor managers. Not a single one can say more than "OK" in English.
None are youngsters and the average age is 40+

A 10 minute walk to our other supermarket Miranda employs younger cashiers and they all speak good English.
As does the old farmer lady selling veggies at the market. She speaks perfect English but
can we become friends and socialize so we can learn the language?[/QUOTE]

Yes to the 1st part of the question....... I have a good number of really good (English speaking) Portuguese friends who (to their great amusement!) try to help me learn the language & maybe to the 2nd part..... As much as I try, it's a bugger of a language to learn..... made considerably harder by their immense hospitality & drinking habits. lol

Ukkram

I am 62 years old and no youngster would want to socialize with people of my age.
The old farmer lady lives on a farm and would not be comfortable socializing in a pub.

Red Eric

Person, not people. It was I.

You're right, I don't live there. However, I'm there a couple of times a week most weeks and regularly in that supermarket. You may be right about the lack of English speaking staff in that particular shop but it would be highly unusual for there to be nobody in a place of that size who can say more than OK.

I remember the last time I read a dubious claim of yours - that there was no hake to be seen in the place, ever. I double-checked the very next time I was there and was unsurprised to find the fish counter groaning with the stuff. Thought the claim had been a bit fishy

Munsterfan

mfh...me shamed ...mePat is doing Portuguese lessons and I carry around translated sentences on a sheet of paper like a regular eejit ....but every single time someone speaks to me in English I ALWAYS thank the person for doing so. brings a smile but not the same as getting off my lazy ass and learning the language of this country where I've chosen to live. I'm so very lucky to live in Portugal, really lucky. Learning Portuguese is the least I can do as a THANK YOU.

scrubbedexpat095

GeniB

Sorry but thats no excuse Ukkram! You have to remember that you have 'chosen' to live in an area with few ex-pats. It therefore follows that the people around you will be speaking the language of the country,which is Portuguese.

Part of your decision to live there must have included the pressing need to learn the language did it not? Plenty of places to learn online. (BBC, Michael Thomas, Rosetta Stone et al) You can even find an online teacher on SKYPE who will give you one to one lessons for about 25 euro's an hour.. Quite cheap for two.It will at least give you the stepping stones to begin a conversation

I had all the experiences described by the other posters in the Netherlands. Including the belief by the Dutch that the language was too difficult for me to master. therefore they needed to speak English with me (oh yeah.. they needed to practice their English with me was more the idea) I realised pretty quickly that I needed to FIGHT to speak.Dutch I developed a strategy whereby i began a conversation in Dutch and then asked in English what a certain thing was called (the next part I needed in Dutch) eventually I built up whole sentences this way.It took me three yrs.. I had 12 weeks of intensive lessons from 9 am to 3pm when i first arrived . I then had a teacher neighbour who came to my house every Monday morning for an hour for coffee ,for a year. I watched childrens TV,and then progressed to a simple soap .I also watched the news on TV. It's a long and difficult process.However I was too curious about what people were saying around me . I have to say I was in the minority amongst my fellow ex-pats though.Oh and when people say.'why bother you'll never speak the language outside the country' I can't tell you how many times it's come in extremely useful,both for me and my kids. My ED once got a job in the USA only because she spoke Flemish.
Keep at it Ukkram you will get there.I am struggling right now,OH is virtually fluent in the time it's taken me to say my name and where i live lol

Munsterfan

Hear Hear GeniB... it IS a fight ( not to mention duty) to learn a new language and so satisfying once you do. I'm committed to be able to have a casual chat about the weather and daily life with my nieghbours this year. One step I took was to ask my hairdresser, housekeeper, butcher to all speak to me in Portuguese and If I don't understand and get a Mohawk for a haircut so be it.

Ukkram such silly talk ....MANY of us expats have retired here and are 60+ years of age and we gotta learn to speak Portuguese. yes, takes work hard work learning something often does but when you stop learning you stop living! So I think anyway.

GeniB

Oh and these lovely people do not correct the h**l out of you when you murder their language as the dutch inevitable did -whatever the occasion. As the wife of a board member of a fairly well known Dutch company I had to attend quite a few swanky events/dinners etc We were not only the youngest people there often ,but the only foreigners. I well remember one horrendous event when the CEO'S wife (otherwise known as the catty b***h and his ex secretary) deliberately tried to embarrass me by making me repeat and repeat the word snow in Dutch (sneuw) I must have said it at least four times,getting hotter by the minute.It didn't suit madam so she tried to make me say it again (it was part of describing the weather outside at the time) I just looked at her and said It's pissing down' The guys cracked up.

mfesharne

Gotta say I don't understand why so many find the language thing is such a big deal...... I've been here for about 5 years and have never had a lesson or looked very hard at any of the language courses etc but have managed to pick up what might be called simple supermarket or coffee shop Portuguese and if one uses a bit of intelligence it's not too difficult to get more complicated ideas across with a printed picture or a pic on an ipad of what you need.

As for the very occasional Portuguese that wants to give me kak about my limited Portuguese, I don't want to be friends with that kind of person anyway so sod 'em!

The last time I came across one of those was a senior PSP cop who after giving me grief about my lack of Portuguese I explained through an interpreter (who almost choked with laughter!) that I could speak 4 languages which was probably more than him and if he didn't like it, he could depart in a flurry of sexual endeavour!

Munsterfan

you are SOOOO funny GeniB....but no one can surpass the French for snobbery when it comes to their beloved language....Lived in 'The Provence' for 5-years...native tongue English, second language Bavarian German... what a nightmare...no words can describe the experience and still stay christian.

Ukkram

I have still never ever seen fresh hake at this Continente. There are tonnes of frozen hake imported from Chile and South Africa though and they are either baby hake or cutlets not conducive to filleting and making proper fish n chips.

Perhaps I lied a little. There was a security officer that spoke English at Continente but he is no longer there.
There are also 2 Mormons here from America and that's it.