derek500

There's an article in this week's Costa Blanca News that reports that more than 50% of the population of fifteen Costa Blanca towns are expats.

http://www.costablanca-news.com/news...rth.htm#local2

I hope the Spanish are learning English/German etc. so they can integrate!!

TheArmChairDetective

lynnxa

that they are!!!

at my kids' school 80% of the kids are 'foreign' & about half are english! They are not allowed to speak their 'mother tongue' in class or comedor though.

even the head teacher has finally admitted defeat & is taking english lessons!

onlineamiga

I do kinda feel bad for the spanish people. Even down here on the Costa Del Sol its brit take over and i know if it was the other way round, eveyrone in the UK would be screaming blue murder.

But the spanish dont seem to mind, everyone I spoke to who are spanish down here feel used to it and they said theres large spanish communities in the UK. So i guess its about integration and us all being one big happy family

Well thats how i like to see it anyway.

derek500

You're right, but at least where you are it's a holiday resort and an influx of foreigners has been encouraged by the locals.

It's the villagers in inland pueblos that I feel sorry for. For example one of the towns quoted is Hondón de los Frailes. Described by estate agents as 'a typical Spanish agricultural village'. No doubt some dodgy deal done with the mayor and construction companies has led to new estates being built and marketed to foreigners.

Lionda

I know it will be all too easy to stick with the Brits when we first go over but I hope I can meet up with and make friends with some of the Spanish people. I am having difficulty with learning the language, particulary the pronounciation, but I hope I will be able to practice more when in Spain. We love to travel out and about when we are over on holiday and not stay in the touristy resorts so will be doing more of that when we are over there.

onlineamiga

Lionda cant agree more. I really found myself using my spanish last night when i was out with some spanish speaking people. I found myself learning more, they were even telling me slang words and stuff like that. It was brilliant. They agreed that if you stay in a British circle you'll never learn the spanish unless you discipline yourself to get lessons, get CDs, watch spanish TV, and generally learn it. For the CDs i would recommend the Michele Thomas ones. He explains things very well. And from having that on in the car for the month leading up to me coming here, i was able to speak a bit of spanish last night and was told I spoke more spanish than some english people who have been here 10 years. So thats good i guess hehe.

I feel i want to learn the spanish otherwise im cut off. I know its not going to happen overnight, but day by day hopefully it'll get better. And its great just being able to say stuff like "no hoy muchas gracias, manana possible. buenos dias amigo adios". Rather than 'no' to people trying to sell me stuff hehe. OK bad example hehe

Rosemary

Well done with speaking Spanish. You are young so should be able to pick it up from the lessons and the people that are around you.

Good for you, integration is what it is all about, otherwise why come to live with these wonderful warm people?

Rosemary

Rosemary

lynnxa

most here don't mind, except when they know you've been here 20 years & still haven't even tried to learn the language

Javea was a poor fishing village not so very long ago, so the foreign money has been good for a great many of the locals

if anything, it's some of us brits who are not so happy....I admit, that if we stay in Spain rather than return to Florida (wihch we might have to), we'll be looking for a more 'spanish' area, and quite a few of my friends who have been here a while feel the same

mikelincs

300 of 350 in the local school here are non-Spanish, but the kids startting soon learn Spanish and all the kids get along well together..

lynnxa

some do, some don't

I sometimes think my kids are more spanish than english now.........the older one regularly comes top of the class (above native spanish speakers!) after just over 2 years in the Spanish system...and they are both happier playing with their spanish friends than the english kids

silverchick

Thats good to know as my youngest will be going into the local Spanish school, I like to think he'll integrate quickly for his sake, he doesn't seem to find it a problem playing with any children in playgrounds when we're out there so i'm hoping he'll be the same in school, apparently they assign a teacher specifically to them at first, so i hope he'll settle quickly

rugbymatt

I have told this story before but where I used to live in Spain used to be very Spanish, in fact it used to be a haven for Northern Spanish wanting some southern sun, (lots of Basques) but fairly close by was a very old Expat enclave, on that site there was a place I used to do some work on and the guy there was a retired army guy, had lived out there for 20 odd years, and honestly did not speak a single word of Spanish, he used to SHOUT English at the Spaniards he had to deal with.

Yep, that'll get it!

TheArmChairDetective

Shouldn't the word "slowly" be between the words "english" and "at" in the above matt?

Fuzzlepop

Playa Flamenca should be listed, its small but when I lived there everyone I ever met was english apart from taxi drivers