I would take those figures with a huge pinch of salt.
I don't think the 6% one is anywhere close to the true picture and in addition very,very few Swedes apart from a few immigrants have any black income, with regard to Spain,who knows ?
I think the OP was comparing like for like, having had a job and income in both countries I presume, in which case I would agree with him that it's the difference between existing and living.

try translating Health & Safety and Facilities Management jargon and phrases and then translate back again


English is an official language of the EU, it has nothing to do with conferences. But then all national languages are official languages of the EU.

After all Sharpe and Wellington did for the Spanish you would think it would be better than having spent the past 150yrs speaking French.

It seems as all those under 35 with decent qualifications are heading for Germany, France even UK to get work. So we might end up with just Spanish and UK SAGA folks to populate Spain plus of course the far eastern shop keepers and the Romanian fruit pickers and cleaners. What a weird result!

in the same fashion, if it wasnt for the Yanks the English would be speaking German by now

And if it wasnt for the Portuguese who helped the UK out when the Armada attacked, maybe we'd all be speaking Spanish

It is a trend but not entirely true

It takes adject poverty for Spaniards to emigrate and they had plenty of that last century up until the 1970s.

There has been an exodus from Spain in the past year. About 400,000 left, but 90% of these were foreigners, not Spaniards. While 300,000 arrived in Spain. So a net loss of 100,000 from the population

I have worked (in IT) in: The UK, Ireland, the USA, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Oman (and possibly other places I've forgotten). In all of these places the language used in the business was English.

So I take issue with:

Spanish people have a huge incentive to learn English - far more so than the reverse.

utter twaddle man.
since when did you let a child decide what they want to learn.!
thats what has gone wrong with UK teaching, giving in to them then spit them out into the brave new world where they have no idea about life, rithmatic, reading, riting, nuffink cepting tweeting.

It takes a brave parent to plan the future of their children, but in the UK that is what happens to the children of the Pakistani's, Indian's, Chinese, the parents prepare them for a future as a professional - solicitor, chemist, optician, etc. The kids also see that future as the place they can overcome prejudice and earn good money to help and support the parents who were there for them. And at 10 they will tell you about going to uni, and getting a degree.

Those who want to business internationally, sure, English will be a big help

But 95% of Spaniards dont do business internationally and dont want to work outside of Spain, so why should they be made to be taught half the lessons at school in English, like what is happening in Madrid?

As we've seen before, the majority of Brits say they want to leave Britain, so languages would be a big advantage, but still they dont learn them

The majority of Spaniards want to stay in Spain. They love Spain as long as they arent hungry and have a job to go to, they are very happy

My brother and sister in-law took a 50% paycut to move back to Spain (they were working in the US and then France) and they were very happy to do so.

My husband was environmental scientist and in his work for the EC he worked in English at all the conferences he attended, workshops he did, in many countries where english was not the first language, translators worked at all those events. Within the Institute I believe the briefs were worked in the writers own language and then translated into english. Englishis the working language of the EC and to get promotion you need 3 languages passed to a certain level.

The Yanks had little bearing on the result apart from their late arrival shortening the war somewhat.

As for the Spanish, they were so ham fisted, they were fortunate to be left speaking their own language.

It seems we always needed help, when in fact the Portuguese involvement was minimal and the GDY's were on a holy crusade to protect the English speaking world after refusing all help until the Japanese kicked them in the butt.

as Bob Hope said
Hi, I'm from the States, you know - the place where Churchill lives"

History is always written by the victors remember and varies considerably depending what country you learn it in. It is very subjective

In Spain, students are taught that Francis Drake was a pirate who stole the goods from Spanish ships and then sunk them i.e. the lowest of the low. In the UK, Drake is a hero and an honourable knight

The problem is that until they have decided where they want to go they don't know what language to learn. No point learning French if you're going to end up in Spain and no point in learning German if you end up in Greece.

Contrary to popular belief all British school children are taught a foreign language - nearly always French - and some learn a few. The point is that whichever language they are taught, it only does them any good if they end up in a country which speaks that language. I speak fluent French (or did, I've lost it now) but when I came to Spain I would have been classed as 'one of those Brits who can't be bothered to learn a foreign language'.

The same is not true of foreign speakers of English. They will be respected in any country they go to because they can speak English - a language foreign to them but which can be used anywhere.

Of course I agree that once you have picked a country in which you intend to stay you should learn the language.

http://www.surinenglish.com/20111023...110231928.html

Atleast around here in the costa del sol it would help the whole area if people started speaking english :S

My friend's daughter got a first in Politics and Spanish...she married an Italian and lives in Rome.

I know the majority of British aren't good at languages but there are over 70 UK universities providing Spanish degree courses so a sizeable number must speak it well looking at the number who graduate each year.

Interestingly I have seen reports in the Spanish press saying more or less the same that they need to concentrate more resources in language teaching.