The problem Domino is you are making generalisations/comparisons about nationalities when the British are one of the worst nationalities at moving to another country and not learning the language, so your argument fails completely.

There was a report I read a while ago on the integration of foreign children in schools, written by one of the Spanish government ministries. It said British children were the worst at integrating into the state schools and subsequently they failed their studies.

The reason given was the British parents didnt care, didnt speak a word of Spanish and didnt even go to the parents evenings. While the much poorer (I presume) Moroccan and Romanian parents did, and so gave their children a better chance in life

I agree, nothing most on here wouldn't already know, (some having found out the hard way!) but then it isn't aimed at seasoned expats!

Nope, I very very rarely make generalisations. I make comment based on my own experiences.
And since when did you gain the right to judge and grade my comments ?

Once again you are knocking the Brits, when ISTR saying "expats of all nationalities"
When are you going to grow up and become a real "International" Brit like so many of us who can and do endeavour to integrate when in another country..?
Or is it that you are not a Brit at all but a landless troll going round forums looking for every opportunity to knock Brits.!

As I don't like unwarranted Brit knocking you have been granted the privelage of my Ignore button, exactly as I did last time you came on here and acted the prat.

rgds

It touched on the two types of immigrant to Spain, those who really want to integrate into the Spanish way of life, the wannabe Spaniards and those who are very happy sitting in the company of fellow brits and of course those who failed for whatever reasons.

Have to dash, I've some beautiful Welsh lamb (the best in the world) to prepare for dinner tonight

I think if anyone is self-sufficient re. finances then it is up to them if they learn the language or not. I don't think I could live in a country without speaking at least a little but you pay your money and take your choice!

(SNIP)

This is a forum. The whole point is to comment on opinions we dont agree with

I am beyond caring whether British people integrate in Spain or not, but when someone is blaming every nationality but their own then it is worth pointing out.

There is only one thing the Brits are better or worse at (depending on your point of view) and that is feeling superior and feeling that there is one rule for them and another for everyone else.

As a career politician of 25 years and 8 of those as the opposition, you might have thought Rajoy would have started studying English earlier if he actually wanted to use it

Instead he reels off the same crap that Aznar did. All with the aim of trying to scrounge a few dollars of the Americans. Well here's news to you Rajoy, they dont have any left!

You're not being brutally honest, just honest and in any case there is nothing wrong with your choice. As I said before, give the natives a proper mix instead of a ghetto of a single origin and everything is fine. A mix of different nationalities is good as long as it includes the native one, so natives can get used to seeing immigrants as "normal" people who live/work/buy/enjoy the same things and use the native language to communicate between themselves and interact with all the others and their Spanish friends. That's integration!

A foreign community taking completely over a place and excluding the native and others, therefore forming their little own country is not integrated, they simply form a ghetto, with their own papers, channels, markets and never having to say a word in the native language. Exactly what they dislike of immigrants in their own country!!!

I go now and then to a Spanish tapas bar in the UK, and as I said sometimes I met Spanish friends on their own when they need help with their Spanish speaking visitors. I have friends from many nationalities and meet them often, with English as the common language. That is normal.

What I'm against is the immigrants not integrating. I don't expect them to become Spanish, just as I will never become British. One can live 50 years in a foreign country and there will still be lots of little things that one will miss simply because is not a native, but of course one should be fluent in the language, understand the main of the culture and have close native friends. Then one is integrated.

I'm sorry you thought that, it was not meant that way, i was just giving my opinion.

I happen to agree with you that all should make an effort, I just didn't think it right to single out particular ethnic groups.

I live in a multicultural area in the UK and where I live the vast majority can speak at least basic English, in fact I do not know one person who cannot manage the basics. Which is about as much as I can manage in Spain.

The children might well know more than their parents, but here in Spain on at least two occasions I have asked a child to translate for me.

The point I am making is, we are no different to any other immigrants. Some will make more effort than others.

All this shit on here and I can't even post a bit of Spanish. I didn't link because the page is busy. Anyway here it is...Rajoy is learning English. The article is a sub. to the right of the page



http://www.diariosur.es/rc/20111205/...112050226.html

I have to agree with Cman on this, the standard of most British kids is below the others.

To be fair, a lot is to do with english being widely spoken and britsh TV available at a low cost.

The Rumanians Morrocans and others usually dont have savings or a financial cushion, and so TV in their own language is out of the question, unlike British households.

Their parents do seem to push their kids more to learn, as they themselves have to learn sharpish, once again due to the fact that they need to get a wage coming in ASAP.

Also other nationalities would not get far in their daily lives if they only spoke Russian, Norwegien etc.......wheras people can manage quite well in English, well a lot better than any other foreigners.

I can tell the difference between a lot of nationalities when they speak Spanish, there is always giveaway, and quite honestly the level some E europeans reach after a few months is quite astounding, necessity is a great incentive.....the best in fact.

Talking about language, I think us Brits face a different dilemma to most countries, for instance I was never taught a language in School other than welsh because I lived in Wales, and if they offered me a language to learn I would not have known which one to choose, some in school were taught French. I personally have never, and will probably never have a need or desire to learn French as far as I know.

The difference in Spanish or any other European school is that English is the international language and well worth the effort to learn, so if you wanted for instance to become a pilot you would have to learn it, so if I were foreign it would be so easy to choose a useful language to learn,and for me it would be English.

There and I thought I was being even handed by naming some nationalities negatively whilst naming others positively.
but we do have a number of older asians who will not learn English as I have said.
I am currently mentoring a Lithuanian who is endeavouring to start his own business to drag himself out of the NMW cycle he is currently in. He has techology degrees up to his arm pits !!

I am from a small city where we have had ghettos of Asians for decades, mind you we also had the Italians back in the 50's, but they have all moved out and up. We have now got another SovBloc (E European) ghetto area that has sprung up over the past 5-6years. Their own shops, their own food, all catch the same gangmaster mini-buses each morning. Alot of the places where they work are now single (non-English) language, and their ghetto is now starting to splinter into smaller ghetto's with a mafia style environment. In the summer I was approached by a prostitute at lunchtime as I was getting in my car. I didnt realise they were using a main road in/out of town.

When in the RN many of the guys had their wives out on a foreign posting, many didnt learn the local language, they were shielded by their "amah" who helped to maintain a high degree of superiority. And it was good for her position in the house and local hierarchy as she would be a form of major-domo which gave her prestige. So long as she could speak English there was no need for the Brits to do so.

It used to be seen as "going native" to learn the local language, but the days of the Raj have long gone. We now have laptops, mobiles etc etc, we are more cosmopolitan than our fathers and grandfathers.

I see it is a very early Chinese New Year this year, but still looking for the opportunity to share it with any Chinese I should "accidentally" meet.

rgds

At this time yes sure, English is an easy choice to make

However, as I've mentioned in the past and even Rajoy mentioned in that article, 20-30 years ago everyone in Spain learnt French as that was seen as the international langauge... times change

Anyway, the point is to learn a 2nd language well, then the 3rd language requires half the effort

Yeh, I thought that was a bit ironic, the thread talking about learning Spanish, and you get your legs smacked for using the language! It's the naughty step for you!