Yes I know you're probably right around there .... like another world compared to where we are, but what I'm saying is its too much of a generalisation to say its true of all areas

So.............refresh my memory.

What is the point of this thread?

Punka wallas have died out. Sussed it in five words.

Got ya!


and to make it worse, the bloody natives are going to end up richer than us if their economy keep growing.

That just wont do!

Step into my world.....

The help you gave to these people in your examples is something that any half way decent person would do for any other fellow human being or animal.

The people who know it all, done it all and seen it all and have the T-shirt would be like this no matter where they live and I am positive that this is only a small minority of the British person living aboard. In some of your statements Pete (may I call you Pete) you come over as seen it, knowing, doing and proud wearer of the T-Shirt. I don't have any idea of how long you have lived in Spain, but realistic how long did it take you to learn Spanish to the standard that is needed converse with legal matters.

I spoke with a business man here in Chiclana who said it took him two years of working everyday with a team of 20 Spanish gardeners to get to the stage where he didn't give English a thought, Spanish became the language that he thought and spoke in. OH and I have lived here for two years, for the majority of the time we only see each other, we have very little contact with other Britz and the only Spanish people we deal with are tradesman and the odd neighbour consequently our Spanish is not that of the man who works with Spanish people.

As far helping people it doesn't matter if you can or can't speak the lingo, as I said before we have a friend who id English, married to a Spanish lady, they both speak perfect Spanish. They live in the UK for 46 years before coming back to Spain to live, now things had changed in that time and they had no idea how to do things, where to go or what they needed. They had the added bonus of the lingo and family living in this area and they did nothing for themselves, not a single thing family did it all. When we asked them where a certain office was they couldn't (not wouldn't) tell us. The point I'm making is it is human nature in many people to sit back and let someone else do things for them rather than have the hassel of doing it themselves.

We did most things on our own but when we needed ours Wills done we asked a friend who has lived here for 20 years if she could help us with that and she kindly offered to check all our paper work against that at the Town Hall and correcting things that were not in order, also sorting out a Direct debit that had gone astray. It took her 2 hours to do this for us where it had already taken us more hours that I care to think about to get as far as we had. It cost nothing to be helpful to others, even those that have the T-Shirt, after all in my opinion who would be the bigger person!!


Just for the record (not meant just for you Pete) I have a fat arse, I don't like beer and I have been known to talk utter b******s

Course you can call me Pete!

People who know me (and there's a fair few on here) will tell you this.....my only discernible talents are computers and motorcycles. I can't boil an egg, I can't make toast, I can't put a fuse in a plug, have no idea how to use a drill, and even simple things like putting filler in a wall are beyond me.
Fortunately the wife is a tomboy so she handles all such matters.
How long have I lived in Spain? Two years next month.
How long did it take me to be able to converse with solicitors etc? Around 15 months I think.
And I don't actually sit down and try to learn Spanish in any formal or organised manner....I just don't have time. Even when I'm posting here now, it's all done while I'm waiting for FTP uploads to complete.
When we came here it was a case of somebody amongst the four of us had to get to terms with the language.....otherwise we'd have failed. And it just so happened it was me. The wife and two boys speak very little Spanish unfortunately, though the wife and youngest (16) are both dyslexic so we knew it would be hard for them. The eldest boy (19) has just been lazy.

Thanks Pete, the reason I asked this question was because I seemed to remember from another thread that you had said that your boys spoke very little Spanish. You say yourself that one of you had to get to grips with the lingo if you were going to earn a living and make a success of your new life.
You had an insentive to learn the language, you had to for one reason or another, some people don't have that insentive, they don't need it. Again you say you can't even make toast, or change a plug why is this, because you have some one willing to do it for you. At this point I could say something about that, but it's none of my business so I won't.

After two years your wife and family still speak very little Spanish, which in my opinion is not un-reasonable because some people have a natural talent for learning a new language and others don't. But none of us, at least I truly hope that this is the case, would dream of speaking in a derogatory manner about your family and their lack of Spanish. You know the reason why two of them find it difficult and I am sure that there are many Britz living all over the world who are hard of hearing, dyslexic, or have other learning disabilities, making it hard for them to grasp things. I suffer from hearing loss (should wear hearing aid but I don't even know where it is) and I suffer from a form of dyslexia, I'm fat, and I sit in bars drinking, my level of oral (no comment please) Spanish on a scale of 1-10 is hovering between 3-4, my comprehension of understanding spoken/written Spanish I would say is 4-5. my ability to wrtie and use correct spelling is 1-2, not wonderful but it is improving slowly.

Pete what I am trying to say is, I really wish you would not be so negative about other people, it uses so much energy. Also it takes all sorts to make a world and because there is a small pocket of British people living around the world letting the side down it is no reason to tar everyone one else with the same brush. I would like to add that if your number one son stays in his job he will be speaking Spanish like a native in no time, that is of course if the bar is not full of us fat arse Britz

Now I think I know what this thread is about, I must say I find it very disappointing that you all want to learn to speak Spanish all the time - I was kinda hoping you were all literally "spreading the word" so that when I come out in a few years all them foreign types will be up to speed - Consider yourselves pioneers and lay the foundations for those coming behind you will you. Stop being so selfish.

Nice one Crispy

Imagine all those Spaniards living out here who can't speak English yet, lazy fat-arsed slobs!

For Crispy Girl...



I thought far arses were in?

Beer drinking has always been in!

And as for talking complete Bollox!

Need I say anymore...... ooh lordy lord, life as a BE inmate!

that's our secret