Originally Posted by siesta

I couldn't agree more with what cricketman said (as usual, btw):

<<<In the English team I play for, the new player is ignored and put on as a sub for the last 5 minutes, only after they keep turning up for a few months do people start to speak to him. And then they respect him for his perseverence. Only one example I know, but to NOT make a stranger feel part of the group in Spain would be cuturally unacceptable and seen as incredibly rude. >>>

I'm Spanish and I lived in Britain for a while. I'm not the Spanish stereotype that you mention here sometimes (I don't like noise, I don't like rubbish on the floor, I don't talk to the first person I bump into, etc) but what he mentions is BY FAR the worst thing I could say about Brits. I don't know if it's cultural or just me having bad luck, but I experienced that many times and I hated it. I would say I'm open-minded and whenever I lived abroad or with foreign people I've tried to be flexible, but for some reason I couldn't accept the fact that if I'm new somewhere (a job, a group of people, etc) people won't make things easy for me to integrate. In England last year I was working in a school and nobody ever talked to me. They didn't even say hi. When I mentioned this to British friends they all said that the logical thing to do is be the one who approaches other people. I don't see how that is logical.

But leaving the working place aside, I've been in situations when I'm with a British friend + some friends of his that I don't know. You'd imagine that I'll be introduced to the rest and people would make an effort to talk to me and make me feel comfortable as I don't know the rest. Yeah, right. I've been totally neglected for hours and what's worse, not only by those people I didn't know but by my "friend". In Spain, that's totally impossible. Talking to them afterwards they didn't understand my point. I wonder what would happen if it was the opposite. I teach here, I imagine a new British girl coming over for a few months, it wouldn't be more than 5 seconds until someone talks to her, offer her a drink, a place to stay or a coffee at the next door bar. I'm not saying all Spaniards are kind and wonderful, but I want to think people usually are when someone is new, etc.

As cricketman said, I think that in Britain, in my experience, you need a lot of time. I assume that if the new person keeps going out with them or trying to talk, for ages, it will come to a point where he'll be accepted. I just find it incredibly unfriendly and sad. And again, I'm not saying everybody here is friendly. I'm not the kind of person who is very chatty with strangers or "la alegría de la huerta" in the Spanish-caricaturesque-way, but still, I hated that.

There are many others things I love about the Brits but that, is not one of them. (Sorry about the long post)

Originally Posted by busters mum

I ALWAYS read alll the comments and have followed this thread fromthe start and i could see how it was goint to end up, and please don't tell me how to use this site as you have only been on it 2days.
You do make some valid points and i was enjoying reading the posts, as for retaliation, as the saying goes, turn the other cheek.

Originally Posted by dios41

I just wanted to start a thread to find out exactly what people feel are the difference between British and Spanish people. Whether it be a big or small difference, please feel free to join in and let us know. I will start with a couple.
1) The Spanish in general love noise. We Brits don't.
2) The Spanish in general don't mind copious amounts of dog mess fouling the pavements. We Brits do
3) The Spanish in general do not mind rubbish tipped all over the place. We Brits do.

There we go, there's a few, now see how many more we can muster up, you will be amazed.

Originally Posted by jojojojojo

I think the difference is that Spain has been "catapulted" rapidly into the western world and democracy due to tourism and europe. Therefore there isnt the same gradual acceptance of living in a so called modern society. But it is happening and in a few generations time, you'll not be able to distinguish between different nationalities tastes and behaviour. But for now, yes there is the generalisations that Spanish people are noisier and less concerned with tidiness etc. outside of their own little community

Just my thoughts and trying to avoiding the squabbling

Jo xxx

Originally Posted by The Oddities

I am in general not a forum person and only contribute on two, BE Spain because I live in Spain and the other forum is regarding an interest of mine and I must say that the only one of the two which has trolls, nasty comments and general aggro is this one.

People may start an interesting thread but the posts worth reading are very few in comparrison with the one upmanship that occurs.

This is my only contact with Brits in Spain and the more I read the more that I am glad that I made the decision to live with Spanish people.

Rosemary

Originally Posted by steviedeluxe

Plenty of other nations do this as well. You really do think Brits are a race apart don't you? The reality is there is good and bad in all countries. For example in England Yorkshire has the nice people, the nasty lot live in Surrey!

Originally Posted by jackytoo

You saw my recent post didn't you when I said my family came from Sheffield...thanks for the compliment

Originally Posted by cricketman

I went to uni in Sheffield, its true the people are much nicer there than down south, just more friendly and welcoming.

I feel generally the difference is that British people distrust strangers, anyone they dont know well, they have a cynical view on life. Spaniards will be nice to you until you give them a reason not to like you.

I know I am being a bit anti-British, but we moved to Spain for a reason, and the general friendliness and attitudes to children were a bit part in that decision. 3.5 years on and we are very pleased that we made the move!

Originally Posted by The Oddities

When the fact that the streets are full of rubbish is mentioned it should also be mentioned that the houses are kept very clean and that in smaller towns the rubbish is cleared by the people living there and the ground thoroughly washed. Small places do not have street cleaners so the population has to do it or the dirt will be trailed into their clean homes. Mind you I presume that they use far more bleach in a year than anyone in UK.

Another thing is the fact that they do not use descriptive words such as fat or thin or old and young to be derogatory about a persons size or age but to destinguish between two people who have the same name.

Rosemary

Originally Posted by paintermujer

Yes they are very clean people and they do mop the outside of their bit every day. I know I have mentioned dog poo but the street cleaners around here are very hard working.

One instance recently was the San Antonio blessing of the animals.My daughter rode into town with 30+ other horses to be blessed by the local preist. The town was full of other horses and smaller animals and of course there was horse poo everywhere including the special sand at the blessing area.

The next morning you wouldnt think anything had taken place.The place was spottless and this was on a sunday.Other fiestas we have include meringue fights,bull runs, medievil markets etc etc. They are all messy events but within no time of its end there is no evidence that anything had happened.

Hats off to the street cleaners.