Where to move to in Spain
 

Please suggest some towns to live in the Southern Spain based on the following facts:

I don’t intent to work in Spain, I’ll be spending my savings, I am a bit of a sports freak, so I’m looking for a place which offers a skate park, nearby gym, good social activities, a library to study, a language school that offers french.
I’ll like to live in town where I can get by without without speaking a word of Spanish.

Many Thnaks

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

I don't understand why you want to live in Spain and learn French but not Spanish. Why not consider moving to France?

I think wherever you live in Spain you need to learn at least some basic Spanish. If you were suddenly taken ill or had an accident it could be a matter of life and death if you cannot say what is wrong.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

Mama_Carol, Sorry but, this is my first question on this good forum and so I thought my original questions were pretty specific, I have my reasons for choosing Spain over France, if you cannot answer my questions directly I would prefer if you didn't respond at all, rather than telling me how wrong my original questions are, it’s time-wasting, simplistic & dictatorial all at the same time.

If I was taken ill or had an accident, I’ll hire a translator. Basic Spanish would be of little use after a serious accident anyway: stating ones blood group, describing the events, pain etc etc.

I expect to find many English speaking doctors in most major hospitals
anyway. :eek:

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

Hi Spanish Job,

With the benefit of experience, Bournemouth, Brighton, or even Southend !!!

What all experienced posters will tell you is "Don´t do it". Don´t move to Spain with that as your criteria

Davexf

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

Dxf, Why the hell not, will people stop telling which country I shouldn't live in and just answer my questions.

I currently live in Holland, have done for the last 5 years with the same criteria, and now I want to move to Spain, I dont speak Dutch or Spanish and dont intend to learn either.

Ok I agree the % of English speakers in the Netherlands is much higher.

Have you seen what type of shit hole you’ll get for the same money in the places you mentioned back in England? :eek:

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

People tend to react unfavourably to impolite demanding posters. If you want the answers to your questions you need to be more polite, take things that people say and work out which facts you think will help you and then make your decision. The way that you are doing it is more likely to encourage people to totally ignore you and you will then get no facts at all.

rosemary

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

The Oddities

And which specific facts are those? other than the suggestion to relocate to Southend instead of sunny Spain:
Matthew 7 ==> Wish on to others as you wish for yourself & all that....


You’re mistaking being direct for being impolite.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

There is a high proportion of English speaking people in Holland as well you know but the reality in Spain is different. As someone who was rushed into a very large teaching hospital and spent more than a year there believe me there is only a minute proportion of doctors that speak English and an even smaller proportion of nurses. My wife was often used to translate between doctors and British people who had not learned any Spanish and if we had not been there I do not know what they would have done.
The idea that you can pop out and hire a translator at a moments notice, certainly here is not an option, but best of luck in your mission.

Graham

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

Thank you Graham, I’ll keep that in mind, but let me ask you this:
How many countries have you traveled to on vacation where you spoke their language?

My plan is to live in Spain for a year, no more.

Assume no English speaking Doctors, no translators to hire & I dont have my trusted machine translation tool (Larousse) with me at the time, and no access to google translate, then I’ll have to take my chances.

With your hours spent learning Spanish, after an accident, I still don't see how you would be able to inform the surgeon that you have a displaced transverse fracture of the proximal third femur, all you can do is point to where the pain is, and he'll do scans and make their own assessments.

For the benefit of risking my questions going unanswered, lets assume I spoke perfect fluent Spanish with their kings accent, can my other criterium be met? if so which town?

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

I think if you'd stated that originally, people would not have been so 'down' on you.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

This is what you said in your original post

"I don’t intent to work in Spain, I’ll be spending my savings, I am a bit of a sports freak, so I’m looking for a place which offers a skate park, nearby gym, good social activities, a library to study, a language school that offers french.
I’ll like to live in town where I can get by without without speaking a word of Spanish."

With this sort of unrealistic request, of course people will answer in the way they have.

I don't think you have any idea what it is really like here in Spain when you cannot speak any Spanish. It is not true that there are English speaking Spaniards everywhere.

Last year a friend of mine was rushed into San Juan (Alicante) hospital by ambulance. The doctor refused to treat her unless a Spanish/English speaking person was present. The doctor said if the patient could not understand what was being explained to her it could cause more harm than good. The hospital does not provide translators.

Luckily, I was able to go along and help for a couple of days until she could find an official translator (€15 per hour).

This is on the Costa Blanca, not far from Benidorm. If that is what it is like here, imagine what it is like elsewhere.

Have you considered living in Gibraltar?

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

I'm not sure I can suggest anywhere in Spain for this.

I assume you will need the library to have a lot of English books rather than Spanish books, and the French course will be aimed at Spaniards i.e. the teachers will teach in a mixture of Spanish and French which will be no good for you.

As for being able to get by only in English, there are lots of British urbanisations in the South but they dont tend to have many or any facilities.

The sports facilities you mention will be in any Spanish city or town. Skate parks will be the least common, but I've seen a few around and about.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

Sounds like Trolls RU:rolleyes:

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

Totally agree with you.

With regards to paying a translator for a set time such as seeing a specialist it works well. However, I expect that your friend had difficulty regarding the everyday contact with the other health providers because they walk into the room ask you something to which they expect an immediate answer. They are too busy to stand around whilst a person types it into an electronic translator and of course the patient has to have caught what they said in order to put it into the translator.

I do not know where to suggest that the poster should try but I definitely think that the Valencian Province would not have enough English speakers to accommodate him.

Rosemary

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

I suspect this is your main stumbling block, if you only want to speak English, then your shopping will be very limited as the supermarkets are almost completely Spanish run, and you do have to at least be able to ask for the items you want, pointing doesn't really work, and could well be construed as vey rude. The English run shops are very limited in stoack, and sell mainly English imported foods that work out very expensive compared with the Spanish ones. Translators at medical clinics, and at hospitals usually have to be booked in advance, not a possibility in an emergency. Spanish people are very friendly, as long as you do try to undertand and speak to them in their own language, they will accept your lack of knowledge as long as you do try and do at least learn the basics, such as greetings, please and thank you, but if you just try and use English only, then you will find yourself runnning into a brick wall, it's the same with the French as well. Most towns have sports gyms, libraries, which are often only available to people who have residencia, so using them as an internet cafe might be difficult, if that is what you wnat. They will have few, if any, English or French books.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

Our Doctor in Spain speaks fairly good English. He will not use it when with a patient, doesn't want the responsibility of mistranslating something important. The CDS hospital has a great network of translators but they cannot be around all the time if you are admitted.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

I do not know the place and risk being shot down in flames but from what I have read on here Torrevieja might be a possibility.

Graham

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

Certainly has the sports facilities, etc, BUT you would have to speak some Spanish, it does have a great hospital, but, like the local health centres, it does expect you to have a translator with you if you can't speak Spanish. Even the small towns like Playa Flamenca, just a few kilometers away, which have a very large expat population are not places where you would get away with no Spanish.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

That is the problem with impressions I would have been sure it was ok. Carry on like that and I shall have to begin reading the Daily Mail.:)

Graham

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

Hi

Just a thought about not speaking Spanish - this is copied from my local forum - and yes it is my Grandson I am talking about


On a personal note, I had occasion to try the extent of my Spanish when my grandson fell from the top bunk (literas)! Both hospitals were excellent; at three o’clock in the morning there are not many English speaking people about. Both hospitals? Yes after an X-Ray and a CT scan in Puerto Santa Maria, they discovered my grandson had a crack in his skull (cráneo) so he was rushed in an ambulance to Cádiz hospital to see a specialist!

This has made me sit up and take notice a little more; could you direct an ambulance to your house / local venta and at two in the morning? And do you have notes easy to hand to tell the doctor(s) what happened? Remember initially you see a “Triage” doctor who will pass you onto someone else (in my case, a technician for the X-Ray, and two technicians and a doctor for the CT scan). Then there was the consultant that wrote up the notes of each procedure; and that was one hospital only!

I should add that my grandson has made a full recovery

Yes I realise that many non English speaking people go on holiday to Spain for a fortnight every year. What is not said is that a proportion die each year. The more time in a non English speaking country the more the risk multiplies.

Yes it is your decision to do as you want; but you asked for the advice and maybe you don´t want to listen. My consience is clear

Dave Fisher

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

Use the 112 emergency number and you will get an English speaking operator.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

Hi, there, I dont know where you will end up in Spain, but I would most definately advise against Alicante city centre.............And La Coruna in Galicia.

You really do sound like a pheasant plucker.

Cheers.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

That is not always the case - not 24 hours a day. Do not rely on it.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

It is a 24/7 emergency number............. people can rely on it 100%

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

Personally I found Spanish Job´s direct approach refreshing. He could not be clearer. He does not want to learn Spanish. I live here all year and I do speak Spanish but the choice is his. I don´t think there will be a problem re gym (I live in the country but there are several gyms of varying standards nearby)nor libraries but I don´t know of skate parks (not enough social activities in my part of Spain for you either). I do agree with Cricketman that learning French as an English speaker in Spain may not be easy but hopefully not impossible. Good luck Spanish Job..something tells me you´ll do well.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

I meant do not rely on there being an English speaking operator. At 5am no English available.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

NO you cannot ! I rang this number when my husband was dying, I rang it from UK mobile, spanish mobile and landline and everytime I had to wait to be connected and NEVER was. I never got an english speaker on the phone. My husband died while trying.

At 10.30 pm it did not work either, Mama_Carol

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

I am sorry to hear that you had problems and can only say that I have used it 4 times in the past few years and 3 of those calls were in the middle of the night and it worked every time by being put through to an English speaking operator in just a few seconds.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

How terrible for you, I cant begin to imagine what you went through, and all the " I have had great service in Spain" posts, cannot take away your pain.

If I was not able to communicate in Spanish, I would be quaking in my boots right now, because you must have shattered the belief of many who think that you can rely on others when your language skills are lacking.

Sorry about your sad loss, all the best for the future Captains Wench....

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

I also speak Spanish but when a 53 year old neighbour was taken ill I phoneds 112 and as soon as I started to speak Spanish the lady said "English wait" and a supposed English speaking person was found after several minutes, every time I started to speak I was told "Lady stop", meanwhile the patient died, all he had was the flu but despite his girlfriend being a Matron in the UK nothing could be done to save him, the ambulance finally arrived 45 mins after my call because they were being directed to a place with a similar name but is miles away, I could hear the instructions being given to the driver but every time I tried to interrupt to tell them they were wrong I was told to "Shut up".

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

Problems not quite what I would call it.

Never the less you cannot say something is 100% reliable when it clearly is not. It may have been in your case but that does not happen to everyone.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

Thank you so much for that post. I have spanish but not confident in using it at times and certainly not to ask for medical help. Since his unexpected death I have said the two things needed when living in foreign country is a good sound basis of the language and a will. They will not make everything better but sure will help.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

I think that in the emergency situation your second language is difficult to bring to the forfront of your mind because your mind is in such a whirl with what is happening. In that situation it is hard enough saying your name and where you live in English let alone Spanish but I agree with you that it is important to at least have the basics and I also agree regarding the will.

Sorry that you suffered in this way, if you ever want to offload feel free to e-mail me. I was a counsellor in the UK for CRUISE so I promise not to say anything inappropriate.

Rosemary

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

I know someone that used it and was passed around like playing pass the parcel, no one knew the area, ambulance arrived after about half an hour, they live about five mins from the hospital.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

CW. I am so sorry to hear of your loss.

Our situation was bad but nowhere near what you experienced. I cannot even image what you went through.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

there are plenty of cases cited in the British media about failing emergency services, reatction times and mistakes.

I personally have heard some terrible tales, but there does not seem to be a much attention drawn to them, a close family friend lost her leg to gangreen, whilst she was under the local health centre for what started out as a blister.

It was getting worse and worse, but no one thought to send her to the hospital untill it was too late to save the leg.

No follow up,no inquiry to make sure that it did not happen again, in the UK this type of incident is what keeps the newspapers full.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

I genuinely do sympathize with the very tragic incidents posted but am at a loss as to how they can come under the heading `where to move to in Spain' Perhaps Spanish Job started this post to see how many tangents he could create. From skate parks in Spain to gangrene in the UK. Anyone seen such a diversion from an original topic in so few posts?

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

The gangrene incident was in Spain not the Uk.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

Errrr and your purpose of posting ? Not related to the OP post at all. At least we are talking about events that have happened in Spain and are relevant if you have no or little spanish.

Yes I have seen such deviation, it is fairly normal and usually the thread goes back on topic.

Re: Where to move to in Spain
 

I knew what you meant, but perhaps they couldn't believe such a thing could happen in Spain!;);)