Hello My Darlings,
I'm stuck in bed today bored, bored, bored, funny really 'cos when I was working my backside off 6 days a week 16 hours a day there is nothing I would dream of more than time to lay around in bed all day...fast forward to now and I can, but not 'cos I want to. Life is never simple is it?
So stuck in bed I thought I would catch up on some shows that I have been meaning to watch.
One of them was about my beloved Spain.
Spain is always a sure fired way of cheering me up and making me feel good. One day I will get back.
One of the shows I caught was about British people leaving it all behind and going off to live in Spain and was in fact a return show to see how they had all got on.
It was 10 years since they had made the show and in all honesty they had all done well.
No surprises there then, as Spain has a wonderful way of embracing people who want to e self employed and go for it.
What was a shocker for me was that of all the people who went and there were 8 couples and 2 singles, so 18 people in total, only the singles had bothered to learn Spanish.
How can you move to a country that speaks another language to yours and be so blooming ignorant as to not bother to even learn the basics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One woman actually said that she had never needed to speak Spanish as she actually never met any Spanish people, due to the fact that all her friends around her were English and all the shops she went to were owned by English people, the kids go to international school and even her cleaner was English.
God I was embarrassed watching it.
How can you move to another country and not embrace the culture, the food, their lifestyle and the language!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On a lighter note....I do speak Spanish, badly but at least I speak it. I actually read and write it far far better than I speak it, but that's mostly I have no one to practice my bad Spanish with.
I would rather attempt to speak another language and make a fool of myself and be laughed at than appear ignorant.
Although last time we were in Granada in Spain, a very nice elderly Spanish gentlemen said that I was very good at it and had a good accent for it. But I think he was flirting with me and it was fun to flirt back with an 80yr old and be told what a lovely "girl" I was.
I'm not sure whose day got made out of that one, but I still laugh at it.
Much love
Lia
xx
I love it! I agree with you though, why not, and how could they not, embrace the culture and learn the language? Spain looks like an amazing place to say the least. I have to chuckle a little, because just yesterday, out of the blue, hubby asked me to order Rosetta Stone - Spanish, so he could learn how to speak it.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you here Lia.
ReplyDeleteEven when I visit a country for a few days I'll learn Hello and Thank You at least. It's so important not to use British ignorance as a way to get by.
xx
Well Lia, I have a fun story to tell you about American tv. We do have BBC and love to watch it. But there are times we wish that they had subtitles to explain what some of what is being said means. Oh, and if it someone with a 'thick' Britsh or Irish accent, forget it! We'll say they might be speaking English but it's not
ReplyDeleteAmerican English ;o)
Though I found it funny that when I went to France, I found more people speaking English than French.
I have had German exchange students in the past, and they tell me that I could go anywhere in Germany and I would find someone who can talk English. Of course the students I had all learned "Queen's" English and we had to 'undo' some of what they learned ;o) (jk)
You long to go to Spain and I long to go to England. I bought a book called "British English--A to Zed" so I could speak to the natives. I got the DVD of "Gosford Park" after having seen the film. I watched the DVD with subtitles and was surprised how much dialog I had missed. I follow several blogs of Brits, so does this count as learning a foreign language?
ReplyDeleteBless himself's heart--he's endeavoured to learn the language. *laughing* As a Brit, he's struggled with the cultural and language barriers. I find it to be great fun, actually--watching him stumble and look at me to interpret....watching the folks talking to him look at me to interpret....LOL
ReplyDeleteWhen he's saying 'garbage can' and 'gas', I reserve all rights to laugh my arse off! ;-)
Before I went to Spain (long time ago) I took a crash course in Spanish! Yep, I'm definitely one of those people who just need to have some basic conversation down before I entering a foreign country..., with a few exceptions though. Didn't bother to learn even one word of Chinese before I went there.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you here, Lia, and most of the French people around me would too. No point in going to a place to live, and not absorbing the local culture and language.
ReplyDelete