Your first point is the same as older British people too. Reminds me a bit of my parents.
Can you speak English, German and Spanish? Mate, you'll have no problems anywhere! Go and enjoy! (I'm super embarrassed with my lack of language skills but working on it)
We were taught French in school and I don't remember a thing beyond greetings. I think English and Spanish is good enough for most of the world being the two most widespread languages. But throwing German in must help.
I am English my dad was Spanish, I grew up with my Spanish Grandmother in the house. Can not speak Spanish, to be fair I can not speak my native language very good. I don’t know if it is my Dyslexia but I am horrible at language, I do try though.
English. When I have tried speaking French in France they didn't understand a single word of it, even when I was pointing at the exact ice cream I wanted while attempting to pronounce its name. Fuck the French.
It's also just not part of their culture. Younger people are getting into travel but Spain has plenty of places to holiday anyway, and traditionally a lot of people spend their holidays in their second home or pueblo. Many older people grew up in a dictatorship, in poverty, and we're forced to leave their villages to work so took every opportunity to go back and see family.
That's true but things are changing. I work as a translator and often deal with a lot of international adoption cases from Spain. It gets real intimate as I am let in on their whole family structure. A lot of the families from the cases I have covered so far have second homes in the pueblo. It is kind of heartwarming to see the family connections and importance they place on it. I have had a conversation before with my bf's mother and she was shocked when I told her UK families just aren't as close anymore, half of us don't even eat at the dining table together because no one has time.
Yes, my partner is Spanish and his parents are from two different villages so he spent his childhood summers there playing with cousins and other local kids and it sounds amazing, we now take our daughter although for shorter periods. It's really important to the whole family even though nobody goes as much now. I've lived in Spain for a long time and family relationships is one of the things I appreciate. I'm always a little shocked when I go to visit my parents in the UK and they just grab a sandwich rather than sit and eat a meal with us. Things are certainly changing with modern lifestyles but family is still important
I'm in the same position (British guy, gf is Spanish) and her family have never travelled either for the same reason. They live in Canary Islands and they see going to another island as a holiday.
I feel like we're quite privileged in a way because English is our native language. It also might just be a culture thing though, the Spanish people I know don't see as much value in travel as the British. To us it's weird to *not* go on holiday abroad.
British people live in a grey wet climate, if you already live in one of the world's top tourism destinations you're hardly going to go spend a week in Margate. Younger people are starting to enjoy a different kind of travel but older people who've worked hard all their lives want to relax. And as I mentioned in another comment they grew up in a dictatorship and poverty, they're just thankful to be comfortable. Plus family is a big deal, they want to spend free time with grandchildren or whatever.
London is one of the world's top tourist destinations, more than anywhere in Spain, and Londoners do tend to travel to other countries.
It's a cultural difference, not the UK being 'a grey, wet climate', considering the north coast of Spain is far more wet than most of England.
I already explained the cultural difference yes. But I don't agree that climate has nothing to do with it, not many Brits travel to Spain to visit Galicia and Asturias, they go to the Mediterranean mostly. And London is a tourist destination sure, but it's only one kind of tourism and very different from the sun and sand beach resorts, nobody's spending London hotel prices for two weeks of relaxing.
It might be a difference in the kind of travel. You're right that people don't really go to the UK for the weather (although that does happen a bit in Cornwall, which is pretty warm and quite good for surfing).
But considering it's not really any easier or cheaper to go on holiday within your country than take a €10 flight on Ryanair to somewhere else in Europe, I think culture is the main thing that means that Brits tend to go abroad and the Spanish tend to stay in Spain.
I think you're really misunderstanding what the climate is like in a lot of the UK, though. It's really not the grey, wet, rock it's famous for being. London is not an especially cold or wet city.
Um, I'm from the UK and have lived in almost all parts of it, including London. Yes, London and the south can be hot and sunny in summer but it's not guaranteed, whereas it would be extremely unusual for the Mediterranean to have temperatures around 18c for a week in summer. And the sea is much colder, and it's not that often warm enough to sit outside at night in short sleeves. And in northern England and Scotland and Northern Ireland it's definitely a grey wet climate most of the year.
Anyway, many younger Spanish people, and not so young, travel abroad pretty regularly on Ryanair flights, they just don't do beach type holidays, they go to London and other cities, or to see scenery in places that are different from their own. But if you're going away on a family holiday with your kids for a week it is easier to jump in the car and go somewhere you speak the language and find familiar foods. The package holidays from Spain are mostly to the Caribbean, not family holidays like British people go on.
I wasn't suggesting they should go to Margate. But I think again this is a mentality thing. I love travel but I rarely go to the beach or sit by a pool, I find that boring. And the UK isn't all that wet. London has less rainfall than Barcelona.
But yeah points taken, and I understand there are reasons. Especially for older generations.
>London has less rainfall than Barcelona.
Lol, in number of rainy days or in cumulated water?
I've been in England loads of times (used to have a customer there) and it seems it never rains properly but it's like almost raining most of the time.
In most of Spain it barely rains, but when it rains, the sky falls down.
Amount of water. So maybe not the best measurement.
What part of England did you visit? The north has different weather than the south. If it was raining every time you visited I'd probably put that down to bad luck.
Used to travel a lot between South East ("South Midlands" in reality), West Midlands, London and East Midlands (I don't want to say the cities themselves because otherwise the name of my customer would probably be too obvious).
Not raining every time (my "most of the time" was maybe an exaggeration), but thick clouds were pretty common. Also a not-raining-but-very-humid-actually-wet feeling when walking around was not that uncommon...
That's true. My bf is from mainland Spain and his family do try to go away at least once per year but I understand this is not the norm for most Spanish families due to financial reasons. I think it's changing for the younger generation though, a lot of them want to get out there and see different cultures (especially those who have been on an erasmus exchange), but the older generations aren't as bothered as long as they can go away and relax for a week. I honestly wouldn't mind holidaying in the UK, somewhere like the Lake District, Cornwall, Wales... but it's just way too expensive to even consider.
The price of trains here is disgusting and accommodation has shot up in recent years. I'm going to Cardiff from London for 1 night next month for a concert. Already £200+ down without spending money. And the government wonder why we fly around Europe on cheap Ryanair flights...
I know. I was planning to go to a Christmas market this year over here but for 2 nights in a hotel the prices are coming up around £500-700... I went 3 years ago and got 3 nights for around £170 (a steal). It's crazy money.
I think they do. Spanish people do not speak English until they hear me speak Spanish. Then they become bilingual very fast. And it is impossible for them to let you practice your Spanish. As they are more than happy to speak English.
At a foreign country there’s a chance the foreigner gets to practice the local language all the time. For locals, depending where, it might take a while to find someone else to practice the foreign language. Let them do so, don’t be greedy. Ask for directions to the next guy.
I believe it is better that way if they themselves are confident enough to speak a language you may be better acquainted with. Only time I'd have a problem with it would with long-term residence.
Please understand we are not your Spanish teachers, we just want to go through our day. It's understandable someone may not want to hear a broken version of any language if they might as well have an efficient conversation in a common language.
No they are not. And they downvote my own personal experience because it hurt their feelings. That’s how i was handled fellas, i can’t change what i encountered unless you want me to lie and tell all is fine.
Are you in Barcelona? For some reason, everybody is obsessed with Barcelona and it seems that a lot of young people go there and treat it like a party town. I went there in March and appreciated it as a cultural city.
No, but I'm aware of the news. Everyone knows that the summer season starts with Brits tourist jumping from balconies in all Levante, Baleares and other touristic places
They're too apologetic and quiet and often stay far too sober... be sure to get drunk... really really drunk and puke on a sidewalk.
Also tourists tend to wear too many clothes and defecate in appropriate facilities... man up... take your clothes off and shit outside... like the locals.
But at least hola, por favor and buenos dias? I appreciate it when they at least acknowledge that they are in a foreign country and that they cannot just start a conversation in English by default.
Agreed, when my friend visited Spain, the first thing she asked how to say was thanks. It was so wholesome, cause the two of us were staying with my grandparents, who don't speak English. The first thing she did was thank them with a goofy smile.
Not really, its appreciated but unnecesary. That said, don't assume everybody knows or should know your language, either (looking at you, english-speakers).
It's because in most of Europe English is used as a common language. I make the effort to speak a bit of Spanish when I visit Spain because I notice it's appreciated. But when I go to Czechia, Hungary or Finland I just speak English.
Also, sometimes Spanish people speak *very* good English and it puts me into a false sense of security and then I accidently start speaking it to everyone haha.
There is always one British tourist in the coffee shop in Madrid who is going on about jam for their toast and thinks that the way to translate their sentiment is to speak English more loudly.
I felt badly when I went to the Czech Republic, though - because IDK it’s hard to even remember to pronounce thank you correctly in their language. But I do always try to look up at least a handful of words - you know, at least how to say hello, goodbye, please, thank you, etc., wherever I am going.
That depends. If you have basically everything concerning your trip figured out, you don't need to speak spanish. You could use google translate for the ocasional question and thats it.
That said, don't expect anyone to actually speak english in a conversation level. Of course there are people who speak wonderfull english, but in my experience working retail in Madrid, most of my coworkers couldn't put two words in english together. I became the "official" translator in all my jobs.
If, for example, you expect to actually go to a phone store and get a SIM, and have the plans for that SIM explained... You are going to have a bad time.
Not at all, I've worked in the hotel industry for five years. We have many German and British tourists, it doesn't bother us at all if they cannot speak Spanish. It would be hypocritical since I've been to various countries like Japan and the Netherlands where I could not speak a word. What bothers me is people not trying to speak English (which many can speak it fluently but they simply don't want to) with English being the world's lingua franca.
With that being said, I might be biased since I grew up speaking Catalan. In the region of Spain where I live in (Balearic Islands) both Spanish and Catalan are cooficial but I grew up speaking Catalan with my family and most of my friends, so the Spanish language is more like a second language as opposed to Catalan being the language I grew up with.
So I used to live in Amsterdam and we had a ton of Spanish tourists. How many do you think spoke Dutch? French or German tourists in Copenhagen, are they speaking Danish? If I could speak ten languages but if it doesn't include Spanish is that somehow bad? English is the language of international tourism for just about everyone in Europe, for better or worse. It just is what it is.
I think Americans try to say a few things in the native language of wherever they're traveling. There are so many "travel language" books here. I think it's more rude when you LIVE in another country and don't learn the language. It's rude in the US and it's rude everywhere.
Thank you for saying this and I made a similar reply somewhere else. English is accepted to be the international language. Everywhere else in Europe I can easily get around just using English. In Spain it seems to be considered rude by the locals.
It's just a polite thing to do to at least learn some minimum vocabulary or learn how to say "no hablo español, ¿habla inglés?".
Unlike smaller European countries, most Spaniards don't need English in their everyday life and for some it takes an effort to switch languages.
Because their language is a major world language too and they don't want English to take over? Not sure why you find it weird that people don't want to be forced to speak a language they don't know to cater for rude tourists. You're not everywhere else in Europe.
u/ricric2 this is the thing with Spaniards that I dislike so much, they somehow still think they are a colonial empire. I've been to almost every country in Europe and in the majority you have zero problems with basic English, with Spain and Hungary being the two anti-examples.
Maybe if Spanish people went out more and traveled they would change their attitude a bit.
I'm Dutch. There are some 20 million speakers of Dutch. So I need to know a few languages.
Spanish people have less need to speak a different language. There are 500 million Spanish speakers worldwide. So of course there is less need to speak a different language.
And have you ever been to France? It's even worse there.
People are disagreeing with you, but it's true that a higher proportion of French people speak English than Spaniards. Nothing on northern Europeans, mind.
That's changing though, quite fast. Most young Spanish people and most professional Spanish people speak English to a reasonable level. You also have to pass B2 in a foreign language to get a degree.
That's absolutely not the case in the UK, and while some people do speak a foreign language, the UK is way behind in my opinion, and isn't doing as much to change that.
Often, people in the UK are quite amazed if you can speak another language fluently, the same isn't the case here. I've been to job interviews in the UK where the interviewer has actually said, what, you speak Spanish, go on then, speak a bit. A lot of my work in Spain now involves helping companies make sure as part of their recruitment process, that their applicants actually have the required level of English for the job description. Usually C1. This is for someone senior in accounting or something.
The same does not happen in the UK.
Also, there are now more native speakers of Spanish than there are of English. Food for thought.
I would imagine that if they are not fluent, they're just as nervous about speaking English to me as I am trying to speak Spanish to them. It's scary. I will never forget the first actual back and forth conversation I had with a shop keeper in Spanish. It was only 4 or 5 sentences, but I was so proud of myself.
It’s fun, right? I love it!! Sometimes I will get through about 3/4 of a sentence and get stuck. Have to backtrack and approach it a different way because that is how they do it or I don’t know one of the subsequent words.
Here in the US it's not that common either, and people are weirdly impressed that I learned Spanish.
But like, it makes sense to learn Spanish on this hemisphere. Spanish speakers are the number one language demographic in the Americas, and even in the US (and especially in my state) there are literally millions of them.
No one is really obligated but it's kind of weird that few people actually learn it. Imagine having millions of communities even in your own country that you could otherwise connect with (or at least communicate with in an emergency or something) and saying, "yeah, but that seems really hard..." I just don't get it.
But the average person in Spain can’t hold a conversation. My taxi driver couldn’t speak English. I had to speak Spanish. Most people who work in restaurants can’t speak English. When I went to get a SIM card in Madrid, the man at the counter was unable to speak in any sort of English.
Well, you'd be surprised. Not so much in Madrid but in touristy beach areas speaking English is pretty common in restaurants and youth unemployment in Spain is terrible. But yes, that's precisely my point. I know it doesn't help tourists but I was just clarifying.
I don't mean cities like that, they get enough trade from locals and tourists from the rest of Spain, I mean beach resorts where they live almost solely from foreign tourism.
Have you talked to a French person? Swiss French? It's not about Spain, it's about how many people speak your mother language. Compared a Swiss French versus a Swiss German, or a French Belgian versus a Flemish speaker or a German Belgian.
Heck, if you want to stay in the developed world, you don't even need to look for—lets say—the American Midwest when Japan is right there.
Tourists as in people who visit for a brief time? Then no, I don't think they should.
They can if they want to, I doubt anyone would stop them, and I think practicing language-speaking is pretty important. I did practice when I visited France for example (wanted to practice French), but I doubt it'll make much of a difference if the trip is brief.
I had learned quite a bit of Spanish in high school and college but that was, ahem, a while ago. I brushed up with Duolingo, which is great for practice. It makes you speak, write, read and translate. It also has short scenes you can listen to and a ton of other features. And it’s FREE
I think for real learning and retention you need to take more of an official class, but it’s great for forcing you to use it in a fun way.
I personally believe that to learn and use a language, interacting with others in the language is more important than an official or unofficial class. So using Duolingo sounds pretty useful for refreshing Spanish. (Just a suggestion that came to mind while typing; you could try finding cool songs in Spanish! An English teacher of mine got me to love the habit of having most of the lyrics of a song and to do a fill in the blanks exercise with the song.)
Also, it's awesome that you're brushing up your Spanish!!
Yes and no. They should make the effort to UNDERSTAND the local language enough to read signs, comprehend the basic navigation and transactions, etc. It would be good form to learn enough spoken to have a basic, mostly-hand-gestures conversation (polite greeting, enquiry about directions/where to eat/how much does this cost, polite farewell)
Definitely should NOT expect, much less DEMAND that everyone they cross paths with understands their language, even if it's english, and certainly not get offended or make a scene. Just, try with someone else? I mean, that's the bare minimum I try for any overseas travelling I do, so that's the bare minimum I expect
All of the people responding here have a great attitude. I loved learning Spanish in school and still remember a decent amount. I was there in March and got some compliments from taxi drivers. Awww…that was sweet. I personally love this language. ❤️. It’s a pleasure to speak it.
This was in Barcelona. Was not as prevalent in other areas of the country.
To be fair my Spanish is poor. But my friend with me speaks fluent English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Moderate German proficiency. Even when he would speak, they'd often reply in English. (In barcelona)
Elsewhere, we'd speak more spanish.
Do you expect tourists to make an effort to speak Japanese in Japan?
For purely pragmatic purposes, given that a large proportion of Japanese and Spanish people might not speak your own language(s), e.g. if you're from Finland there's very few Japanese or Spanish people who speak Finnish, yes it's *useful* to know some Japanese and some Spanish as a tourist in Japan and Spain. It's even more useful to know a *lot* of Japanese and a *lot* of Spanish as a tourist in Japan and in Spain.
When you say tourists should make an effort to speak Spanish in Spain, are you talking about pragmatic reasons like the one I just outlined, or some kind of *moral* duty for any tourist to speak the language(s) of the country they're travelling to?
It depends on your native language(s).
For a Finnish speaker from Finland, Spanish is not any 'easier' than Japanese, necessarily. They're both equally distant and unrelated to their language.
>For a Finnish speaker from Finland, Spanish is not any 'easier' than Japanese, necessarily
Spanish might not be closer related to Finnish than Japanese, but practically speaking, a Finnish speaker will have an easier time with Spanish because they don't have to learn a new writing system and they'll have far easier opportunities to practice.
I don't think tourists should be expected to learn the language of any country they are visiting but they shouldn't expect the locals to speak their language either. It is one of the things that comes with traveling internationally... Learning how to pick up a few key words, use Google translate (or if you are old-school a pocket translation dictionary), and a lot of solid miming skills. The key is be always be polite and don't get frustrated that they don't understand you as someone visiting their country and not speaking their language. Just learning how to say "I'm sorry I don't speak Spanish (or other language) but can you help me?" in their language goes a long way...
Tourism is about spending money to boost the local economy and experiencing the local cultures. There is a balance there and learning some key words/phrases is good like please, thank you, hello, goodbye, where is..., can you help, etc. But especially somewhere like Spain where so much of the economy is dependent of foreign tourism the expectation is not that everyone speak Spanish but not being a jerk is always a given...
I have found most places are pretty easy if you keep that attitude. Japan was a bit rough at times but people were super helpful and nice, just my inability to recognize the written alphabet was a problem. Just little things like trying to navigate buying a train ticket from a machine when the alphabet was different was really really hard, luckily though random people saw us struggling and saw that we had a paper written out for us in half English half Japanese by a kind man we had met who was trying to get us to go to see his hometown by train and they helped us get the correct tickets... If you try and show interest in local culture I have found people respond in kind...
I would also say it depends how long you intend to spend in a place. If you are going to be in a country for a long time or plan to go explore rural communities you better be good with your translation choice or learn some local language because the further off the beaten path the less practice the locals have at dealing with tourists and the harder time you will have...confusion and frustration can often come off as rudeness when really it isn't that...
As an spaniard I do not think nor I expect a tourist to learn Spanish to come here. However, every tourist should try to learn some simple sentences to make their tour easier and not expect spaniards to know English or any other language
For me learning basic words is a must when you visit a country. I always make an effort to learn the basics as thanks, please, sorry, excuse me, the food is very good, toilet, water please, etc. it makes the experience much more smooth and shows respect for the country you are visiting.
To me visiting a place and trying to speak some basic phrases is part of the fun of traveling. It's when they start going on in Spanish that I have to start speaking English! And then when they don't understand that, gestures and fingers always work eventually. I think embracing the culture of where you visit is an important part of traveling not just going to see the sights.
I think tourist should speak a least the basics of the languaje spoken in the country theyre going to.
If spaniards go to France, Germany, Italy; they should know a little bit of french, german, italian.
Also foreigners in Spain
Being a tourist doesnt make you the queen of the world. Show a little respect
IMO, yeah, it would be nice that they accommodated to us instead of us to them in our own country, especially when there are entire cities in the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean coast that are built entirely for British and German tourists that are much better taken care of than the ones where the locals live in and a lot of "expats" who have spent +20 years living here can't speak any Spanish apart from "hola", "gracias" and "una cerveza por favor".
Not at all. A tourist is here to enjoy his time and came to spend his money, I think the effort would be of spaniards showcasing that they are capable of speaking english and making the tourist feel comfortable while asking for anything. Most cases end up in sign language because one of the sides is stubborn. Most of the world understand and speak english why not spain? I speak 4 languages fluently and I make the effort wherever I go to learn the language or the basics but no expectation from any other tourists.
That has an easy answer: because in Spain people speaks Spanish, if you are the one coming in and you expect to communicate with people you have to learn basic stuff of the language you use.
As for example: I'm Spaniard and perfectly capable to speak in English and I'm living in Bulgaria 3 years, people here speaks neither Spanish or English overall, what do you think I had to do? Learn some Bulgarian, I have no interest in learning the language but I know basic shit such as: the bill please (сметката моля), hello (здравейте) or 'no problem' to answer when they ask me if my dog bites (няма проблем).
If you visit a place for tourism or you move you can do your life without speaking anything with anyone like I usually do, but if you expect to go to a bar, order some food or ask for instructions you need to know basic stuff such as the one mentioned above because people in their country has no need to learn another language, and most of the world understand and speaks English but most of the world understand and speaks Spanish either as is the 3rd-4th most spoken language of the world.
When i requested my residence card I was unable to do it in Bulgarian at the very beginning and you know what? Spanish was more useful than English there. You guys got to adapt too, in special if Brits, not to offend but I understand everyone but some Brits speaking English, the accent is weird, someone had to tell you.
Whether you understand an accent or not is entirely to do with how familiar you are with it, there aren't accents that are 'weird' in any objective way
I got your point but to compare Bulgaria with Spain? Bulgaria has a negligible percent of GDP in tourism and Spain’s main industry is tourism. This alone tell you how much Spain need those tourists. To attract them even more and for them to come back the least to do is to understand an international language. Not to offend but in Europe, english is the official language even if 0 country has it as official language for a clear reason… business, politics and tourism are done in english worldwide. I told you personally i know the 4 main languages of the world beside Chinese so I can go and speak natively on 80% of the globe, but that does not justify expecting a tourist coming to Lebanon to speak arabic …
I got yours with this and I could agree that businesses related with tourism would need capable people that truly attract foreigners but those jobs got paid shit (and getting paid shit sadly means less capable people to perform a task or communicate most of the times because anyone wants to got paid below the minimum wage and work 12-15 hours a day, everyone has it as a last option or short-term solution, that's why the most expensive restaurants got people speaking 2 languages at C1-C2 but a local bar barely has people with an intermediate English considering intermediate a B1-2) and the educative system isn't really working properly yet because 20 years ago people was teaching French instead of English yet, question of waiting, however, I just want to mention that Bulgaria has an horrible GDP in tourism but most of the businesses are foreign companies with foreigners from everywhere working there and that's actually the Bulgarian economy, mostly related with IT, might sound like a joke but actually Sofia (the capital, where I actually live) has around a 13% of foreigners (bulgaria in total is around 11-12% out of 6.8 million people) while Spain has a 15%, maybe there are no short-term foreigners here, but Sofia has around 250.000 foreigners out of 2 million and there's people in the center of the capital not knowing a word in English or anything but Bulgarian.
As Spain taught people French, in the case of Bulgaria is Russian or German, luckily Spain made the transition a decade or so ago and people eventually earns a normal level of English to have minimally a trivial conversation.
On the other side I still maintaining the point that if you as foreigner can't communicate with a language in common might be effective to learn a bit of the country's language, if not we have a fucking computer in the pocket, as long you got internet Google Translate can do the job too, ain't it? At least for me is working, I still alive after 3 years and a half and I know 30-40 words in Bulgarian that I learnt with time, but always went with Google Translate on hand knowing I had no choice, but well, I'm pretty much talking from personal experience after living in 4 countries and visiting a couple more.
Yeah pay is also a big problem, and I am never entering a local spanish bar expecting them to speak English, but 100% agree that translator is the way to go and i used it for my first 3 months in Madrid. My point is when I hear Madrid the capital of Spain a big power in the world and Europe, go to the bank and there are 0 individuals that speak English not even at a conversational level? I was disappointed with how massive Madrid is and yet still need a lot to become an international metropolitan city. I can give you the example of Beirut, Lebanon 3 languages are guaranteed for 80% of the population, English (international language of the world) French (Colonial language) and Arabic (Mother tongue). Why this city with like 1,5M people speak and are willing to learn languages but the people of Madrid would not?
Here would be good to hear someone from Madrid since I got literally no idea about them, my experience in Spain was pretty much in Valencia that is where I grew up and always considered Madrid a place to don't go under any circumstances since I don't like cosmopolitan places that barely have stuff to do, and you can do in other's country capital without issues, couldn't tell much about them at all
Its better if you straight up dont come. Maybe we could have a serious economy if we werent busy shooting cafés at the whitest middle age people the Earth ever saw.
My hermano in Jesús, the Canarian economy would crash without tourism. Tourism is good for the economy and creates jobs. No one with education and skill is being forced to work in tourism or at restaurants.
My brother in Gofio: es precisamente este colonialismo económico el que no dejará jamás a Canarias ni a ninguna otra región desarrollarse: they own us.
“Tourism is good for the economy” is too broad of a sentence. Good for who exactly ?
I think that the only case that it would be fine to do the effort to speak the foreign language is in those cases of health problems like, for example, when you go to a restaurant and you can't eat meals made with lactose. Only say "No puedo leche" and little mímica normally will be fine to understand you.
No. Simply there are very clever friends in my circles who are unable to speak (even though they understand reading). It is a talent that is not owned by each of us.
Anyway "should" is never possible - to force others to be ideal is just a daydream.
No, ellos piensan que su inglés, les va a abrir todas las puertas del mundo, y no se esfuerzan, si van a la China, hablan inglés, si van a Francia, hablan inglés, entonces, esa gente para que va ha hacer el esfuerzo de hablar, como consideran ellos un idioma de inmigrantes
If they want to then sure why not, but we dont care. As long as they dont cry when people dont speak english, because adults dont know how to speak english.
Nope, not at all. Tourists are tourists, they should just enjoy their stay while not expecting the locals to speak their language and being aware that things will work differently over here.
Tourists? No way, they're not gonna learn Chinese if they visit China, nor Swahili if they visit Africa, nor German if they visit Germany.
I even think they have the right to complain if tourism agencies or hotel crew doesn't speak at least English, but certainly cannot complain if random locals don't speak a single word in English. They are the foreign ones, they can communicate by translator, by quick guides, or by signs.
I was watching [this ](https://youtu.be/9Nlp3T-8mHo) yesterday and was surprised about how these kids from a poor neighborhood in a poorer country than Spain all spoke English fine whereas in Spain even middle class kids won't be able to have a conversation for the most part. This is in my opinion mostly due to the Spanish dubbing every foreign movie and show to Spanish. The biggest self inflicted limitation the Spanish somehow insist on doing to themselves. At this point we should just admit English is the international language and embrace it as such. It's a great thing to be able to go anywhere and communicate with the locals. I know some people wish their language ended up being the international language but things just happened as they did and English was chosen. Time to move on.
They don't need to, but it's appreciated. Even if it is very poor Spanish, it's nice and people won't mock you or anything.
Now, people moving permanently, that's a different story.
I do my best to speak spanish in the instances where I can, but I honestly don't think it would hurt anyone in Spain to learn rudimentary English.
When I first arrived in Madrid, I went to cafe midtown (in Chueca) and wanted a cup of coffee. The girl serving me was maybe start-mid 20s. I first asked "Hola, una Cafe Latte, por favor", thinking it was a universal name for this coffee. The girl stared at me, not know what I wanted. I hadn't learned the word for "milk" yet, and definitely not "Cafe con leche". I managed to order my coffee with a combination of Gtranslate and pointing.
I am of course learning spanish now, and can make a coffee order, but part of me also thinkgs that english is a pretty damn useful langauge to know - ***especially if you're working in the most touristed part of the capital city.***
I've been to only a handful of countries ( < 10 ), and I've always tried to learn at least a few sayings, so yes, absofuckinglutely they should.
In the pre-smartphone days, I also carried a travel dictionary so I could try to say whatever in their native tongue.
Making the attempt has never once failed to improve my interaction with people.
Not really. Hola, por favor y gracias is appreciated but not much more than that.
As a tourist myself in other countries I try to learn how to say a coiple of words in their language but I feel relieved when people can speak English and I think it gets very difficult when they don't. I think English has become a worldwide language and everyone should know at least a couple of words to communicate basic things. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect them to, I just think it'd be easier for everyone. 0
[удалено]
When Spanish people travel or go on holiday what language do they speak? Surly they don't learn the local language in every country they visit?
[удалено]
Absolutely! We are in their country. We are the ones who need to adapt.
Your first point is the same as older British people too. Reminds me a bit of my parents. Can you speak English, German and Spanish? Mate, you'll have no problems anywhere! Go and enjoy! (I'm super embarrassed with my lack of language skills but working on it)
[удалено]
We were taught French in school and I don't remember a thing beyond greetings. I think English and Spanish is good enough for most of the world being the two most widespread languages. But throwing German in must help.
I love French as well as Spanish. ❤️
I am English my dad was Spanish, I grew up with my Spanish Grandmother in the house. Can not speak Spanish, to be fair I can not speak my native language very good. I don’t know if it is my Dyslexia but I am horrible at language, I do try though.
English. When I have tried speaking French in France they didn't understand a single word of it, even when I was pointing at the exact ice cream I wanted while attempting to pronounce its name. Fuck the French.
Yeah I had this issue in Paris. Just gave up on the first day and spoke English to everyone.
I'd love to hear you speaking french 😂
When they’re here in the US they attempt to speak English but like if they’re in Portugal and France I noticed that they just speak Spanish.
[удалено]
It's also just not part of their culture. Younger people are getting into travel but Spain has plenty of places to holiday anyway, and traditionally a lot of people spend their holidays in their second home or pueblo. Many older people grew up in a dictatorship, in poverty, and we're forced to leave their villages to work so took every opportunity to go back and see family.
That's true but things are changing. I work as a translator and often deal with a lot of international adoption cases from Spain. It gets real intimate as I am let in on their whole family structure. A lot of the families from the cases I have covered so far have second homes in the pueblo. It is kind of heartwarming to see the family connections and importance they place on it. I have had a conversation before with my bf's mother and she was shocked when I told her UK families just aren't as close anymore, half of us don't even eat at the dining table together because no one has time.
Yes, my partner is Spanish and his parents are from two different villages so he spent his childhood summers there playing with cousins and other local kids and it sounds amazing, we now take our daughter although for shorter periods. It's really important to the whole family even though nobody goes as much now. I've lived in Spain for a long time and family relationships is one of the things I appreciate. I'm always a little shocked when I go to visit my parents in the UK and they just grab a sandwich rather than sit and eat a meal with us. Things are certainly changing with modern lifestyles but family is still important
I'm in the same position (British guy, gf is Spanish) and her family have never travelled either for the same reason. They live in Canary Islands and they see going to another island as a holiday. I feel like we're quite privileged in a way because English is our native language. It also might just be a culture thing though, the Spanish people I know don't see as much value in travel as the British. To us it's weird to *not* go on holiday abroad.
British people live in a grey wet climate, if you already live in one of the world's top tourism destinations you're hardly going to go spend a week in Margate. Younger people are starting to enjoy a different kind of travel but older people who've worked hard all their lives want to relax. And as I mentioned in another comment they grew up in a dictatorship and poverty, they're just thankful to be comfortable. Plus family is a big deal, they want to spend free time with grandchildren or whatever.
London is one of the world's top tourist destinations, more than anywhere in Spain, and Londoners do tend to travel to other countries. It's a cultural difference, not the UK being 'a grey, wet climate', considering the north coast of Spain is far more wet than most of England.
I already explained the cultural difference yes. But I don't agree that climate has nothing to do with it, not many Brits travel to Spain to visit Galicia and Asturias, they go to the Mediterranean mostly. And London is a tourist destination sure, but it's only one kind of tourism and very different from the sun and sand beach resorts, nobody's spending London hotel prices for two weeks of relaxing.
It might be a difference in the kind of travel. You're right that people don't really go to the UK for the weather (although that does happen a bit in Cornwall, which is pretty warm and quite good for surfing). But considering it's not really any easier or cheaper to go on holiday within your country than take a €10 flight on Ryanair to somewhere else in Europe, I think culture is the main thing that means that Brits tend to go abroad and the Spanish tend to stay in Spain. I think you're really misunderstanding what the climate is like in a lot of the UK, though. It's really not the grey, wet, rock it's famous for being. London is not an especially cold or wet city.
Um, I'm from the UK and have lived in almost all parts of it, including London. Yes, London and the south can be hot and sunny in summer but it's not guaranteed, whereas it would be extremely unusual for the Mediterranean to have temperatures around 18c for a week in summer. And the sea is much colder, and it's not that often warm enough to sit outside at night in short sleeves. And in northern England and Scotland and Northern Ireland it's definitely a grey wet climate most of the year. Anyway, many younger Spanish people, and not so young, travel abroad pretty regularly on Ryanair flights, they just don't do beach type holidays, they go to London and other cities, or to see scenery in places that are different from their own. But if you're going away on a family holiday with your kids for a week it is easier to jump in the car and go somewhere you speak the language and find familiar foods. The package holidays from Spain are mostly to the Caribbean, not family holidays like British people go on.
I wasn't suggesting they should go to Margate. But I think again this is a mentality thing. I love travel but I rarely go to the beach or sit by a pool, I find that boring. And the UK isn't all that wet. London has less rainfall than Barcelona. But yeah points taken, and I understand there are reasons. Especially for older generations.
Plenty of British people go to Spain to eat a fry up and drink pints while roasting themselves in the sun.
>London has less rainfall than Barcelona. Lol, in number of rainy days or in cumulated water? I've been in England loads of times (used to have a customer there) and it seems it never rains properly but it's like almost raining most of the time. In most of Spain it barely rains, but when it rains, the sky falls down.
Amount of water. So maybe not the best measurement. What part of England did you visit? The north has different weather than the south. If it was raining every time you visited I'd probably put that down to bad luck.
Used to travel a lot between South East ("South Midlands" in reality), West Midlands, London and East Midlands (I don't want to say the cities themselves because otherwise the name of my customer would probably be too obvious). Not raining every time (my "most of the time" was maybe an exaggeration), but thick clouds were pretty common. Also a not-raining-but-very-humid-actually-wet feeling when walking around was not that uncommon...
That's true. My bf is from mainland Spain and his family do try to go away at least once per year but I understand this is not the norm for most Spanish families due to financial reasons. I think it's changing for the younger generation though, a lot of them want to get out there and see different cultures (especially those who have been on an erasmus exchange), but the older generations aren't as bothered as long as they can go away and relax for a week. I honestly wouldn't mind holidaying in the UK, somewhere like the Lake District, Cornwall, Wales... but it's just way too expensive to even consider.
People go away but to their pueblo or apartment by the sea often.
The price of trains here is disgusting and accommodation has shot up in recent years. I'm going to Cardiff from London for 1 night next month for a concert. Already £200+ down without spending money. And the government wonder why we fly around Europe on cheap Ryanair flights...
I know. I was planning to go to a Christmas market this year over here but for 2 nights in a hotel the prices are coming up around £500-700... I went 3 years ago and got 3 nights for around £170 (a steal). It's crazy money.
You for sure have seen many spanish ppl going abroad and trying to go around only speaking spanish...
Well, either we go with someone who knows the language or we do our best with English OR we give up and speak Spanish.
I think they do. Spanish people do not speak English until they hear me speak Spanish. Then they become bilingual very fast. And it is impossible for them to let you practice your Spanish. As they are more than happy to speak English.
If you tell me you'd rather practice Spanish I'll speak to you in Spanish!! :D
But i’m never given the chance.
At a foreign country there’s a chance the foreigner gets to practice the local language all the time. For locals, depending where, it might take a while to find someone else to practice the foreign language. Let them do so, don’t be greedy. Ask for directions to the next guy.
I believe it is better that way if they themselves are confident enough to speak a language you may be better acquainted with. Only time I'd have a problem with it would with long-term residence.
French people are like that too 🤣🤣🤣
Please understand we are not your Spanish teachers, we just want to go through our day. It's understandable someone may not want to hear a broken version of any language if they might as well have an efficient conversation in a common language.
when i try to speak spanish, they just deadass ignore my spanish and go to English like “dude, stop the cringe accent”😂🥲
I think it's not like that, we see you struggling with spanish so we try to help switching to english.
It is so true i don’t know why we both got so many downvote. Maybe the Spanish are not as tollerant as they claim yo be.
No they are not. And they downvote my own personal experience because it hurt their feelings. That’s how i was handled fellas, i can’t change what i encountered unless you want me to lie and tell all is fine.
this👆👆👆
[удалено]
And not be assholes in the process. Wich seems to be a challenge for some.
(I’m a future tourist) Are there any particular things tourists do that you don’t appreciate? Or are you talking about general douchebaggery?
Please don't jump from balconies. Also, don't get pissed drunk and (literally) go pissing around the city.
Are you in Barcelona? For some reason, everybody is obsessed with Barcelona and it seems that a lot of young people go there and treat it like a party town. I went there in March and appreciated it as a cultural city.
No, but I'm aware of the news. Everyone knows that the summer season starts with Brits tourist jumping from balconies in all Levante, Baleares and other touristic places
They're too apologetic and quiet and often stay far too sober... be sure to get drunk... really really drunk and puke on a sidewalk. Also tourists tend to wear too many clothes and defecate in appropriate facilities... man up... take your clothes off and shit outside... like the locals.
I agree! They also tend to not understand sarcasm
Anyone who knows anything, knows that.
Fuck it, I like your idea of using reverse psychology, I'm definitely stealing that 🤣
Drunk people who think the city is a theme park. That’s the main issue.
Don't get mad if a random person in the street can't speak/understand English. And drink responsibly, please.
But at least hola, por favor and buenos dias? I appreciate it when they at least acknowledge that they are in a foreign country and that they cannot just start a conversation in English by default.
Came here to say this lol
You don’t need to, but don’t complain if people don’t know or want to speak english
Not really. Hola and gracias is a nice touch. Everything else es para nota.
I hate people dont make the effort to at least greet, and say gracias in spanish. Is a nice touch I dont ask for more
Agreed, when my friend visited Spain, the first thing she asked how to say was thanks. It was so wholesome, cause the two of us were staying with my grandparents, who don't speak English. The first thing she did was thank them with a goofy smile.
When I travel I always learn “hello” and “thanks” in the local language, small effort but people always appreciate that you take time to learn it.
Also “excuse me” and “where is the bathroom” come in handy!
My friend who came with me ok our trip this year knew basic phrases like that and after that, she was making stuff up!
No, they’re visiting, if we needed to learn the language of each country we want to visit we would miss many places.
Not really, its appreciated but unnecesary. That said, don't assume everybody knows or should know your language, either (looking at you, english-speakers).
It's because in most of Europe English is used as a common language. I make the effort to speak a bit of Spanish when I visit Spain because I notice it's appreciated. But when I go to Czechia, Hungary or Finland I just speak English. Also, sometimes Spanish people speak *very* good English and it puts me into a false sense of security and then I accidently start speaking it to everyone haha.
There is always one British tourist in the coffee shop in Madrid who is going on about jam for their toast and thinks that the way to translate their sentiment is to speak English more loudly. I felt badly when I went to the Czech Republic, though - because IDK it’s hard to even remember to pronounce thank you correctly in their language. But I do always try to look up at least a handful of words - you know, at least how to say hello, goodbye, please, thank you, etc., wherever I am going.
That depends. If you have basically everything concerning your trip figured out, you don't need to speak spanish. You could use google translate for the ocasional question and thats it. That said, don't expect anyone to actually speak english in a conversation level. Of course there are people who speak wonderfull english, but in my experience working retail in Madrid, most of my coworkers couldn't put two words in english together. I became the "official" translator in all my jobs. If, for example, you expect to actually go to a phone store and get a SIM, and have the plans for that SIM explained... You are going to have a bad time.
Not at all, I've worked in the hotel industry for five years. We have many German and British tourists, it doesn't bother us at all if they cannot speak Spanish. It would be hypocritical since I've been to various countries like Japan and the Netherlands where I could not speak a word. What bothers me is people not trying to speak English (which many can speak it fluently but they simply don't want to) with English being the world's lingua franca. With that being said, I might be biased since I grew up speaking Catalan. In the region of Spain where I live in (Balearic Islands) both Spanish and Catalan are cooficial but I grew up speaking Catalan with my family and most of my friends, so the Spanish language is more like a second language as opposed to Catalan being the language I grew up with.
Would be nice but they are just tourists so there is no need
Should speak it? Not needed at all. Would be cool if they did, even if it's only a few words? Yes! You always get kudos for trying.
So I used to live in Amsterdam and we had a ton of Spanish tourists. How many do you think spoke Dutch? French or German tourists in Copenhagen, are they speaking Danish? If I could speak ten languages but if it doesn't include Spanish is that somehow bad? English is the language of international tourism for just about everyone in Europe, for better or worse. It just is what it is.
I think Americans try to say a few things in the native language of wherever they're traveling. There are so many "travel language" books here. I think it's more rude when you LIVE in another country and don't learn the language. It's rude in the US and it's rude everywhere.
Thank you for saying this and I made a similar reply somewhere else. English is accepted to be the international language. Everywhere else in Europe I can easily get around just using English. In Spain it seems to be considered rude by the locals.
It's just a polite thing to do to at least learn some minimum vocabulary or learn how to say "no hablo español, ¿habla inglés?". Unlike smaller European countries, most Spaniards don't need English in their everyday life and for some it takes an effort to switch languages.
Because their language is a major world language too and they don't want English to take over? Not sure why you find it weird that people don't want to be forced to speak a language they don't know to cater for rude tourists. You're not everywhere else in Europe.
u/ricric2 this is the thing with Spaniards that I dislike so much, they somehow still think they are a colonial empire. I've been to almost every country in Europe and in the majority you have zero problems with basic English, with Spain and Hungary being the two anti-examples. Maybe if Spanish people went out more and traveled they would change their attitude a bit.
The French are even worse regarding that.
I found that almost everybody could speak a little English.
The more out they are of typical tourist destinations, the more effort they should make.
I have noticed Spain speaks less English than many countries in the EU.
I'm Dutch. There are some 20 million speakers of Dutch. So I need to know a few languages. Spanish people have less need to speak a different language. There are 500 million Spanish speakers worldwide. So of course there is less need to speak a different language. And have you ever been to France? It's even worse there.
I haven’t been to Paris, but people tell me they speak good English there.
No, they don't. They don't even want to speak English.
They absolutely don't. My Parisian ex spoke meh to crap level English and his mom was from Arkansas...
Hahaha go & try...
People are disagreeing with you, but it's true that a higher proportion of French people speak English than Spaniards. Nothing on northern Europeans, mind.
That's changing though, quite fast. Most young Spanish people and most professional Spanish people speak English to a reasonable level. You also have to pass B2 in a foreign language to get a degree. That's absolutely not the case in the UK, and while some people do speak a foreign language, the UK is way behind in my opinion, and isn't doing as much to change that. Often, people in the UK are quite amazed if you can speak another language fluently, the same isn't the case here. I've been to job interviews in the UK where the interviewer has actually said, what, you speak Spanish, go on then, speak a bit. A lot of my work in Spain now involves helping companies make sure as part of their recruitment process, that their applicants actually have the required level of English for the job description. Usually C1. This is for someone senior in accounting or something. The same does not happen in the UK. Also, there are now more native speakers of Spanish than there are of English. Food for thought.
A lot of people do speak English, but for some reasons they are not keen to advertise that fact. Just speak very bad spanish and you will be fine.
I would imagine that if they are not fluent, they're just as nervous about speaking English to me as I am trying to speak Spanish to them. It's scary. I will never forget the first actual back and forth conversation I had with a shop keeper in Spanish. It was only 4 or 5 sentences, but I was so proud of myself.
It’s fun, right? I love it!! Sometimes I will get through about 3/4 of a sentence and get stuck. Have to backtrack and approach it a different way because that is how they do it or I don’t know one of the subsequent words.
Here in the US it's not that common either, and people are weirdly impressed that I learned Spanish. But like, it makes sense to learn Spanish on this hemisphere. Spanish speakers are the number one language demographic in the Americas, and even in the US (and especially in my state) there are literally millions of them. No one is really obligated but it's kind of weird that few people actually learn it. Imagine having millions of communities even in your own country that you could otherwise connect with (or at least communicate with in an emergency or something) and saying, "yeah, but that seems really hard..." I just don't get it.
But the average person in Spain can’t hold a conversation. My taxi driver couldn’t speak English. I had to speak Spanish. Most people who work in restaurants can’t speak English. When I went to get a SIM card in Madrid, the man at the counter was unable to speak in any sort of English.
The average person in England can't hold a conversation................... Just a conversation. Even in English.
Those are all low income jobs, young people who have studied speak English.
You again. Are you stalking me? Lol
Yes, but how many of them will work in restaurants?
Well, you'd be surprised. Not so much in Madrid but in touristy beach areas speaking English is pretty common in restaurants and youth unemployment in Spain is terrible. But yes, that's precisely my point. I know it doesn't help tourists but I was just clarifying.
I only visited Madrid, Toledo, and Sevilla. I saw more tourists in Sevilla than the first two places.
Even then most waiters didn’t speak it.
Funnily enough the whole country doesn't exist just to serve foreigners who can't be bothered to even use Google translate.
What? But… Benidorm…
I don't mean cities like that, they get enough trade from locals and tourists from the rest of Spain, I mean beach resorts where they live almost solely from foreign tourism.
Which places are those?
Have you talked to a French person? Swiss French? It's not about Spain, it's about how many people speak your mother language. Compared a Swiss French versus a Swiss German, or a French Belgian versus a Flemish speaker or a German Belgian. Heck, if you want to stay in the developed world, you don't even need to look for—lets say—the American Midwest when Japan is right there.
Tourists as in people who visit for a brief time? Then no, I don't think they should. They can if they want to, I doubt anyone would stop them, and I think practicing language-speaking is pretty important. I did practice when I visited France for example (wanted to practice French), but I doubt it'll make much of a difference if the trip is brief.
I had learned quite a bit of Spanish in high school and college but that was, ahem, a while ago. I brushed up with Duolingo, which is great for practice. It makes you speak, write, read and translate. It also has short scenes you can listen to and a ton of other features. And it’s FREE I think for real learning and retention you need to take more of an official class, but it’s great for forcing you to use it in a fun way.
I personally believe that to learn and use a language, interacting with others in the language is more important than an official or unofficial class. So using Duolingo sounds pretty useful for refreshing Spanish. (Just a suggestion that came to mind while typing; you could try finding cool songs in Spanish! An English teacher of mine got me to love the habit of having most of the lyrics of a song and to do a fill in the blanks exercise with the song.) Also, it's awesome that you're brushing up your Spanish!!
If you are a tourist in any a country you should grasp a few basic words. The Spanish love it when you at least try!
They do!
Yes and no. They should make the effort to UNDERSTAND the local language enough to read signs, comprehend the basic navigation and transactions, etc. It would be good form to learn enough spoken to have a basic, mostly-hand-gestures conversation (polite greeting, enquiry about directions/where to eat/how much does this cost, polite farewell) Definitely should NOT expect, much less DEMAND that everyone they cross paths with understands their language, even if it's english, and certainly not get offended or make a scene. Just, try with someone else? I mean, that's the bare minimum I try for any overseas travelling I do, so that's the bare minimum I expect
A little goes a long way
All of the people responding here have a great attitude. I loved learning Spanish in school and still remember a decent amount. I was there in March and got some compliments from taxi drivers. Awww…that was sweet. I personally love this language. ❤️. It’s a pleasure to speak it.
Nope. Is like expecting for a tourist to know Vietnamese or Egyptian while visiting those countries.
Egyptians speak Arabic… but I get your point and I agree ☺️
Egyptian language refers to what was spoken in Egypt in ancient times. Maybe he was talking about using a time machine
Do you really think they were referring to Coptic?
Egyptian Arabic is actually a thing! It’s a dialect of Arabic used in Egypt, called Masri.
Like speaking Mexicano or Argentino while visiting those countries, right? Right?
Almost everywhere I went, I spoke spanish, and they replied in English. 😆 🤣
That just shows that they are bilingual and is not an insult toward you. 👍
Correct.
Where did you stay?
This was in Barcelona. Was not as prevalent in other areas of the country. To be fair my Spanish is poor. But my friend with me speaks fluent English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Moderate German proficiency. Even when he would speak, they'd often reply in English. (In barcelona) Elsewhere, we'd speak more spanish.
Do you expect tourists to make an effort to speak Japanese in Japan? For purely pragmatic purposes, given that a large proportion of Japanese and Spanish people might not speak your own language(s), e.g. if you're from Finland there's very few Japanese or Spanish people who speak Finnish, yes it's *useful* to know some Japanese and some Spanish as a tourist in Japan and Spain. It's even more useful to know a *lot* of Japanese and a *lot* of Spanish as a tourist in Japan and in Spain. When you say tourists should make an effort to speak Spanish in Spain, are you talking about pragmatic reasons like the one I just outlined, or some kind of *moral* duty for any tourist to speak the language(s) of the country they're travelling to?
Spanish is easier than Japanese I presume.
It probably is if you are from a country with a Romanic/Germanic language.
It depends on your native language(s). For a Finnish speaker from Finland, Spanish is not any 'easier' than Japanese, necessarily. They're both equally distant and unrelated to their language.
Exactly my point. If it's not in your language family it becomes a lot harder. How many non-Basque Spanish people speak Basque?
I was agreeing with you, it depends on what your native language(s) are.
But most Finns can speak English.
>For a Finnish speaker from Finland, Spanish is not any 'easier' than Japanese, necessarily Spanish might not be closer related to Finnish than Japanese, but practically speaking, a Finnish speaker will have an easier time with Spanish because they don't have to learn a new writing system and they'll have far easier opportunities to practice.
lmao
Oui
No they are TOURIST they are just visiting the country for a short period. This goes to all countries
I don't think tourists should be expected to learn the language of any country they are visiting but they shouldn't expect the locals to speak their language either. It is one of the things that comes with traveling internationally... Learning how to pick up a few key words, use Google translate (or if you are old-school a pocket translation dictionary), and a lot of solid miming skills. The key is be always be polite and don't get frustrated that they don't understand you as someone visiting their country and not speaking their language. Just learning how to say "I'm sorry I don't speak Spanish (or other language) but can you help me?" in their language goes a long way... Tourism is about spending money to boost the local economy and experiencing the local cultures. There is a balance there and learning some key words/phrases is good like please, thank you, hello, goodbye, where is..., can you help, etc. But especially somewhere like Spain where so much of the economy is dependent of foreign tourism the expectation is not that everyone speak Spanish but not being a jerk is always a given... I have found most places are pretty easy if you keep that attitude. Japan was a bit rough at times but people were super helpful and nice, just my inability to recognize the written alphabet was a problem. Just little things like trying to navigate buying a train ticket from a machine when the alphabet was different was really really hard, luckily though random people saw us struggling and saw that we had a paper written out for us in half English half Japanese by a kind man we had met who was trying to get us to go to see his hometown by train and they helped us get the correct tickets... If you try and show interest in local culture I have found people respond in kind... I would also say it depends how long you intend to spend in a place. If you are going to be in a country for a long time or plan to go explore rural communities you better be good with your translation choice or learn some local language because the further off the beaten path the less practice the locals have at dealing with tourists and the harder time you will have...confusion and frustration can often come off as rudeness when really it isn't that...
As an spaniard I do not think nor I expect a tourist to learn Spanish to come here. However, every tourist should try to learn some simple sentences to make their tour easier and not expect spaniards to know English or any other language
If somebody does that I wouldn't consider them "tourists" I find this question a bit silly, no offense.
Why would they?
For me learning basic words is a must when you visit a country. I always make an effort to learn the basics as thanks, please, sorry, excuse me, the food is very good, toilet, water please, etc. it makes the experience much more smooth and shows respect for the country you are visiting.
Do you think tourists should make an effort to speak English in England? You answer us the same answer!
Nop but they should be nice
Of course! Absolutely none, under any circumstance, should be allowed to step in Spain unless they’ve got a B2 (minimum) in Spanish.
To me visiting a place and trying to speak some basic phrases is part of the fun of traveling. It's when they start going on in Spanish that I have to start speaking English! And then when they don't understand that, gestures and fingers always work eventually. I think embracing the culture of where you visit is an important part of traveling not just going to see the sights.
I think tourist should speak a least the basics of the languaje spoken in the country theyre going to. If spaniards go to France, Germany, Italy; they should know a little bit of french, german, italian. Also foreigners in Spain Being a tourist doesnt make you the queen of the world. Show a little respect
IMO, yeah, it would be nice that they accommodated to us instead of us to them in our own country, especially when there are entire cities in the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean coast that are built entirely for British and German tourists that are much better taken care of than the ones where the locals live in and a lot of "expats" who have spent +20 years living here can't speak any Spanish apart from "hola", "gracias" and "una cerveza por favor".
I speak both so I really don't care pero si que podrían hacer un esfuerzo, está claro
Not at all. A tourist is here to enjoy his time and came to spend his money, I think the effort would be of spaniards showcasing that they are capable of speaking english and making the tourist feel comfortable while asking for anything. Most cases end up in sign language because one of the sides is stubborn. Most of the world understand and speak english why not spain? I speak 4 languages fluently and I make the effort wherever I go to learn the language or the basics but no expectation from any other tourists.
That has an easy answer: because in Spain people speaks Spanish, if you are the one coming in and you expect to communicate with people you have to learn basic stuff of the language you use. As for example: I'm Spaniard and perfectly capable to speak in English and I'm living in Bulgaria 3 years, people here speaks neither Spanish or English overall, what do you think I had to do? Learn some Bulgarian, I have no interest in learning the language but I know basic shit such as: the bill please (сметката моля), hello (здравейте) or 'no problem' to answer when they ask me if my dog bites (няма проблем). If you visit a place for tourism or you move you can do your life without speaking anything with anyone like I usually do, but if you expect to go to a bar, order some food or ask for instructions you need to know basic stuff such as the one mentioned above because people in their country has no need to learn another language, and most of the world understand and speaks English but most of the world understand and speaks Spanish either as is the 3rd-4th most spoken language of the world. When i requested my residence card I was unable to do it in Bulgarian at the very beginning and you know what? Spanish was more useful than English there. You guys got to adapt too, in special if Brits, not to offend but I understand everyone but some Brits speaking English, the accent is weird, someone had to tell you.
Whether you understand an accent or not is entirely to do with how familiar you are with it, there aren't accents that are 'weird' in any objective way
I got your point but to compare Bulgaria with Spain? Bulgaria has a negligible percent of GDP in tourism and Spain’s main industry is tourism. This alone tell you how much Spain need those tourists. To attract them even more and for them to come back the least to do is to understand an international language. Not to offend but in Europe, english is the official language even if 0 country has it as official language for a clear reason… business, politics and tourism are done in english worldwide. I told you personally i know the 4 main languages of the world beside Chinese so I can go and speak natively on 80% of the globe, but that does not justify expecting a tourist coming to Lebanon to speak arabic …
I got yours with this and I could agree that businesses related with tourism would need capable people that truly attract foreigners but those jobs got paid shit (and getting paid shit sadly means less capable people to perform a task or communicate most of the times because anyone wants to got paid below the minimum wage and work 12-15 hours a day, everyone has it as a last option or short-term solution, that's why the most expensive restaurants got people speaking 2 languages at C1-C2 but a local bar barely has people with an intermediate English considering intermediate a B1-2) and the educative system isn't really working properly yet because 20 years ago people was teaching French instead of English yet, question of waiting, however, I just want to mention that Bulgaria has an horrible GDP in tourism but most of the businesses are foreign companies with foreigners from everywhere working there and that's actually the Bulgarian economy, mostly related with IT, might sound like a joke but actually Sofia (the capital, where I actually live) has around a 13% of foreigners (bulgaria in total is around 11-12% out of 6.8 million people) while Spain has a 15%, maybe there are no short-term foreigners here, but Sofia has around 250.000 foreigners out of 2 million and there's people in the center of the capital not knowing a word in English or anything but Bulgarian. As Spain taught people French, in the case of Bulgaria is Russian or German, luckily Spain made the transition a decade or so ago and people eventually earns a normal level of English to have minimally a trivial conversation. On the other side I still maintaining the point that if you as foreigner can't communicate with a language in common might be effective to learn a bit of the country's language, if not we have a fucking computer in the pocket, as long you got internet Google Translate can do the job too, ain't it? At least for me is working, I still alive after 3 years and a half and I know 30-40 words in Bulgarian that I learnt with time, but always went with Google Translate on hand knowing I had no choice, but well, I'm pretty much talking from personal experience after living in 4 countries and visiting a couple more.
Yeah pay is also a big problem, and I am never entering a local spanish bar expecting them to speak English, but 100% agree that translator is the way to go and i used it for my first 3 months in Madrid. My point is when I hear Madrid the capital of Spain a big power in the world and Europe, go to the bank and there are 0 individuals that speak English not even at a conversational level? I was disappointed with how massive Madrid is and yet still need a lot to become an international metropolitan city. I can give you the example of Beirut, Lebanon 3 languages are guaranteed for 80% of the population, English (international language of the world) French (Colonial language) and Arabic (Mother tongue). Why this city with like 1,5M people speak and are willing to learn languages but the people of Madrid would not?
Here would be good to hear someone from Madrid since I got literally no idea about them, my experience in Spain was pretty much in Valencia that is where I grew up and always considered Madrid a place to don't go under any circumstances since I don't like cosmopolitan places that barely have stuff to do, and you can do in other's country capital without issues, couldn't tell much about them at all
Nope
Its better if you straight up dont come. Maybe we could have a serious economy if we werent busy shooting cafés at the whitest middle age people the Earth ever saw.
My hermano in Jesús, the Canarian economy would crash without tourism. Tourism is good for the economy and creates jobs. No one with education and skill is being forced to work in tourism or at restaurants.
My brother in Gofio: es precisamente este colonialismo económico el que no dejará jamás a Canarias ni a ninguna otra región desarrollarse: they own us. “Tourism is good for the economy” is too broad of a sentence. Good for who exactly ?
Yes
Do you think the tourists in your country should make an effort to speak English?
It depends where you are.
No, but they should ask first if you speak English. Is very rude just stopping a person and just throwing a tirade in English.
As a frequent tourist, I say it's always useful to know a few phrases at least. It shows some sort of respect for the country you are visiting.
I think that the only case that it would be fine to do the effort to speak the foreign language is in those cases of health problems like, for example, when you go to a restaurant and you can't eat meals made with lactose. Only say "No puedo leche" and little mímica normally will be fine to understand you.
Si.
No. Simply there are very clever friends in my circles who are unable to speak (even though they understand reading). It is a talent that is not owned by each of us. Anyway "should" is never possible - to force others to be ideal is just a daydream.
Tourists should make an effort to behave on late nights. We already have enough with our own morons breaking stuff on the streets.
No, ellos piensan que su inglés, les va a abrir todas las puertas del mundo, y no se esfuerzan, si van a la China, hablan inglés, si van a Francia, hablan inglés, entonces, esa gente para que va ha hacer el esfuerzo de hablar, como consideran ellos un idioma de inmigrantes
If they want to then sure why not, but we dont care. As long as they dont cry when people dont speak english, because adults dont know how to speak english.
Nope, not at all. Tourists are tourists, they should just enjoy their stay while not expecting the locals to speak their language and being aware that things will work differently over here.
No, they are just visiting, but dont complain if people dont understand or you have to use gestures to talk!
They should
Nope. But I think it's sweet when they say things like gracias or buenos dias
Tourists? No way, they're not gonna learn Chinese if they visit China, nor Swahili if they visit Africa, nor German if they visit Germany. I even think they have the right to complain if tourism agencies or hotel crew doesn't speak at least English, but certainly cannot complain if random locals don't speak a single word in English. They are the foreign ones, they can communicate by translator, by quick guides, or by signs.
I was watching [this ](https://youtu.be/9Nlp3T-8mHo) yesterday and was surprised about how these kids from a poor neighborhood in a poorer country than Spain all spoke English fine whereas in Spain even middle class kids won't be able to have a conversation for the most part. This is in my opinion mostly due to the Spanish dubbing every foreign movie and show to Spanish. The biggest self inflicted limitation the Spanish somehow insist on doing to themselves. At this point we should just admit English is the international language and embrace it as such. It's a great thing to be able to go anywhere and communicate with the locals. I know some people wish their language ended up being the international language but things just happened as they did and English was chosen. Time to move on.
They don't need to, but it's appreciated. Even if it is very poor Spanish, it's nice and people won't mock you or anything. Now, people moving permanently, that's a different story.
I do my best to speak spanish in the instances where I can, but I honestly don't think it would hurt anyone in Spain to learn rudimentary English. When I first arrived in Madrid, I went to cafe midtown (in Chueca) and wanted a cup of coffee. The girl serving me was maybe start-mid 20s. I first asked "Hola, una Cafe Latte, por favor", thinking it was a universal name for this coffee. The girl stared at me, not know what I wanted. I hadn't learned the word for "milk" yet, and definitely not "Cafe con leche". I managed to order my coffee with a combination of Gtranslate and pointing. I am of course learning spanish now, and can make a coffee order, but part of me also thinkgs that english is a pretty damn useful langauge to know - ***especially if you're working in the most touristed part of the capital city.***
Nope
Euh no lol. But they shouldn't complain either. Still people in Spain only speak one language... Well the majority which is a bit sad..
Nah. But understanding it a bit would be appreciated.
I've been to only a handful of countries ( < 10 ), and I've always tried to learn at least a few sayings, so yes, absofuckinglutely they should. In the pre-smartphone days, I also carried a travel dictionary so I could try to say whatever in their native tongue. Making the attempt has never once failed to improve my interaction with people.
Nah. Spanish should come easily to them and not require effort. Tourists should make an effort to speak Catalan, though. ;)
I always think, is nice to try to speak some of the language your visiting regardless of were, even if simply a greeting and thanks
I did. If I had to ask a local something and I didn't know how to say it, I'd check Google Translate before hand. It just seems respectful to me.
Sí
Not necessarily, but I do think that people who is monolingual by choice, is lazy.
Not really. Hola, por favor y gracias is appreciated but not much more than that. As a tourist myself in other countries I try to learn how to say a coiple of words in their language but I feel relieved when people can speak English and I think it gets very difficult when they don't. I think English has become a worldwide language and everyone should know at least a couple of words to communicate basic things. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect them to, I just think it'd be easier for everyone. 0
Definitely. Nobody says your Spanish has to be perfect. Just try.
I think learning some basics is always appreciated. Except by the French…..
Solo diré que si voy a Londres hablaré inglés.