Spanish Real Estate forum - Spanish property - Estate agentsSpanish Real Estate forum - Spanish property - Estate agents

mevilla · 06-04-2008, 10:11 AM

It is true though, many of our customers that we have helped over the past couple of years are worried about the amount of their own people being in the area that they purchase!

I think a mix is better as we have sold to people in a completely Spanish area, only for them to have enough after a couple of months as they miss speaking to English / German / Swedish people!

It is hard moving to a different country and picking up the language if you stick with your own people but twice as hard to live amongst foreigners when you cant command their language.

pragueproperty · 06-05-2008, 10:13 AM

Really funny thing. I can't believe this. In 21st century these king of rules and regulations are contempt to any one.

overseas properties

ToniW · 06-05-2008, 05:13 PM

"It is hard moving to a different country and picking up the language if you stick with your own people but twice as hard to live amongst foreigners when you cant command their language."
Mevilla - but surely thats what its about? I didn´t expect it to be easy, and in fact I actually found it to be a lot easier than I thought. Is it ok for us Brits to do here in Spain, what we all disagree with the foreigners doing in our own country - setting up there own communities? perhaps we need to ask - What are we coming abroad for?

Homefinder · 06-05-2008, 09:20 PM

Strange that this thread should continually be revived but I suppose it is a very important talking point.
I agree with ToniW because her current situation is the same as mine was when I first came here and, if you read my previous postings in the thread, you will see that I am terribly biased.
When I first arrived in the 1970's I just had to become fluent, otherwise I could not work. A developer employed me as an "odd job man" for three months whilst I learned.
I was lonely! - surrounded by foreigners who didn't speak a "dicky-bird", or so I thought. I am ashamed to say that I went to Benidorm 3 nights a week and stayed out most of the night - pathetic!
The other three nights I sayed at home and studied.
Finally, I cracked it - and guess what? I found that there were at least another 10 Brits in my age group who spoke good Spanish and I was unable to detect their accent - or perhaps they did not want to talk to me, I don't really blame them for that.

Quote:

and you can't expect the average Spanish person to listen to your efforts for more than a few minutes at a time before getting bored

I don't think that it works like that with all of them. If you have have a shared interest with a Spanish person then there is the incentive to struggle with it and eventually you get ahead in leaps and bounds.
Homefinder

mevilla · 06-06-2008, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToniW

"It is hard moving to a different country and picking up the language if you stick with your own people but twice as hard to live amongst foreigners when you cant command their language."
Mevilla - but surely thats what its about? I didn´t expect it to be easy, and in fact I actually found it to be a lot easier than I thought. Is it ok for us Brits to do here in Spain, what we all disagree with the foreigners doing in our own country - setting up there own communities? perhaps we need to ask - What are we coming abroad for?

Everyone moves for different reasons, I am just answering your first post "Recent research by GE Money Home Lending revealed that the main factor that put British people off buying a property in Spain was that there were too many Brits there already."

Reasons for moving to another country? way of life, cost of living, family, work, climate, health? I think the main reason for people moving abroad is to better what they already have. Sometimes you can not help ending up in a community which is people from your own country as some people have to find work and have more opportunities in these areas, schooling for their children, family, etc.

But also there are factors that put people off - which you have stated in your original post one of them.

I do not disagree with people living in community areas of their own nationalities, it is what ever makes them feel comfortable and happy that is the most important thing.

Se Vende Casa · 06-08-2008, 07:23 PM

I have found that the Spanish appreciate so much ANY effort that you make to speak Spanish, I now have fantastic Spanish friends and although my Spanish is far from perfect i feel comfortable to chat away and learn from their corrections and of course the research i do for my own business Se Vende Casa.

I find it hard to understand how some expat communities are happy to live in their own little bubbles, many not learning the language apart from being able to order food and drink.

In Ireland we have a lot of foreigners and on the whole i think we welcome them warmly, i am not sure how i would feel if they did not make an effort to communicate with us.

Emma
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ToniW · 06-09-2008, 10:25 AM

I agree Emma, the Spanish love it when you make an effort. I remember in the Village I first moved into, the locals mainly talked in Valencian and probably hadn´t seen too many "foreigners" in the their town. but i remember that if i started a conversation (in my then very basic Spanish) they loved to show off the odd English word they new, even if it didn´t fit into the conversation anywhere, it made for some fun times! One neighbour would repeat North, East, South, west to me over and over again, pointing in the right direction as he did so, I very quickly learned it Spanish (not that i have used it much since but it was fun) He invited us to his home for the family paella on my 2nd weekend in the country, they knew fewer English words than I Spanish, but we passed the whole day communicating away, drawings, miming, books, it was great, it made me feel so welcome and glad I had moved to Valencia.

Homefinder · 06-09-2008, 01:56 PM

When I bought my liitle old house in inland Tarragona, on the magnificent River Ebro, I was the very first foreigner to buy there.
The bank manager sorted everything out.
A visiting notary did the escritura in the magager's office because the town was too small to have it's own and the nearest one was 40 Klms.
Later I went to the town hall and said "Soy el nuevo propietario de Plaza de la Forn 2 y quiero cambiar el IBI a mi nombre" to which the secretary replied "Yes I know!" - in almost perfect English.
I asked her how she knew that and she replied that the whole village was talking about the first foreigner to buy a property there, for at least as long as most of them could remember and when I spoke to her in Castellano with my cockney accent ....
She had actually broken the rules by speaking to me in English, as she went on to explain.
The directive for local corporation staff was as follows -

If a "foreigner" speaks to you in Castellano and you detect that they are Spanish then you must answer in Catalan.
If you detect that they are NOT Spanish then may answer in Castellano.
As a last resort, in order to make yourself understood, you may communicate in a "foreign" language.

I guess that they have changed the rules now - but perhaps not!

Being able to get away to my little "bolt-hole" from Moraira-on-Sea (where it is quite difficult to have a conversation in Castellano) is very important for me.
Sadly, in the past few years, the town has been overrun by Brits and Germans. It is not really that I have anything against them, just that I go there to get away from it all.

Homefinder

Se Vende Casa · 06-11-2008, 09:04 PM

A Mother at the local school has come up with a fantastic idea.
As more foreigners are coming to our little village and French is no longer seen as the best second language to learn in terms of work opportunities.
I am going to do a language swap.
I will teach english to her kids for 1 hour a day and she will teach spanish to my kids for 1 hour, probably the same hour so my guys won't be tempted to just speak to me and vice versa for her children.

It is so nice to be able to help out the community and to accept help in return. I truly love Spain.

Emma
Marketing solutions for estate agents in spain

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