speaking english??

[gina32]

i have just been reading about a polish woman who was up in court for a driving offence, she had to speak via an interpreter, the article then went on to say she had been here or at least working here for the last 5 years, surely she should have learnt to speak english by then? im now waiting or the back lash!!!

[pericat]

I agree gins - if you are committing to living in a country you learn the language and that goes for everywhere

[daffy654]

I wouldn't even think of going to live in another country without first learning the language there. I am always slightly suspicious of anyone who has lived in the UK foor more than a couple of years who 'claims' to be unable to speak English.

[Jan1957]

No backlash from me gina, I totally agree. I believe that if you make your home in another country then you should learn their language. Not just people who come here, but English people who move abroad too.

[stewey]

How did she legally obtain a driving license and insurance etc if she can't speak English?

[DEN53]

When my son took his driving theory test - he could have listened to it in 5 different languages - in fact he was in the minority taking it in English.

[tonyav]

i'm in total agreement with you gina it's not just the polish though, the asians are renouned for pulling the '' me no understand '' stunt.

[pericat]

Maybe as it was a court she wanted to be more precise ? But it does annoy me. I went to buy pate in the supermarket and the guy could not understand the word - pate is a fairly universal word so maybe he was just thick

[gina32]

stewey when i was learning to drive my instructor told me of plenty of ppeople he had that could speak english, one he said had failed her theoory quite a few times and in the end passed by memorising the answers.

[gina32]

sorry, should have read "couldnt" speak english

[jake-the-peg]

I wonder how many retired British ex-pats in Spain and France are fluent.

Not many of the ones I know!

Do you speak any other languages Gina?

[gina32]

no, should i?

[hc4361]

I know many, many Brits who have live in Spain and have no intention of learning Spanish. They drink in English bars, hang round with Brits and have nothing to do with the natives at all. As long as they can get their British tv on Sky and have British sausage and bacon, they're happy.

[jake-the-peg]

I only ask because I think people often underestimate the difficulty of learning a new language fluently. -Obviously if you speak another language fluently you'r in a better position to suggest this.

Personally my French is good enough to get through a newspaper article but I struggle with the spoken word.

Bi-lingualism still seems like magic to me

[gina32]

if i intended to live and work in another country i would make the effort to learn the language, but come on, 5 years and still not speaking it!

[tonyav]

The ex pats probably didn't arrive in Spain hiding in the back or underneath a lorry, and then claim political asylum

[stewey]

If Britons decide to live in France or Spain, then they should be conversant in the appropriate language.

[NoMercy]

I lived in Spain for 3 years and managed to learn conversational Spanish. But I did so by immersing myself in the local culture, and avoiding the 2-pints-of-lager-and-a-packet-of-crisps brigade.

[TWR]

I wonder if they can understand & read the benefits claims forms?????? I wonder if they loose out on what they can claim???

[daffy654]

TWR....the benefit claim forms are available in several different languages these days.