# Guardian article on expats in Spain



## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Has anyone else read this? It gives a wider view on expats in Spain than some of the other newspaper articles we've seen recently.


British expats comprise 2% of the Spain's population 
More British expats died (1,786) or got arrested (2,012) in Spain last year than in any other country
In the May elections, there are British candidates up for election, and expats could hold the balance of power in 19 towns in Valencia 
Foreigners comprise half the population of Xabia but only 12% have registered to vote

And I just love this headline from Costa News: 

"Expats who speak Spanish 'ward off dementia for longer'." 

Most Brits in Spain say no gracias to integration | World news | The Guardian


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## Zimtony (Jun 28, 2008)

Alcalaina said:


> Has anyone else read this? It gives a wider view on expats in Spain than some of the other newspaper articles we've seen recently.
> 
> 
> British expats comprise 2% of the Spain's population
> ...



hahahaha!! What a fantastic headline!!!:clap2:


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Read the article, sounds awful, thank goodness I live here, albeit somewhat isolated!!

Hepa


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Like the article, a lot of interesting things there IMO
Especially liked the comment from the Spanish reporter
_"In my personal experience, many Britons seem to have many things to complain about – the madness of the property market and rental prices, the even madder madness of red tape and paperwork when they need to deal with government offices and funcionarios. This is partly due to the culture shock and the contrast between the Anglo-Saxon and Latin mentalities but it does make some things difficult when it comes to integration."_
Brits do seem to find a lot to complain about. I'm amazed at the amount of time that some people seem to devote to this activity. There are bound to be things to complain about at times, but we've had people here complaining about the wine for goodness sakes!! Now that's "ganas" (really wanting to)
However the article repeatedly cricitises the Brits for non intergration. Are the Germans, French, Norwegians etc all so much better at it than us??
And the non voting - I was listening to the radio and they were interviewing South Americans about their intention to vote or not and the vast majority are not going to. I think they said that only 2% of the immigrant population has registered to vote, so it's not just us.
Here's the Costa News articlehttp://www.costa-news.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6951&Itemid=122


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## JoCatalunya (Mar 16, 2011)

A lot of time extranjeros do not integrate because they are actively discouraged from doing so. Whilst we can attend the fiestas, anyone offering in our village to help out with organising, or simply putting out chairs is always politely told 'no thanks'.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

I don´t think it matters particularly whether people "integrate" or not - we all have our own needs and expectations from living in a foreign country. There´s nothing wrong with retaining your own cultural identity, provided you don´t impose it on others (that includes going to small Spanish bars in big gangs, drinking like you´re afraid someone is going to call last orders, and speaking very loudly in English all night).

But when it goes sour is when people behave as if their cultural identity is somehow superior to that of their neighbours. It does seem to be a peculiarly British trait when living in a foreign country to be arrogant or patronising about local people and customs.


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## andmac (Nov 9, 2010)

Journalist Benny Davis, who writes for the expat paper, EuroWeekly News, said: "Brits tends to live in a bubble. With more and more information available in English, there's less reason to learn Spanish and, as a consequence, less opportunity to understand the local culture. Many residents speak no more than 10 Spanish words in an average week – usually restaurant Spanish – and they pride themselves on 'getting by'.

So true - Have seen this in France too.

Quote Expat "I speak French". Turns to barman and shouts "DO YOU 'AVE ZEESE EEN A BEEGER GLASS, I NEED MORE (gesticulates) VINO TO DREENK".

I have never laughed so much as witnessing that performance. When I translated the "French" (I think he had seen too much 'Allo 'Allo) the barman asked me what part of France I was from. The expat man seemed a little peeved!

Same thing happens here too! We have met people who have been here for 12 - 15 years and speak "Spanish". They can order a beer and that's all. 

Also, we were in an "English" shop (there are other nationalities in the UK) buying books for our two year old daughter, second hand ones in Spanish. Our daughter was correcting the shopkeeper's Spanish - she has apparently lived here for 17 years! We, and our daughter have been here for six months!

Each to their own though. As long as people are happy and healthy!


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## djfwells (Sep 28, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> Has anyone else read this? It gives a wider view on expats in Spain than some of the other newspaper articles we've seen recently.
> 
> 
> British expats comprise 2% of the Spain's population
> ...


- I live in one of the '19 towns' (although Village would probably be more accurate in my case).

I don't want to generalise because I'm sure each Town has it's own unique circumstances, but in our case it is not specifically the Brits that hold the balance of power but the 'Non-Spanish' as a whole. This is basically down to the fact that our Village of 980 regsitered to vote, over 65% are 'Non-Spanish' anyway. Secondly, in a 2 - party Town that has on-going corruption problems (with both parties) and legal problems with over 300 properties.

Each party has offered the non-Spanish between 4 and 6 seats on the town councilin order to reach out to the wider community and offer fairer representation.

Personally, I think it's just window-dressing and appeasement ahead of the elections.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

djfwells said:


> - I live in one of the '19 towns' (although Village would probably be more accurate in my case).
> 
> I don't want to generalise because I'm sure each Town has it's own unique circumstances, but in our case it is not specifically the Brits that hold the balance of power but the 'Non-Spanish' as a whole. This is basically down to the fact that our Village of 980 regsitered to vote, over 65% are 'Non-Spanish' anyway. Secondly, in a 2 - party Town that has on-going corruption problems (with both parties) and legal problems with over 300 properties.
> 
> ...


That's the thing. I think the article has oversimplified. There are some places where Brits are in the majority, but in many places the immigrant section of the community is large or even in the majority only if the different nationalities are grouped together as one immigrant group. In Catalonia the other week the PP were out trying to get the immigrant vote and it wasn't the Brits who were in the majority in the place they were targeting (forget where it was)


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## fourgotospain (May 4, 2009)

> Also, we were in an "English" shop (there are other nationalities in the UK) buying books for our two year old daughter, second hand ones in Spanish. Our daughter was correcting the shopkeeper's Spanish - she has apparently lived here for 17 years! We, and our daughter have been here for six months!


I'm assuming your daughter is in spanish school and is immersed in it all day? If you're here working squeezing spanish lessons into your already overfull week is really hard! I speak spanish all day to my suppliers (about 50% of them are spanish) and my customers, and then my children when I get home! Oh and French....and German.

I can well believe expats that speak spanish ward off dementia, but just HOW anyone knows this I don't know?!


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## andmac (Nov 9, 2010)

fourgotospain said:


> I'm assuming your daughter is in spanish school and is immersed in it all day? If you're here working squeezing spanish lessons into your already overfull week is really hard! I speak spanish all day to my suppliers (about 50% of them are spanish) and my customers, and then my children when I get home! Oh and French....and German.
> 
> I can well believe expats that speak spanish ward off dementia, but just HOW anyone knows this I don't know?!


No she's too young for school. She will go next academic year though! 

She has some friends though and our neighbours are great to talk to.

I agree that squeezing lessons in can be difficult though especially for people who are working! I work as a language teacher from home so am immersed in Spanish, English and French all day! There is an old saying that to learn, you should teach!


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