One of the reasons why I like to holiday on my own is that I can do exactly as I like without having to worry about anyone else. There is nothing wrong in lying in the sun and reading a book, or in exploring the local area, and cultural sites if it is what you want to do.

I'm surprised that the prime minster of Spain doesn't speak English , for goodness sake how is he going to communicate with Mr Cameron , because I bet Dave can't speak to him in spanish ! Perhaps he gets Cleggs wife to do translation or does he talk to him in Latin??

It is true, the present Prime Minister of Spain (Mariano Rajoy) doesn’t speak English, although he's apparently learning and when he recently met President Obama, after saying ‘hello’ he needed a translator, also the previous Prime Minister (Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero) didn’t speak any English and was way out of his league when attending many international meetings and he needed a translator.

Clegg will be able to translate if Dave meets the present Prime Minister of Spain, because apparently he speaks several languages including Spanish and I suppose being married to a Spaniard helps.

Sanji

In the 80's we went to Spain quite a lot and went to evening classes to learn Spanish but found that when we tried to use Spanish we always got a reply in English so the conversation carried on in English. I'm still glad we learned it though as it is useful when you get off the beaten track. We do have friends though who have lived in Spain for nearly 20 years and hardly speak a word of Spanish, in fact they have had to return to England now as they are getting older and find they are having to attend hospital for appointments and didn't understand what was going on at the hospital. We have now transferred our affections to Goa but there is no way I could ever learn their language but to their credit everyone seems to speak English no matter how poor and uneducated they seem, in fact these days they seem to speak quite a few languages including Russian - they make me feel quite ignorant.

My eldest grandson started evening classes in Japanese a couple of years ago. He had intended to visit the country last year but the tsunami intervened so he went out this May and promptly fell in love with the place. He returned last month and will be back again in October for three weeks. He is lucky in that he works as an engineer on an oil rig off the Shetlands so has quite a lot of time off. He is 22 and travels round Japan independently using public transport though he has made friends with some of the locals and is able to talk to them in them in their own language as well as read .the signs etc.

I was amazed at how quickly my school French came back to me after 18 years when we toured France camping. At some sites off the beaten track I had to converse totally in French and managed pretty well. I can understand how total immersion would quickly aid learning a new language.

I found myself perusing the local newspapers and being able to make out the general gist. This weekend I was in my local garage (in UK) and a French family came in and I was pleased that I understood perfectly what they were saying.

Saying that I remember my OH and I trying to get back on the ring road to Bordeaux without success - every which way we went we ended up not on the ring road. We kept seeing a sign for 'rocado' with a round emblem - to us it looked like a sign for a stadium or the like. We laughed when we realised rocado was ring road!!! DOH. Will remember that for the future - you live and learn!!!

elaine80 wrote:

I can't imagine moving abroad without having taken the time to learn the rudiments of the language first. I'm always amazed at the tv programmes where people sell up in the UK and move abroad to renovate a property and set up in business without bothering to learn a word of the local language. How can you possibly deal with tradesmen, utility companies, local government, etc if you can't communicate in their language?
I always ignore the reviews where people rate accommodation or a resort badly because they could only get spicy food in India or the locals didn't speak English. Why go abroad if you want eggs, beans and chips for your meal?

this is so true