On 10th Feb Crafty said:Why do <people whose first language is not English> come into the shop and start talking to each other in front of me in their first language? Do they realise how rude it is?
I go on holiday for 2 weeks and I learn a bit of local lingo, to get by in shops and bars. These people come to LIVE AND WORK here, yet dont know a single word.
I've just watched a program (one of many in the same vein on BBC) where people have moved/are moving to Spain/France to set up a business.
The biggest problem they have is trying to get permits or planning consent. Why? You guessed it, because they don't speak the languauge...
A lot of Brits move to Spain and "stumble by" in broken Spanish, relying heavily on the ex-pat networks for daily survival.
You may learn a bit of the local lingo for your holidays, but how far would that get you if you lived there?
Why is it that we judge people by what "they" do, (they meaning Johnny Foreigner) yet "we" (meaning Brits) do the same?
Personally I find it ludicrous that anybody would go to a country to seek work without learning the language (and knowing more than "dos cerveca por favor")