5 ms·

I got the impression that English level is really poor in Spain (when I was visiting Valencia, didn't go to Barcelona). Even with younger population - I was goi

I got the impression that English level is really poor in Spain (when I was visiting Valencia, didn't go to Barcelona). Even with younger population - I was going out in the evening with some friends, we approached like 4 groups of 20-something and none of them could even give us basic directions. In shops and tourist places it's better but barely.

Grustaf 6y ago
Unless you're planning to hire your neighbours, why is this relevant?
- reader_mode 6y ago
  Going out and being unable to speak to people on the street/in the shops or even talking to waiters in restaurants is not really a great experience for me. Presumably you go to large cities for the social interaction.
  - Grustaf 6y ago
    If you move to Spain presumably you’re planning to learn Spanish?
darkcha0s 6y ago
Maybe, just maybe, it's on you to learn the local language (even just basics) if you feel like relocating there?
- sodality2 6y ago
  He's not saying it's not his responsibility. He's just stating the difficulty level. Of course it's on you to learn the language, but you also should of course know the culture of where you are thinking of moving.
ggambetta 6y ago
Can confirm, the average level of English in Spain is pretty bad. Even in Madrid, where I lived for a year. It's almost like they're proud of it - AFAIK they're very protective of their language, dubbing every movie (at least until recently), which in turn limits their exposure to English. On the other hand, living in Spain and speaking fluent English can be almost like a superpower in some circumstances.
- ceilingcorner 6y ago
  And why wouldn't they be proud of it? Countries that intentionally focus on their own language (e.g. Japan or France) have managed to maintain more of their own cultures, while smaller ones have been more easily gobbled up by global American culture.
  - ggambetta 6y ago
    Being proud and focusing on your culture, yes. Being proud of not speaking the lingua franca of the world, no. (And for the record, my native language is Spanish)
bobf 6y ago
English is the most spoken second language in Spain, with ~35% of the population being able to speak it. Portugal is slightly worse at 27%, along with Ukraine (18%), Romania (31%), and Italy (34%). France (39%), Croatia (49%), Estonia (50%), Slovenia (59%), and Greece (51%) are all a bit higher. And then the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg, and Switzerland are all between 60-70%+. And although I wouldn't worry too much about language too much if your focus is primarily on work, Spanish is perhaps the easiest language to learn as an English speaker. You can achieve professional level fluency in 600 hours of study. Certainly with 80-100 hours of concentrated study and continued practice after that you can learn more than enough to get by in daily life. Two big advantages with learning Spanish: 1) pronunciation is easy to learn and is the same for both written and spoken Spanish; 2) there are lots of cognates, so if your English vocabulary is good then you already know lots of Spanish words. Spain is great, but for the purposes of picking a country for working remotely and having a longer runway, I would argue heavily for Mexico over Spain if you're picking a Spanish speaking country. The overall cost of living is low, internet access can be great depending on the area, you'll be on a similar timezone as the US, and services (cooking, laundry, babysitting, etc) are very inexpensive - leaving you with much more time to work (or to use your downtime more effectively than running errands/etc).
- burlesona 6y ago
  FWIW I’d argue Italian is even easier than Spanish as it has fewer conjugation rules to learn and the grammar is in many cases closer to English :) Both are pretty easy, though, and Spanish opens up a lot more of the world. But Italian is just so darn fun :)
  - reader_mode 6y ago
    Italy is the only place I've seen worse English than Spain :D
- reader_mode 6y ago
  Maybe my impression of Mexico is wrong, but I would feel much safer living in Spain/EU than Mexico or South America.
mbesto 6y ago
I did the nomadic, startup-in-the-gargage, life in Barcelona and didn't speak a lick of Spanish. Barcelona is awesome and it's cheap (spent a total of $800 for the whole month on food, living, etc.). Highly recommend for someone on a budget who wants to hack away.
statstutor 6y ago
Valencia (the region) literally has a part which locals jokingly call "Little Britain", where residents primarily expect to speak and conduct business in English.

Grustaf 6y ago

Unless you're planning to hire your neighbours, why is this relevant?

reader_mode 6y ago
Going out and being unable to speak to people on the street/in the shops or even talking to waiters in restaurants is not really a great experience for me. Presumably you go to large cities for the social interaction.
- Grustaf 6y ago
  If you move to Spain presumably you’re planning to learn Spanish?

darkcha0s 6y ago

Maybe, just maybe, it's on you to learn the local language (even just basics) if you feel like relocating there?

sodality2 6y ago
He's not saying it's not his responsibility. He's just stating the difficulty level. Of course it's on you to learn the language, but you also should of course know the culture of where you are thinking of moving.

ggambetta 6y ago

Can confirm, the average level of English in Spain is pretty bad. Even in Madrid, where I lived for a year. It's almost like they're proud of it - AFAIK they're very protective of their language, dubbing every movie (at least until recently), which in turn limits their exposure to English. On the other hand, living in Spain and speaking fluent English can be almost like a superpower in some circumstances.

ceilingcorner 6y ago
And why wouldn't they be proud of it? Countries that intentionally focus on their own language (e.g. Japan or France) have managed to maintain more of their own cultures, while smaller ones have been more easily gobbled up by global American culture.
- ggambetta 6y ago
  Being proud and focusing on your culture, yes. Being proud of not speaking the lingua franca of the world, no. (And for the record, my native language is Spanish)

bobf 6y ago

English is the most spoken second language in Spain, with ~35% of the population being able to speak it. Portugal is slightly worse at 27%, along with Ukraine (18%), Romania (31%), and Italy (34%). France (39%), Croatia (49%), Estonia (50%), Slovenia (59%), and Greece (51%) are all a bit higher. And then the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg, and Switzerland are all between 60-70%+. And although I wouldn't worry too much about language too much if your focus is primarily on work, Spanish is perhaps the easiest language to learn as an English speaker. You can achieve professional level fluency in 600 hours of study. Certainly with 80-100 hours of concentrated study and continued practice after that you can learn more than enough to get by in daily life. Two big advantages with learning Spanish: 1) pronunciation is easy to learn and is the same for both written and spoken Spanish; 2) there are lots of cognates, so if your English vocabulary is good then you already know lots of Spanish words. Spain is great, but for the purposes of picking a country for working remotely and having a longer runway, I would argue heavily for Mexico over Spain if you're picking a Spanish speaking country. The overall cost of living is low, internet access can be great depending on the area, you'll be on a similar timezone as the US, and services (cooking, laundry, babysitting, etc) are very inexpensive - leaving you with much more time to work (or to use your downtime more effectively than running errands/etc).

burlesona 6y ago
FWIW I’d argue Italian is even easier than Spanish as it has fewer conjugation rules to learn and the grammar is in many cases closer to English :) Both are pretty easy, though, and Spanish opens up a lot more of the world. But Italian is just so darn fun :)
- reader_mode 6y ago
  Italy is the only place I've seen worse English than Spain :D
reader_mode 6y ago
Maybe my impression of Mexico is wrong, but I would feel much safer living in Spain/EU than Mexico or South America.

mbesto 6y ago

I did the nomadic, startup-in-the-gargage, life in Barcelona and didn't speak a lick of Spanish. Barcelona is awesome and it's cheap (spent a total of $800 for the whole month on food, living, etc.). Highly recommend for someone on a budget who wants to hack away.

statstutor 6y ago

Valencia (the region) literally has a part which locals jokingly call "Little Britain", where residents primarily expect to speak and conduct business in English.