Iona Napier
A NEW ‘top ten towns’ project is encouraging British residents to learn Spanish to integrate more effectively with their host country.
The project encompasses eleven towns with the highest concentration of British residents in the Valencia and Murcia regions to promote greater integration and improved access to services.
Torrevieja mayor Jose Manuel Dolon met British Ambassador Simon Manley and the British consul Sarah-Jane Morris to ask for more local political and embassy cooperation to ‘avoid complicated situations that occur in their daily lives’.
The top ten towns include Orihuela, Torrevieja, Rojales, San Fulgencio, Benidorm and Calpe.
This sounds like a great initiative. I have never understood the expat who makes little or no effort to learn how to communicate in their host country. Politeness aside, it just makes good practical sense to learn the basics on how to get around, and how to make small talk with your neighbors. In my experience, often its the older expats who fall into this trap. They think “I´m too old to learn”, probably because they have heard this myth repeated time and again. The truth is that older people CAN learn a foreign language, in fact, study after study shows that not only can they, but that they should, since learning a foreign language is great brain food which can even inhibit the rise of demencia. That said, not all language programs are suitable for older learners, who often have different learning styles, retention, and learning needs than university aged students. For these students, I recommend online learning with a private Spanish tutor who shapes the class around the needs of each individual student. The cost of these classes is reasonable, and the ability to take classes in your home cuts down on travel time and costs. “Webspanish.com” is one school that specializes in working with adult students and can have a learner communicating in surprisingly little time. The trial class is free.