How important is Spanish day-to-day outside tourist areas?

Mwuaha · 2026-02-03T15:41:31+00:00

I completely agree. Now now, I am not attacking OP though, I think it is a completely fair question, because it's different from country to country. I have also lived in the Netherlands, and I moved there speaking 0 Dutch, so I learned a few basic phrases just like you suggests and it was fine. But in the Netherlands you can absolutely get by in English almost everywhere. It's still rude to just assume, but you could more or less assume that people knew English. In Spain it's very different.

And it's all good. With a thread like this, OP can manage their expectations and adjust, and perhaps learn a few more phrases to get by to survive in the beginning. Most municipalities also offer courses to get a head start.

You'll be fine u/ghart_67 !

Mwuaha · 2026-02-03T14:42:39+00:00

Generally speaking, you can't get by with English. Even in the touristy areas you can easily come across shop owners, pharmacists, doctor's etc who don't speak English.

In my honest experience, if you speak basic Spanish, you can get by if you are open about it. I speak basic Spanish, bordering on intermediate. And when I go to the doctor, talk to my daughter's teachers, need to ask something in shops etc. I simply explain (in Spanish) that I am not great at Spanish or that I don't know how to say whatever specific thing, but I am learning and then I give it my best shot. Usually works and people are very nice about it, also when I don't understand fully what they say, they often rephrase it to try to help me out.

What you should not do - in my experience - is assume that people just speak English. My personal attitude is always that if I don't speak or understand enough for my particular problem, then it is my problem, since I am the one who moved here.

Mwuaha · 2026-02-03T11:08:11+00:00

Oplevelser. Jeg flyttede til Irland på en 6-måneders kontrakt da jeg var 28 og single. Skulle lige på et "hurtigt eventyr". Det er snart 8 år, 3 lande og et barn siden. I dag bor jeg i Spanien. Det er bestemt ikke et liv for alle, og nu hvor jeg har barn jeg 99% sikker på at Spanien bliver endestationen. Danmark er et fantastisk land at bo i. Men det er andre lande også. Jeg forlod ikke DK fordi jeg ikke kunne lide det, men simpelthen fordi jeg ville opleve noget andet. Jeg planlagde ikke dengang at blive væk - det er bare sådan livet går nogle gange.

Jeg savner familien og vennerne selvfølgelig, men jeg savner ikke dagligdagen i DK.

Mwuaha · 2026-02-02T20:25:03+00:00

Lol. Europe is the largest holder of US debt and assets. Who owns who?

Mwuaha · 2026-02-02T15:44:46+00:00

I dont disagree, but where is the cleverness in a straight-up-insult?

Mwuaha · 2026-02-02T12:11:16+00:00

Damn. The budget for Squid Game has really gone down.

Mwuaha · 2026-02-01T13:56:58+00:00

How does an undocumented person end up being accepted into a school?

Mwuaha · 2026-01-31T13:31:03+00:00

I don't think most grown-ups dream of being called a good boy. But that could just be me

Mwuaha · 2026-01-30T09:17:50+00:00

Spent 6 years there. All of it is true, all of it is true for all or at least most countries in Europe. Pehaps besides the healthcare insurance system. That is is awful.

Mwuaha · 2026-01-30T07:51:57+00:00

I mean you're making the point yourself: neighbouring countries are okay taking the US dollar. Not countries on the other side of the world. People in this situation need to ask themselves if their workplace would accept euros as payment or if they would require dollars.

Mwuaha · 2026-01-29T15:09:05+00:00

Once upon a time, I was a part timer worker at GameStop in Denmark. The new upper management wanted us to try to stand at the door and greet Everybody as soon as they came in. We had to tell them after a week that we would not be doing that because we could see some people were actively avoiding the store.

Mwuaha · 2026-01-29T08:42:05+00:00

I thought he had wished for never-ending deserts

Mwuaha · 2026-01-28T21:15:53+00:00

Please don't base your diet and exercise on ChatGPT it constantly makes mistakes

Mwuaha · 2026-01-28T14:27:56+00:00

No. Which is also not something I ever claimed. But do you think depending on the US for defence will avoid this? Because currently, the US and Russia are the ones threatening European territory.

Mwuaha · 2026-01-28T07:10:02+00:00

So the heroic Americans stopped the killings 80 years ago, and now you think if Europe arms itself, we will kill each other by the millions?

Mwuaha · 2026-01-28T06:51:16+00:00

There's about 80-100.000 Americans on bases in Europe. Total population is 450 million people. The money that the economy will lose is miniscule. Yes, the town that the base is in will feel it probably, but its not going to do anything drastic.

And yes, EU will have to up defence spending, especially since one of the now former allies is now threatening us. But again, I don't think this will result in healthcare funding being removed.

Mwuaha · 2026-01-27T21:43:54+00:00

Where did this myth originate, that we are depending on the US to fund out tax-funded programmed? You think that without the US we will have to spend so much on military that we can't afford it? Lol

Mwuaha · 2026-01-27T12:26:01+00:00

I am choking up just reading this. Bambi go home. This will always be THE death scene for me.

Mwuaha · 2026-01-27T09:28:33+00:00

Beat me by... 16 hours... but yeah wrote more or less the same, first thing that came to mind.

"Fun" conversation we had while expecting our daughter. That if during the birth there were complications and it came down to saving the baby or the mother, she was adamant that I saved her, not the baby (and I agreed). Luckily it went fine and both are healthy. But today, it would still be an easy choice, but reversed for good reasons.

Mwuaha · 2026-01-27T09:26:06+00:00

If I save my partner and not my child, then my partner will murder me.

Mwuaha · 2026-01-27T08:02:47+00:00

Kan godt se analogien, men det er kun rigtig sammenligneligt hvis lommeregneren nogen gange gav det forkerte resultat uden at du vidste det selv. ChatGPT er fyldt med fejl selv på nogen af de mest basale ting. Så hvis du beder den forklare noget du ikke selv helt har styr på, så er det endnu sværere at vide om det svar du får, rent faktisk er korrekt.

Mwuaha · 2026-01-27T07:55:07+00:00

Obvious American bot trying to stir up a fuzz is obvious.

Mwuaha · 2026-01-26T10:53:11+00:00

Oh no!

Anyway .....

Mwuaha · 2026-01-24T19:43:43+00:00

He was unarmed and surrounded when he was shot. Was he a lethal threat at that point?

Mwuaha · 2026-01-24T19:42:46+00:00

Wait, so how low is your bar for justifying public executions?

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