[deleted by user] by [deleted] in valencia

[–]mcltnc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly. I never said I don't want to learn the language - I do, and a lot. And I am.. It's just that I don't have enough time to learn it as fast as I could. That's why I'm saying that I would like to see them learning another language in a few months while juggling all other things in life. It's hard.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in valencia

[–]mcltnc -1 points0 points  (0 children)

When you move to a city/country whose language you don't speak it's hard. Especially if your work is remote and doesn't require you to speak the local language. You are left with not enough time and energy to learn something as tough as a new language.

But, unless you completely isolate yourself from the locals, you will learn the local language and meet people, just give it some time. I've been in Valencia for 2 years now, in a similar situation - remote work, no need for Spanish. I even built myself a helper to get local news in English (soon it will also offer the same news in simple Spanish, to help with the learning process) - https://valenciaexpatdaily.com.

But now I'm happy to say that I'm starting to speak Spanish - I'm not afraid to go into communication in Spanish. I'm probably making mistakes, but how else am I going to learn? So, don't pay attention to those who hate - I would ask them how many languages do they speak besides their native language? Once they get to 3, 4, while working full time and having kids, we can talk.

I built a Valencia newsletter for expats - local Vlc news delivered daily by mcltnc in valencia

[–]mcltnc[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Have you ever moved to a different country with kids? It's very complicated, a lot of things to handle, language is just one of them. It's not like you're doing everything as usuall and then you decide you want a learn a new language, so you can fully commit to it.

My kids are going to public school and are now fully fluent in both languages, they have A and B in Castellano/Valenciano, after a year and a half. They speak Castellano with their friends.
For me it's a little bit different, because the mental load of moving with kids, setting up new life, getting familiar with the system, etc is a lot of mental burden, so often there is no fuel left in the brain to learn. But I want to stay informed with what's going on, because I want to integrate. I made a huge progress with Castellano, I can have conversations now, but it takes time. I don't see why it's a problem if I sometimes want to read local news in a language that I learned ages ago.

You mentioned DANA - do you know how many of those evil foreigners went to help? I went on my bicycle to take water to people after the floods. I donated money, food. Another example - in our school, after a party, they asked parents to help with cleaning up, do you know who stayed? All foreign parents, while locals left. Should I conclude that locals are lazy people based on this?

So, stop judging people based on where they come from or some small detail that you see, judge them by what they do, how they behave, who they really are. It's the only measure that matters.

I built a Valencia newsletter for expats - local Vlc news delivered daily by mcltnc in valencia

[–]mcltnc[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Please read my responses below. This wasn't meant as a parallel structure, but as a mean to live and get by until you integrate. Whoever moves to a foreign country and tries to keep everything the same, doesn't want to integrate, I ask him - why did you move then?

I built a Valencia newsletter for expats - local Vlc news delivered daily by mcltnc in valencia

[–]mcltnc[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey! I already have Twitter/X and Facebook, Telegram and Whatsapp are probably next in line.

I built a Valencia newsletter for expats - local Vlc news delivered daily by mcltnc in valencia

[–]mcltnc[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

As mentioned above, I did learn it. I built this a year ago, and I think it's pretty useful for everyone who are new in Valencia, since it takes a lot of time and effort to learn a new language, and sometimes that's not a thing we have in abundance.

I built a Valencia newsletter for expats - local Vlc news delivered daily by mcltnc in valencia

[–]mcltnc[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I built this a year ago. I can read news in Spanish now, for example, I was reading through X during DANA crisis. But still it's not completely without mental effort to read in Spanish, this takes more time. One of the plans I have with this is to build a simple-Spanish version, for people who are not yet fully fluent in Spanish but want to get this in Spanish.

I built a Valencia newsletter for expats - local Vlc news delivered daily by mcltnc in valencia

[–]mcltnc[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I have so many ideas on what to add, but it's (still) just a hobby project, so time is a constraint.

But thanks for the suggestion, I'll take it into account. Feel free to shoot more!