Algarve Resident newspaper

My friends, this was taken from Algarve Resident newspaper:

http://www.algarveresident.com/0-47568/algarve/re-help-the-ec-uphold-your-rights-june-8-edition

Think a bit of give and take is needed here, Pedro, most Brits do understand at least one foreign language, even if they are not very good at it.

And people, especially elderly people, needing help is universal. No language skills needed there! I'm not sure that that is racial discrimination, sounds to me more like people being rude for the sake of it.

They are probably just as rude to locals if they can get away with it?

Yes bb1, I agree with you, the problem at Algarve is probably this:

"A voice in Portuguese boomed out from behind a pile of papers (obviously the local jobsworth) from the back of the room ... the policeman looks embarrassed and tells me next time I come, “come with someone who speaks Portuguese", this I don´t understand, being Algarve a holiday destination mainly British holidaymakers, it is expected that a policeman should be at least polite, with manners, also being aware of how to speak English. I´m not accusing the policeman, I just think that he should have been more polite, because with his rude behaviour, he is not showing (again) a good image of Algarve to it´s visitors. Algarve have serious crime problems, and this is not helping. Algarve depends of holidaymakers.

I also know that some British holidaymakers knows a bit of Portuguese language, but, speaking with a bit of both words of both languages, perhaps it is much easier to both persons to understand each other.

I have noticed that Morais and co call everything to the north-west of France 'England', Pedro - which is like saying Portugal is just a province of Spain.

It has to be deliberate; there was certainly no excuse for the PJ not knowing the Republic of Ireland is not in 'England' when they made such a mess of documents involving the Smith family.

morais and co are a bunch of illiterate morons.

NOBODY in France speaks English, or so they say. But at least they are polite about it.

I am ashamed to admit that I pretended I was out today when someone came to inspect my septic tank, but I really can't cope with the technicalities of it all in French. They will catchup with me, but in the meantime I am still working on a plausible fit of hysterics from a very old English woman. But I've got a nasty suspicion that Brussels won't care about this, or having to dig up my precious but very small garden, or having to keep my old and frequently pissing dog locked in the house 24/7 while they do it.
I just know that this is going to be a nightmare, and "Polite" won't help.

France doesn't rely on 'English' holidaymakers for a huge chunk of the country's income, Sabot - it is also has a very large population.

Anyway, if I come across bewildered European holidaymakers, I usually attempt to dredge at least 'Hello' or similar up from the back of my mind in their language.

I sometimes swear Portugal has never forgiven Britain for rescuing them from Napoleon.

I also know that some British holidaymakers knows a bit of Portuguese language, but, speaking with a bit of both words of both languages, perhaps it is much easier to both persons to understand each other.

Yes, I don't think they were being rude because he couldn't speak Portuguese, I suspect they were just being rude, full stop, Pedro.

They are probably rude to Portuguese citizens, too, but are more likely to get answered back. I am afraid every nation on earth has state employees who seem to take delight in upsetting people.

I am looking at this from a different angle. It doesn't sound like a holidaymaker, more an ex pat to me judging by the need for forms and the resorting to Algarve Resident to let off steam.

I have to say that I don't have a lot of sympathy with people coming to live in this country who can't speak English. Its different if its a holiday, but if they want to live or work here then I think a basic requirement is to get by in our language. Putting that thought on this situation, I think the demand of this person that the office provide people bi-lingual in effectively all EU languages is both daft and lazy on his or her part.

I personally think it is a combination of circumstances, Greenink.

The court staff are probably just, well, unhelpful to everyone, to put it politely. This person is elderly, not feeling too great, and stressed, so thought they were doing it because he's British. So then went off on a rant, thereby enforcing the idea that Brits shout and SPEAK VERY SLOWLY to anyone who isn't fluent in English.

If someone, say, had offered him a seat - in sign language if need be, he wouldn't have got so irate, and ended up ranting in the Resident. No-one comes out of it very well, except for the long-suffering policeman.

I think there genuinely is an anti-British element in the Algarve - I've seen the likes of Morais and Claudia reacting to news that fewer Brits are going there with, Good, we don't need their kind anyway.

We've all come across government employees who seem to delight in being as unhelpful as possible to the public; my own feeling is that the court staff were doing exactly the same. But conclusions were jumped to, and behaviour misinterpreted.

bb1 wrote:I personally think it is a combination of circumstances, Greenink.

The court staff are probably just, well, unhelpful to everyone, to put it politely. This person is elderly, not feeling too great, and stressed, so thought they were doing it because he's British. So then went off on a rant, thereby enforcing the idea that Brits shout and SPEAK VERY SLOWLY to anyone who isn't fluent in English.

If someone, say, had offered him a seat - in sign language if need be, he wouldn't have got so irate, and ended up ranting in the Resident. No-one comes out of it very well, except for the long-suffering policeman.

I think there genuinely is an anti-British element in the Algarve - I've seen the likes of Morais and Claudia reacting to news that fewer Brits are going there with, Good, we don't need their kind anyway.

We've all come across government employees who seem to delight in being as unhelpful as possible to the public; my own feeling is that the court staff were doing exactly the same. But conclusions were jumped to, and behaviour misinterpreted.

I agree about public employees. This person might have got the same kind of reaction on a bad day in any office here. But the nonsense about them having to be bi-lingual is silly. It isn't necessary. He or she should learn some Portuguese if he wants to live there.

I can almost understand the locals being irritated by Brits who settle there and live in ghettos with no desire to know the culture, language or anything else about Portugal (other than the sun). Its just the same here, with people coming to live and setting up Asian or Polish ghettos, it completely irritates the locals and causes a great deal of bad feeling. If you don't want to be part of the country, don't go to live there.

People in tourist offices here should be bilingual (often they are not of course and that is awful) but people in local government offices, banks etc have no need to be. This is England. Sorry if that offends anyone.

I have often had to deal with French Officials in a language I certainly didn't speak very well, although I have improved somewhat of late. But the important thing in France is that no one is ever rude, even if they genuinely don't speak English. In fact they go out of their way to try to help. Therein lies the difference.
I once had to go to Court over a minor complaint that I had lodge. I had no Lawyer with me, but the Judge fell over himself to help me. He didn't speak English but he got one of his clerks to tell me what he had ruled, actually in my favour. I can't tell you how nice that was.

IMO, both sides in this are at fault - the court staff for being bl**dy-minded, and the ex-pat for expecting everyone to speak fluent English. As it involved a legal document, I would have thought a bi-lingual companion was an essential.

It baffles me, though, how anyone can live in a country and not grasp the language sufficiently to do basic things like shopping, finding doctors, etc.