Do Spanish people speak English?
Do Spanish people rather speak English? I am going to Spain soon and I need to know if I will be fine with beginner spanish!
5 Answers
As pacokinkler said, everyone in the last generation has learnt English at school, but only those who have tried to speak it outside of the school are likely to be able to speak it and understand it with some fluency. Those who just learnt at school most likely will struggle to understand and maintain a conversation. You'll find some eager ones who to practice their English, but a lot of people will be too shy or lack the confidence to try, while everyone will be infinitely patient if you try to speak Spanish. Communication will not be a major problem, but without Spanish you'll have to make some occasional efforts to understand and get understood.
You will manage, you will have to listen carefully. In today's world the younger generation has learned English, but in many cases are reluctant to use it. The older generation did not learn it, it was not a requirement. You are going to Spain, you will encounter English but don't expect it.
I'd say not everywhere... If you are going to cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Valencia there wouldn't be so much problem... And it depends on what you mean with beginner Spanish.
This is an interesting question. In the last year I have had the opportunity to travel to 3 countries. In France nobody spoke English or Spanish, I was surprised. In Peru many people, especially those who worked in the tourist and hotel indestries spoke fairly good English. In the shops and in the restaurant they spoke tourist English IE the language specific to their need such: a this cost ... and you need... Their language was very limited to the needs of selling their wears. People on the street spoke not English. We also met people who wanted to practice their Spanish with us because the spoke Catchua the language of the natives of Peru. In England I was at a hotel and of course English (my own language) wasn't at all a problem until the fire alarm wern't off at two AM. There were a lot of older people (50 to 60) from Spain who could not understand the information the hotel personal (the majority who were from India) it seemed in London nobody spoke Spanish and none of the Spanish clientel spoke English. This was a great experience for me to practice my Spanish. I was the hero of the night, especially since there was no fire. When my daughter went to Barcelona she was surprised how many languages were spoken there. She had no problem even-though she only spoke English.
I have been to Spain many times and can say Spaniards, even in bigger cities, are not very prone to speaking English. So make sure you have mastered the traveler's Spanish vocabulary before getting there.
