THEY are known as the “Por Favors”, among their Spanish neighbours. They are the Britons who have bought a place in Spain but whose knowledge of the language extends only to a few words, like
por favor — Spanish for please.
But help is at hand for those who suffer from our famous ineptitude with foreign languages. Calidona, a Spanish property company, is paying for local councillors in one part of Murcia, southeastern Spain, to have classes in English. The idea is to make living alongside their neighbours, from Britain or Germany, easier.
At the tiny village of Gea Truyols, near Calidona’s huge Corvera Golf and Country Club development, foreigners outnumber Spaniards, so the lingua franca is English. Communication is limited to waving hands, drawing unintelligible sketches or resorting to dictionaries.
Valeriano Pérez, Mayor of Gea Truyols, admitted that it came as a shock to some of the older members of the town council. “For us it is hard to learn a new language, but it does make sense because we need to deal with planning applications and explain them to our neighbours,” he said.
The move is symptomatic of a growing move among developers and estate agents to provide property buyers with more than just the bricks and mortar. Increasingly, companies are realising that many Britons do not simply want a holiday home to visit for two weeks; they may want to up sticks and live there permanently, so providing ways to help buyers integrate with Spanish society can prove an attractive draw for potential investors.
The larger developers are providing after- sales guides to schools, health care, taxation, guides on how to start a business and the background to aspects of Spanish society like bullfighting. In southern Spain, Andalucian Dream Homes publishes a magazine to show prospective buyers what life is like for people who have settled in Spain — or how it could be for them.
Cary Johnston, editor of Dreamlife magazine, says: “The idea is to give a people a feel for life here and how some have made their lives here, with features on the type of businesses, how people make their money and get into Spanish life.”
In some parts of Spain, where regional languages are spoken, authorities even offer free lessons in an effort to help British buyers to settle in. In Catalonia, in northeast Spain for instance, Catalán classes are free.
Though most foreigners will speak Spanish as well as their own languages, if their children go to local schools, they will learn Catalán. So if their parents want to help their children with homework, they may benefit from knowing some basic Catalán. Analysts believe this is part of a new trend that could give developers a competitive edge in the near future. Perhaps, more importantly, for buyers, it might be just what they are looking for.
Mark Stucklin, who runs the independent website www.spanishpropertyinsight.com, said: “It has been easy for the past decade for developers to simply build houses and sell them to estate agents who market them to buyers.
“But very soon, these people are going to have to provide services to help people integrate, like Spanish classes, wine-tasting courses or other ways to get into Spanish culture, because that is what people want and the market is so competitive.”
Stucklin said one largely unexplored avenue might be throwing in free health insurance with a new home in Spain. Many Britons look to retire to Spain and if they can be sure they can rely on private health insurance as part of the package, this would be hugely attractive. Many estate agents and developers already signpost hospitals on their A-Z guides on their websites.
And there is already a new model of Spanish tourism to replace the traditional “sun, sand and sangria”. Now, many Spanish newspapers report how Britons and other foreigners enjoy sun, sand and salud (health). They buy their second homes near decent hospitals and come to Spain to avoid lengthy waiting lists at home.
Douglas MacPhail, 35, had to undergo an emergency operation for a brain haemorrhage in the Carlos Moya Hospital in Málaga after he suffered an accident while staying at his flat in nearby Mijas. “The hospital, by good luck, turned out to be a centre for neurological surgery,” he said.
From a Spanish perspective, helping Britons to integrate into their society makes perfect sense. Belén Pardo, a journalist with the Spanish political magazine Tiempo de Hoy, said: “Yes, foreigners should learn Spanish to integrate in our culture. But we have to be realists. The construction boom in Spain is providing a huge boost to the economy and we want to encourage that.”
NEED TO KNOW
Una cerveza, por favor is the one phrase practised by those heading to the Costas. But Britons buying a home in the sun need a more sophisticated vocabulary.
Lets start with abogado, the Spanish for solicitor. He (abogada is the female version) will arrange the signing of the escritura (the deeds). The escritura is then signed and witnessed by a notario (public notaries appointed by the Government.) Yet before you get that far, you need to see a nota simple, the property’s registration details to prove that the seller is the owner.
This is not to be confused with a copia simple — a copy of the escritura without the signatures. Once signed, it becomes the Escritura de Compraventa, which is renamed the Escritura Publica after it has been officially stamped. Got that?
You deserve una cerveza.
