86 replies to this topic

[kramer]

I was quite surprised by the lack of English spoken by bar staff as I was kind of expecting a Union Jack and fry up type of place. Not a complaint though and it cetainly isn't dificult to learn the word for beer in Spanish and point to things on the menu if you can't pronounce them. I found the people to be friendly overall depite the language barrier, much more so than typical British tourist Spanish resorts. I got talking to a couple of barmen and they said it is a tourist location but not for Brits, so it's not really reasonable to expect minimum wage staff to learn English cos they'll be invaded by Scottish football fans once in a blue moon.

[King Of Paisley]

I was quite surprised by the lack of English spoken by bar staff as I was kind of expecting a Union Jack and fry up type of place. Not a complaint though and it cetainly isn't dificult to learn the word for beer in Spanish and point to things on the menu if you can't pronounce them. I found the people to be friendly overall depite the language barrier, much more so than typical British tourist Spanish resorts. I got talking to a couple of barmen and they said it is a tourist location but not for Brits, so it's not really reasonable to expect minimum wage staff to learn English cos they'll be invaded by Scottish football fans once in a blue moon.

It's like anything else, if you try and make an effort in speaking just a little of the local lingo it goes a long way. Phrases like 'Buenos Dias, amigo' and ' Tres grande cerveza y vodka con cola, por favor' are generally easy to pick up.

Just call me Manuel!

[Squirrelhumper]

I visited my sister when she lived in oviedo and nobody spoke English. Didn't bother me in slightest. You can get by easily enough.

[Highland Laddie]

Result/outcome aside, a really great trip with usual great crack and Scottish humour with the lads and lassies, great weather and cold cervezas!!

Can we go back tae Alicante fae a friendly or a TA reunion in the future please??

[A Proud Wee Bonnie Lass]

One of the best, if not THE best so far. The German's kept giving us wrong directions, but the banter on bus 6 was cracking. Most of my mates missed their flights going to Alicante but they got it all sorted (at a price) and the Monday around the pool was quality. Shame about the 90 minute inconvenience (again), but at least i got to see my first two competitive away goals after 10 trips.

[Fugitive]

I can't believe the arrogant attitude of some people on here. I loved the fact that Alicante wasn't all fry ups and English speaking. The Spanish really appreciated you making the effort to speak to them in their native language.
You wouldn't expect bar staff near hampden to speak several languages would you ?

English is a struggle for some of them

[manchesterjags]

I was pleasantly surprised Alicante wasn't a big tourist trap, as I was expecting the fish and chips and the British boozers. I didn't have any communication problems at all, I don't speak much Spanish but in a couple of shops where I bought a sandwich or a coke I tried a wee bit of the lingo and got what I wanted, and in the hotels the staff spoke very good English, and German and French from what I could gather. No problemo! As others have said, as native English speakers we already have it very easy when abroad, everything at every airport you'll ever go to is written in our language and you're never far from someone who speaks English well. Nevertheless I like to make an effort as I don't like the colonial attitude that everyone should speak the same as us. As others have said here it's not as if taxi or pizza firms in Edinburgh or Glasgow would be able to answer calls in Spanish/German/French etc. I work for a tourist attraction in Edinburgh, a city which makes an absolute killing out of visitors and a few of my colleagues do have a bit of Italian or German etc but it's amazing how few people who work in tourism in Scotland can speak another language. Have you ever seen a menu in anything other than English in Scotland? Ok, Italian and French restaurants maybe, which probably explains why you always see Italian tourists crowding into the Bar Romas and Vittorias in Edinburgh - just because they can understand the menu.

[Bobalexander1983]

I thought the atmosphere in Alicante was a little subdued considering the number of TA in town, partially I think due to a lot of folk bringing the wife and/or kids for a bit of a cheeky holiday around the game. That's entirely reasonable though, although it defintely impacted the atmosphere both around town and in the stadium.

People speak about the language barrier being a problem, but it's essentially our problem, not theirs. It takes a few minutes to learn how to order your drink of choice, some food basics and ask where the bogs are. Even if yer F'in terrible at it, the locals will appreciate the effort and cut you some slack.

I witnessed a couple of folk getting increasingly angry at barmen down on the front for not being able to understand what they were asking for. Shouting louder and slower won't help your case, but this seemed to be their only plan B. Think they may have been from the DTA, but wouldn't want to point fingers without being sure.

Working in the licensed trade myself, if anyone had spoken to me like I saw some of the local waiters and barpeople spoken to, they'd have been out on their arse without touching the ground. In one of the cases I was able to explain with my extremely basic holiday spanish what the woman wanted, but for Scots to behave this way is pretty sickening and has led me to consider missing out the popular away trips to touristy destinations in future. It seems to attract an element that I actively go out of my way to avoid when going on holiday.

If German or Spanish fans were to come to Scotland and start raging at us for not speaking their lingo, who would be the ones to look like a*seholes? It's worrying that such a large element of the Scotland support realistically expect to go abroad and everyone there will speak English for their convenience. In a lot of places it will be the case - I think the locals in Norway spoke better english than most of the visiting TA, but if you end up somewhere they don't it should all just add to the adventure, not result in drunks shouting over bars at innocent locals.

[barrheadtartanarmy]

I managed to have a conversation with a Catalunyan man about Barca, Catalonia, Franco and the International Brigades despite him not speaking a word of English and me not speaking a word of Spanish. It wasn't a problem at all and we both ended up sharing a drink and a song for the best part of half an hour.

I really liked Alicante - it wasn't full of lager-louts causing trouble and some of the architecture, fountains, wee squares etc were fantastic - I was expecting another Benidorm or Magaluf.

[craigcouper]

I can't believe the arrogant attitude of some people on here. I loved the fact that Alicante wasn't all fry ups and English speaking. The Spanish really appreciated you making the effort to speak to them in their native language.
You wouldn't expect bar staff near hampden to speak several languages would you ?

English is a struggle for some of them

Absolutely spot on. We had a ball in Alicante. When we first arrived getting checked into our hotel was a nightmare because of the language barrier but from then on after a quick read of the SSC guide and a little help from Google we got by no problem.

Day of the game we got up to the stadium around 5.30pm, went to the first bar we got ushered into and left after one drink. The bar was a dropping point for some of the Benidorm buses and it quickly turned into a Jeremy Kyle show holding pen. Some disgusting characters around there obviously let out of their scheme for the first time. We ended up moving up the road 5 minutes and found a great Spanish street party hosted by a club that turned out to be a group of female dress makers. Had a great time there, €1 a beer and €2 a vodka out on the street with a big sound system and we were getting along great with them all. Went back there after the match and had a good sing song and dance with them all and their family's before one of them giving us a lift back to our hotel early in the morning.

Great trip, was nice to have a beer down the beach and a good kick around with a ball in the sand.

[Kirk]

I had a great holiday in Alicante and the locals were brilliant! I enjoy having to use my very limited Spanish and having conversations with the locals and staff without either speaking the others language fluently! I dont think we should go away expecting every other country and place to know english, its pure ignorance!!
The atmosphere was great all week we were there sat-thurs and had wish it was longer.
Shame about the result but no shame in losing to the world champions!!

Edit to add

having drank in the Duke all week i had been talking to some of the staff since the saturday, and on wednesday night when i said we were leaving one of them shook our hands and said take care and that all of the Scottish people had been brilliant and they had loved having us there. So we have once again done ourselves proud.

Edited by Kirk, 14 October 2011 - 02:55 PM.

[Jimbo]

Another one who had a great time .Thought the Alacantians were great and very friendly . Thought the atmosphere was also great,well in and around Mulligans,Murphys pubs it was .

[nig]

I witnessed a couple of folk getting increasingly angry at barmen down on the front for not being able to understand what they were asking for. Shouting louder and slower won't help your case, but this seemed to be their only plan B. Think they may have been from the DTA, but wouldn't want to point fingers without being sure.

If you mean the Dunfermline TA then I find that hard to belive since spent most on Monday afternoon/evening with them at one the beach front bars with no trouble and the waitress even overdoing the 5 second vodkas since she was happy with our company......

[dessmfc]

My stay in Alicante was great. Weather was glorious, and plenty of places to eat and drink.
Those that thought Alicante would be more touristy, should have gone to Benidorm. It's a Spanish city, that was in existence long before charter flights. I never had any problem getting served, and I was all over the city, not just the old town and sea-front.
I didn't see any lads or lassies misbehaving despite the drink that was getting shifted, and was glad, as our reputation remains among the best. The lad at passport control, said," You are Scottish, very good, not like the english. I don't like them " A bit rude, but made me chuckle....

[Pistonbroke]

Funniest - apart from meeting the TAMB usual suspects and 'feeding' several some guff - was getting on the bust to Alicante from the airport, with some Edinburgh lads.

Decent enough, they'd enjoyed a wee tincture - or 15 - and were tanning the remains of a bottle of Gordon's Gin (Gordon wisnae there ).

Getting to ma seat, I spotted what looked liked like a (virtually) full medicine bottle, that I was going to pass to Senor Driver when I got off.

Nah! One of the boys grabbed it, opened it... then virtually consumed it. in a 'one-r'.

A Spanish traveller - jokingly(?) - said it was for 'genital warts', which in no way discouraged the boy finishing it off.

He never died on the bus, and, as he had no Euros, I said he and his pals could stay scooping with me, until I met Mr and Mrs Borolad near the harbour. (Or until I was bored with them.)

No one, even someone with the wildest of imaginations, could ever come up with the steady, regular, stream of the outrageous antics performed on TA trips - for which I am truly grateful.

Anyway, the trip was fine - apart from the result - it's everything else that is shhit!!!