Shame you aren't interested in sharing your thoughts Lee.
I think leaving Europe will precipitate the break up of the UK.
Oh and for want of another reason look at the shit Lund is getting for daring to upset the learned majority by asking questions against the grain of what people on here think other people should be doing.
Quote from: Johnny Brown on February 29, 2016, 08:52:15 pmI think leaving Europe will precipitate the break up of the UK.If I were a Scot who'd voted to stay in the UK, and English voters then took me out of the EU, I'd1. be fuming2. be demanding another referendum...so on the whole I share your suspicions
To be fair I'd say that lots of UK migrants to France & Spain seem to do fine without too much knowledge of local languages.
Plenty of them in chamonix! There are about 1000 British expats there and I'd guess more than half don't have enough French language to do a French job. (still, that's only 500 out of 2M.)Sent from my XT1039 using Tapatalk
of course many British people feel that they get a poor deal out of the freedom of labor movement within the EU - they severely limit their own opportunities to work in other EU countries because of their reluctance to learn other languagesI suggest an EU wide form of National Service where every young person spends a few years in other parts of the EU doing useful stuff the EUth brigade (no connection with Dignitas)
Quote from: jwi on March 01, 2016, 12:05:23 amTo be fair I'd say that lots of UK migrants to France & Spain seem to do fine without too much knowledge of local languages.Are we talking about ones who work, or ones who go over to retire
Work's changing too. I imagine there's a fair number of Brits who live in other countries and work remotely doing data/IT/finance trades that require no foreign language skills. Easy enough to do data-entry work and spend your life in whichever country you want.
Quote from: jwi on March 01, 2016, 12:05:23 amTo be fair I'd say that lots of UK migrants to France & Spain seem to do fine without too much knowledge of local languages.Are we talking about ones who work, or ones who go over to retire and spend all their time in english pubs, reading the Mail and drinking Carling? I suspect UK expats who go to europe to work with nonexistent foreign language skills are very much in the minority.
Following the conclusion of the Prime Minister’s negotiations and the setting of a Referendum date, the Group Board has considered the impact of the EU Referendum on the company, its business, customers and employees. Our company has no vote in the forthcoming Referendum – the decision will be taken by the UK electorate and we do not seek to influence the outcome.We consider that a vote to leave would have little direct impact on trading for our company: our customer base is located very largely in the UK, the US and Asia.It is however probable that a vote to exit, with a potentially lengthy period of negotiation and an uncertain outcome, would create uncertainty for markets and the broader UK economy in which we operate. Given the lack of clarity about potential alternative trading relationships between the UK and other jurisdictions, and the market and economic uncertainty, the economic case for leaving is unproven; we will continue to keep the situation under review as more and better data and analysis emerges. As one of the largest investors in the UK, we will be actively listening to companies we invest in, who will be assessing the potential impact for themselves.
. Our company has no vote in the forthcoming Referendum – the decision will be taken by the UK electorate and we do not seek to influence the outcome.
Quote from: petejh on March 01, 2016, 09:15:35 amWork's changing too. I imagine there's a fair number of Brits who live in other countries and work remotely doing data/IT/finance trades that require no foreign language skills. Easy enough to do data-entry work and spend your life in whichever country you want.This does happen quite a lot. People who work:1. Offshore2. Web/Graphic Design3. Freelance ITCan get by in some places with minimal knowledge of local language, customs, food, culture.... I remember speaking to one meat-head arsehole who worked in Azerbaijan and lived in Malta. He was the archetypal shaved head, overweight, mail reading, carling swilling obnoxious twat who hated everything about Malta except the low tax and sun.
Quote from: dave on March 01, 2016, 08:56:27 amQuote from: jwi on March 01, 2016, 12:05:23 amTo be fair I'd say that lots of UK migrants to France & Spain seem to do fine without too much knowledge of local languages.Are we talking about ones who work, or ones who go over to retire and spend all their time in english pubs, reading the Mail and drinking Carling? I suspect UK expats who go to europe to work with nonexistent foreign language skills are very much in the minority.Absolutely agree that a lot of expats are insular and interact little bar complain about the host nation in Andalucía.Do not agree with the implication that you don't need more than English to thrive in the global economy.Would be interested to see some data on that.
It's a subsection of the global workforce definitely. My cousin consults as business analyst, based in Fan Francisco. Every time I'm in Cambridge he seems to be at his folks in civvies, with laptop. He just has to get up at for conference calls at Pacific Ocean Time.Another way of putting it is that for work based on communication and analysis in anglophone companies where you live is increasingly irrelevant. However in the context of the overall global economy and job opportunities I believe that a lack of bilingualism is a serious disadvantage.