People living here that don’t speak the language.

I understand this is quite a hot topic and there are a lot of views on the matter. I’m a blind person who has visited Spain often with my parents. We have spent a lot of time along the Malaga coast, not as much time in the city itself but we’ve met quite a lot of people a lot of Irish, English, Germans etc who’ve lived here for years that hardly speak any Spanish.

We spend a lot of time near Torrox costa but have been to many other towns such as Nerja, Torre Del Mar, Mijas costa.

We have a friend who works in a Dutch cafe in Nerja. She has lived there since she was 9 and told us that she knows people who’ve lived there 30 years that don’t speak a word of Spanish. We met an Irish couple who bought an apartment in Caleta de Vélez in 2021. They had lived there since 2016 and they told us they don’t speak a word of Spanish, not even Duolingo level.

I understand it is probably down to a number of factors. I suppose if you work remote for an international company and if most of your friends are other foreigners then I guess your chances of full integration are significantly reduced. Then there’s the fact that the Malaga and the Costa Del Sol area in general are very touristy areas with a very high percentage of foreigners living there compared to somewhere like Granada, Jaén or Extramadura for example. I’m also fully aware especially in areas like the Costa Del Sol and from my own experiences coming here that it can be very easy to get trapped in the expat communities and never learn the language.

My experience of places like Granada is that outside of places like the Alhambra it is much more difficult to get by without knowing Spanish.