Is it necessary to speak English to live in the US, or Britain?
Well, the Brits had their ways of imposing other nations their language, so did the French... but these would seem gone by times.
I don't see the sense of wanting to LIVE in a country without WANTING to COMMUNICATE with it's people. To communicate, one would seem to have to be ABLE to communicate in the appropriate language.
Maybe it's easy for me to say, languages and even dialects and accents just seem to come flying to me, quite effortlessly. After all, I was born in a very small country (the size of the DR) which has 4 official languages and went to school in a city which was officially bi-lingual! We traveled a lot and during my childhood spend most our summer vacations in Spain. I later found out that I did NOT learn Spanish back then, but somehow I neither seem to remember that I had any communication issues as a kid in Spain.
When I moved to Ecuador, 17 years ago I could probably order water and make sure I would not go hungry. 6 months later I negotiated my residence all by myself, going from office to office in Quito.
If the offer was irresistible, I would not have an issue about moving to Riyadh or Kiew tomorrow, even though I only know ONE word in Arabic and none in Ukrainian. I know that in a few days, weeks and months I would boot up the new language "chip", and I would not want it any other way.
I see how much my life is easier HERE, even over expats' who have lived here longer but speak little or even only less Spanish than I do. It affects EVERY aspect of EVERYDAY L I F E .
I'd rather be blind than mute/deaf (although I am aware, that many would prefer for me to be just mute
).
But, since the subject seems to be a followup to a recent other thread, I must admit, that most times, when one of these pickup trucks peddling bananas or what ever comes around the 'hood, blaring the hottest offer or political BS thru an overloaded distorting and abused metal speaker... I don't get much more than "
gwaek, gwaek, gaweeeeek a gwaeo Pesoooooo!". But then, if I'd care, I'd be equipped to ask what the fuss was all about. The only one I really get is our daily 6 o'clock wake up "service":
Aguacateeeeeeee, aguacateeeeee! I used to care little for avocados, now, I definitely HATE them.
Yo no hablar Spaniolish, is not a excuse... it's a confession of failure.
Short version? Yes, language, at least at the level to "get by" is a must! For survival, comfort, safety, enjoyment and RESPECT.
... J-D.