Misjudgments: Culture and expatriates

I am not a newsagent loyalist. Given that a journey is required for whichever newsagent I might patronise, each day brings its moment of decision-making. Which one?

A Can Picafort shop has become the newsagent of most chat, partly because the chap seems to take notice of what's in the "Bulletin"; well, on its front and back covers at any rate. I very much doubt that he will be reading this (when it goes forward to the Bulletin). Nor indeed does he know that I am there within its covers.

"Capello quits" was the cue for a morning chat. What I had anticipated might have been solely an assessment of the now former England manager's contribution to the national team turned out to be the cue for another racism analysis; there had been a previous one regarding Luis Suárez.

The chat does tend to be somewhat one-sided. As a subject for discussion, I tend to simply nod, utter the occasional "claro", even if I don't mean it, and eventually depart, bidding my interlocutor a pleasant and good day. I have no wish to cause offence and no offence has been caused on his part. It is a discussion, if you can call it that, which speaks volumes about different cultural perspectives.

The chat wandered off into seemingly unrelated territory, that of the French broadcaster Canal Plus' satirising of Rafael Nadal as a doper and of claims by the French to be superior in matters of racial correctness. Who had France ever had in their national football team who was of a different ethnic origin? Zidane. Spain had Senna, and he was black.

This did rather overlook Henry, Thuram, Desailly and any number of black French players and also overlooked the occasion when the former Spanish coach, Luis Aragonés, was caught describing Henry in a John Terry-like fashion (allegedly, when it comes to Terry of course).

It is good to know that the French are currently European public enemies "numéro un" where the Mallorcans are concerned. Showing Nadal urinating into a petrol tank; how dare the French? This does at least divert attention from the British for the time being. And it is also good to know that a French propensity to provoke neighbourly ill-will extends to the south as well as the north of France.

Be it racially correct Britain or France, there is no great vive of la différence between Britain and France in the eyes of many a Spaniard or Mallorcan. They simply don't get the whole racial deal. Which is not to say that there is rampant racism, as there isn't. Just that they don't see what the fuss is all about. And the newsagent couldn't figure out what the fuss over Capello was all about.

Capello's mistake was to have made a misjudgment, but it was a mistake in keeping with what appears to have been his failure to have bought into British culture and mores, and not just because of his failure to have acquired a decent level of English.

British expats in Mallorca aren't of course like Capello. Most of them are not paid a small fortune for doing very little. But the Capello story is instructive as an example of how not acquiring a feel for culture, central to which is an appreciation of language, can result in misjudgment and in non-ingratiation.

Capello can't be blamed for his mercenariness. What the precise terms of his contract were, who can say. They should though have included clauses for the sake of keeping up appearances if nothing else. Without them it was all too easy to consider him as someone taking a fat pay cheque and giving very little back.

In a similar way, many an expat is a mercenary. Not in terms of monetary or material gain, but in terms of gains from what Mallorca has to offer and not giving much back or not seriously attempting to come to terms with local culture or societal mores. Or in making misjudgments in the form of constant criticisms, be they anything from disapproval of bullfighting or road behaviour or standards of service.

But perhaps it is too much to expect otherwise. There will always be misjudgments and misunderstandings and not just because of a failure of language. The mercenariness of ease of mobility can sharpen cultural distinctions rather than lessen them. And it is one that leaves the country or island that is subject to the mercenariness wishing to fall back on what it knows best - its own. Not just Mallorca but also England. After Sven and Fabio, England wants an Englishman; Harry, for whom there has been no misjudgment.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.