What I Learned from Building an App for Low-Income Americans

Re:What I Learned from Building an App for Low-Income Americans by mogrim on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @07:53AM (#8657482)

They don't in Spain. They might be able to read it (just about), and given a week or two on holiday they might be able to understand a fair bit... but fluently? No.

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Re:What I Learned from Building an App for Low-Income Americans by personlurking on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @08:38AM (#8657628)

There was a recent article (I forget if it was in Spanish or Portuguese) that said the Spanish have higher fluency than Portuguese when it comes to English. Living in Portugal, having traveled in Spain, and having Spanish friends, we all had a lil' laugh at that. Of all the Portuguese people I've met living here, only two weren't fluent in English (one was an old man, the other was conversational).

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Re:What I Learned from Building an App for Low-Income Americans by icebraining on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @11:41AM (#8658408)

Only two non-fluent? Really? I think you were either extremely lucky or have a rather low bar for "fluency". I'm Portuguese, and a software developer, and yet I know barely anyone I'd consider fluent (myself included) - especially when it comes to the 50+ demography, since at the time it was common to have French classes instead of English.

That said, we do have a better accent than the Spanish, probably thanks to watching TV shows and films subtitled instead of dubbed. Watching TV in Spain is painful :|

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Re:What I Learned from Building an App for Low-Income Americans by personlurking on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @04:32PM (#8659843)

I'd like to think my bar is pretty normal, but I admit my friends and acquantances are late 20s/early 30s, live in Lisbon, and have pretty frequent interactions with foreigners.

For example, though, I'd consider you fluent, based on your comment.

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Re:What I Learned from Building an App for Low-Income Americans by icebraining on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @04:47PM (#8659923)

have pretty frequent interactions with foreigners

Yeah, but that's not exactly common for the average citizen. At least, they don't interact with tourists or students, who are more likely to speak English, but with immigrants, who are _usually_ even less fluent.

For example, though, I'd consider you fluent, based on your comment.

Well, in writing, sure. But then I open my mouth :)

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Re:What I Learned from Building an App for Low-Income Americans by jmngomes on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @10:59AM (#8658201)

Right, especially because all TV and movies are dubbed to spanish, so there's hardly ever any contact with the english language.

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Re:What I Learned from Building an App for Low-Income Americans by icebraining on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @11:44AM (#8658426)

Sure they do. Lots of Spanish people speak their regional language (Catalan, Basque, Gallego, etc) besides the national language.

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