The majority of British are renowned throughout Europe for their inability to speak foreign languages, despite holidaying, buying holiday homes and even living in countries like Spain, France and Italy for decades.

Thus far they have had to get by with 'Spanglish', a pocket dictionary and elaborate hand gestures, but that is all about to change if property developers Calidona have anything to do with it. Instead of encouraging clients at their exclusive golf resort in Murcia, south-eastern Spain, to pick up a bit of the lingo, the company is paying for local councillors in the tiny village of Gea Truyols and surrounding areas to learn English.

It may all sound a bit loco and Valeriano Perez, Mayor of Gea Truyols, admitted that it surprised older members of the town council. "For us it is hard to learn a new language, but it does make sense because we need to deal with planning applications and explain them to our neighbours," he told The Times newspaper recently.

However, while the vast number of non-Spanish speakers who own property in Spain are able to get by without ever being able to do more than order food and drinks, when it comes to getting medical attention, serious problems have arisen.

Doctors in areas with a large British population are refusing to treat Brits who cannot speak Spanish and have no interpreters, due to the risks of misdiagnosis.

Helena McIntyre moved to Lanzarote, in the  Canary Islands, in 1997 and runs a private holiday villa, Las Palmeras, in Puerto del Carmen. She has seen first-hand the barriers that exist for foreigners in the Spanish healthcare system. "It is ridiculous how many people can't say anything other than 'hello' and 'one beer, please' but it's true you really don't need to speak Spanish unless you make the effort as there is such a big English community.

"My son, Matthew was taken into hospital to have his appendix removed and it was traumatic enough, but if I hadn't understood what the doctors were telling me, it would have been much worse. I took a year's course in Spanish before I moved to Lanzarote, and it helped, and I would advise anyone moving to Spain to learn Spanish, out of respect if not necessity." She adds that the high number of retirees moving to Spain also means the potential need for healthcare is even greater.

The UK transfers a monthly sum of €175 (£121) to Spain for every UK pensioner legally resident but three quarters of Brits, according to research by Spain's Health Ministry, have not applied for a residencia (residence card) and this severely hinders their access to treatment.

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Read other articles about Spain:
Spanish 'separation' to impact on property?
Discovering property in inland Spain
Property bargains in the Spanish Costas

Article first published on 12 July 2006