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UNDERSTANDING SPANIARDS

The habits you will never be able to truly master like a Spaniard

It doesn't matter how long you live here or how hard you try, there are just some things that you will never be able to do as well as a Spaniard.

Published: 3 February 2020 09:26 CET
Updated: 3 October 2023 16:38 CEST
spanish habits
Spaniards are experts at making noise. (Photo by JUSSI NUKARI / LEHTIKUVA / AFP)

Straight-talking

Otherwise known as ‘being blunt’. While the thought of telling people what you really thought of them sends most Anglo-Saxons into a cold sweat, Spaniards don’t give two hoots about giving you their honest opinion whether it is asked for or not. So if you really are looking for the truth, trust a Spaniard. 

Expect no-nonsense talk from Spaniards, without it being nasty. (Photo by PHILIPPE DESMAZES / AFP)
 

Tanning

For many Spaniards, sunbathing isn’t just a form of relaxation it is an art form bordering on obsession. Never setting foot on the beach without their tanning oils – or even olive oil – these Spaniards leave us pasty and often-sunburnt guiris in the shade.

Spaniards tan easily, although those who overdo it end up with skin like leather in older age. (Photo by Jewel SAMAD / AFP)
 

Swearing

Swear words are the glue that hold many Spanish conversations together and are to be regularly found peppering the sentences of even the most demure-looking abuela. Swearing is such a normal part of Spanish vocabulary that even the strongest of curse words is used liberally in everyday conversation. 

READ ALSO: What’s the worst possible insult you can say to someone in Spain?

Casual non-aggressive swearing is common in many social settings in Spain. Photo: Susanna Davtyan/Pexels
 

Sitting down to eat lunch

In the fast-paced modern world, more and more people end up eating their lunch at their desks, or grabbing a sandwich to-go. Not most Spaniards, who still enjoy long lunches, sitting at actual tables and enjoying numerous courses. The classic menu del día – a fixed-price three-course menu – is still the lunch of choice for many in Spain. This is one habit that is we could all get used to.

In Spain, lunch on the go is a big no-no. (Photo by ANDER GILLENEA / AFP)
 

Keeping conversations going

Part of the reason why lunch and dinner can drag out for so long in Spain is because Spaniards truly know how to talk; and they’re experts at the art of la sobremesa. And these are genuine conversations, not just small talk about the weather to break the ice. Spanish people tend to be genuine and sociable, so chats can go on for hours in an enjoyable fashion. You’ll also notice that when it comes to saying goodbye, this can also be dragged out for a long time, usually involving going up to each person individually and having one final talk before ending with two kisses or a hug.

Relax, don’t look at the time and let the conversation flow in Spain. (Photo by CESAR MANSO / AFP)
 
 

Speaking quietly at the top of your voice

It’s hard enough to get your mouth around the Spanish r, but even if you master the language, it’s the pitch and frequency of the talking you’ll struggle to conquer. As mentioned earlier, Spaniards are world champion chatterboxes and seem to talk with permanently raised voices. 

READ MORE: Why are Spaniards so loud?

Is King Felipe VI the country’s most softspoken Spaniard? (Photo by Emily KASK / AFP)
 

Drinking without getting too drunk 

13 percent of Spaniards drink alcohol every day, making them the second nation that drinks the most frequently in the EU after Portugal. In fact, having a couple of small beers (cañas) or a glass of wine with lunch on a workday is perfectly acceptable and overall alcohol is common in most social gatherings. And yet you’ll rarely see Spaniards getting blind drunk and falling over as is common in the city centres of the UK and Ireland every weekend. They pace themselves, often eat while drinking and on a night out they’ll do plenty of dancing to sweat out the booze. Why? Perhaps because the objective is to have fun, not to get drunk. 

Pouring cider the Asturian way is an art, and although Spaniards drink the small serving in one gulp, you’ll rarely see them drunk.  (Photo by RAFA RIVAS / AFP)
 
 

Partying until the early hours and ‘painting the monkey’ the next day

Somewhat tied to the fact that Spaniards pace themselves when it comes to drinking is the fact that they’re capable of partying until later than pretty much any other country in the world. The fact that they start late – dinner at 10pm, meet at 11pm, hit the clubs at 2am – no doubt helps them with their late-night antics, but overall Spaniards show great resilience when it comes to keeping the party going until the sun rises. They’re also experts at sleeping in the next day until lunchtime or later, and then doing what’s called pintar la mona (literally ‘painting the monkey, but really means doing nothing) as they slowly recover from the night out. Oh, have we mentioned the thousands of local festivals that are held in every single village, town and city across Spain? Life here can sometimes feel like one constant fiesta.

Expect the party to go on until 6 or 7am with Spaniards. (Photo by Pau BARRENA / AFP)
 

Taking summer holidays

If you ever visited Madrid and found it more ghost town than bustling city, chances are you landed in August – the month when seemingly every Madrileño leaves the stifling city for cooler coastal climes. And it’s not just the people, many bars, restaurants and shops close their shutters for the entire month, displaying a “cerrado por vacaciones” sign outside. So forget about getting mundane things like your dry cleaning done and instead take a leaf out of the locals’ book and head for the pool. 

Practically nobody works during August in Spain. (Photo by JAIME REINA / AFP)
 

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SPAIN EXPLAINED

Why the Basque Country is the strike capital of Spain

Around half of all strikes in Spain take place in the Basque Country, but it wasn't always that way.

Published: 28 March 2024 14:48 CET
Why the Basque Country is the strike capital of Spain

Though airport workers are currently striking in Valencia and Madrid, and trade unions have played a leading role in the farmers’ protests across the country in recent weeks, there’s a specific part of Spain that stands head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to industrial action — the Basque Country.

According to figures from the Basque government’s Labour Relations Council (CRL), in 2023 almost half (46 percent) of the total strikes called in Spain took place in the Basque Country.

In 2022, that figure was 50.36 percent. That is to say, a region with less than 5 percent of the country’s total population had half of its strikes. More specifically, 342 of the 679 strikes that took place in Spain in 2022 were in the Basque Country alone, according to data from the Ministry of Labour.

READ ALSO: What are the pros and cons of life in Spain’s Basque Country?

What explains this phenomenon? Is there an underlying explanation? Are the Basque people particularly organised or more radical than other Spaniards?

Part of the explanation for this trend comes from the fact that Basque trade unions have grown, or maintained, at least, as union activity has declined in the rest of the country.

As Spanish trade unions slowly began waning in power and membership over the years (like in many countries around the world) the Basque Country became a hotbed of trade unionism activity and industrial action in Spain from the early-2000s. In more recent years, the 2020s in particular, the proportion of strikes in the Basque Country versus the rest of Spain has grown ever higher due to an overall decrease in the number of strikes around the rest of the country.

Jon Las Heras, Professor of Political Economy at the University of the Basque Country and expert on Basque unions, says that this high rate of strikes compared to the rest of Spain is due, above all, to the trade union model and strategy adopted by the region’s two major unions, Eusko Langileen Alkartasuna (ELA) and Langile Abertzaleen Batzordeak (LAB).

“ELA and LAB have formed a ‘counter-power’ bloc in opposition to CCOO and UGT [the traditional, major unions in Spain] that are more prone to engage into social dialogue,” Las Heras argues in his paper Striking to Renew: Basque Unions’ Organising Strategies and the Use of the Strike-Fund.

This strategy, he argues, is “based on organising workers ‘deeply’ – especially with ELA’s recurrent use of a strike-fund that fosters membership participation and affiliation through confederal solidarity.”

In short, whereas Spain’s larger national unions are, Las Heras suggests, more inclined to dialogue to resolve industrial disputes, Basque unions prefer more direct action. “This has produced very high strike rates since the 2000s, perhaps the highest in Europe,” he adds.

It is worth considering that the Basque Country, in addition to effectively using strike funds, is also one of the wealthiest parts of Spain. In other words, that workers in the Basque Country take home the second highest salaries in Spain on average, behind only Madrid, could mean that union members are more inclined (or have the financial flexibility) to take strike action than if they were from poorer regions such as Murcia, Extremadura and Andalusia.

READ ALSO: Why are the Basque Country and Catalonia so rich compared to the rest of Spain?

At the very least, being wealthier on average means that Basque workers can afford to stay on strike longer than workers in other parts of the country, something essential when settling disputes through industrial action.

However, trade unionists would no doubt point to their strong trade unionism as one of the reasons they are comparatively well paid, rather than the other way around.

But it wasn’t always like this. According to Las Heras, ELA, LAB and other Basque unions formerly relied on dialogue and sector-wide collective bargaining agreements, as many unions still do, but began to develop “a strategy of political autonomy and trade union action at a level closer to the grassroots” between the 1990s and the 2000s.

This came about partly as a result of changes to the labour market and industrial changes in the Basque Country (which began from the 1980s onwards, notably the types of industry and engineering in the region) as well Basque unions distancing themselves from national unions

“The rise of the second Basque union (LAB) allowed for the two Basque sovereigntist unions to form a new alliance that stood in opposition to the two main Spanish unions,” Las Herras argues.

But it’s also about strategy. Elena Pérez Barredo, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Security in the Basque government, told La Vanguardia that the fundamental reason strikes are so common “lies in the trade union difference that exists in the Basque Country.”

“The ELA has a union strategy and culture that encourages confrontation… a very marked strategy in favour of the strike as an instrument of confrontation,” she adds.

There seem to be several plausible, inter-connected reasons that the Basque Country became Spain’s (and possibly Europe’s) strike capital.

It has strong regional trade unions that exist separately from the larger confederate national unions; these unions have effective strike funds, meaning they can strike for longer; their employees are, on average, likely to be better paid than elsewhere in Spain, meaning they could be more inclined and financially able to take strike action; and finally, Basque unions take a more direct, confrontational approach to industrial disputes, whereas other unions rely more on dialogue and border collective bargaining agreements.

Perhaps Unai Rementeria, a local Basque politician, summed it up best after widespread strike action in the region in 2019. Basque unions, he said simply, “seek permanent confrontation.”

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