The problem with this is that it won't appease Vox, who the PP need.

Vox wants to stop mass immigration from Latin American countries and the problem is thay they all speak Spanish! (can't think why that is though... they must all be very clever)

Making the cultural test more difficult might work. I've done it hundreds of times on the Cervantes app(practicing for when I finally try to go throughthe citizenship process) and sometimes I only just scrape through, and I consider myself to be pretty highly integrated into Spanish culture so its not a giveaway as Feijoo seems to think.

As to language tests for residence as opposed to citizenship, I'm seeing this being part of the new tendency to appease the right. Hasn't the UK government just proposed something very similar?

Although I consider myself to be firmly to the left of centre (in Spain just supporting free schooling and healthcare makes you a communist it seems), I have to say that I don't see a problem with it. If you've been in a country for 5 years and intend to stay there, learning the language seesm like a logical basic requirement.

I've never done a Spanish language test, strangely. In one job interview they told me that they had to make me do one because of my nationality, they even set the date and time, but I got a call the day before saying that they'd changed their mind and it wasn't necessary. But I'm going to try the link above and see what happens. Maybe I get an unpleasant surprise!

 

I did the online test out of curiousity and passed up to B1 level which I was surprised by because I haven't done any studying of the Spanish language for 17 years, and as I've never worked here or had children attending school so had to interact with teachers or other parents, opportunities for in depth conversations are quite limited so I don't get as much practice as I should. I've no plans to apply for citzenship and I already have a permanent TIE under the provisions of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, so the PP proposals wouldn't affect me.

I've seen reports emanating from the UK that a language competency requirement of "A kevel English" may be introduced for applicants seeking settled status - but unless things have changed I don't think there is such a thing as an English language A level, is there? Only the English Literature A level. Judging by what I see a lot of people writing in online comments, and even newspaper articles written by people calling themselves journalists, a large proportion of the native born population wouldn't meet that standard so it hardly seems fair to ask it of immigrants. From what little I know of education in Spain, the study of lengua seems a lot more rigorous. But silly me, it's not about fairness, is it? Just a way to keep the forrins out as we wouldn't want to have to hear them speaking a language other than English on a train or bus. I have to say I've never been abused by anyone for speaking English to another English person when travelling on a train or bus in Spain.

 

a large proportion of the native born population wouldn't meet that standard

They would be the same people that are Reform UK supporters.

 

I did the test linked to in post 1 and thankfully got to C1, but I have to admit that I did get a few questions wrong along the way, including one error in A1 level, which was a bit of a worry!

I said in post 2 that I supported some sort of language requirement for permanent residence and I still do, but as to XabiaC's comments regarding grammatical level of understanding of language in general, I do think that this is very relevant. To get by in a country, you don't need to be a literary genius, not everyone need to read and write contract agreements or news articles, you just need to understand directions in the street and know how to deal with a few "funcionarios".
I remember my years in Thailand and the fact that I couldn't even say the number plate of my car because I didn't know what the characters were called! But at least I could ask for food, undrstand how much it cost, give directions to a taxi driver, tell people that my son was alergic to milk etc... Conversational language skills should really be enough.

As to being abused (not sure if that's too strong a word maybe) I was speaking English to someone in Madrid, my sister I think, quite a few years ago and a guy walking past looked at me and said "¡habla español coño!" in quite an agressive way. I don't usually speak much English in the street though as all my friends and family speak Spanish, and I'm sure that if I did, I would have had more similar experiences.

 

I have been reading about the changes in UK and this " A level" requirement but it is clear that a vast majority of commentators in UK have no real knowledge or experience of second language and don't seem to understand that the requirement is nothing to do with actual A levels but simply means you have a level of English language that the European framework classes as between B1 and B2. The guardian wrote a surprisingly inaccurate opinion piece concerning this where the commentator failed to understand this and equated it with an undergraduate with a knowledge of literature and perfect fluency. The article from this starting point suggested it was unfairly treating immigrants by expecting them to have a facility that the majority of natives might not have. From this they lurched to the familiar trope of far right racism. It was very poor journalism.
That said I and I thinkany other agree that people seeking to actively engage in the country they consider home should learn the language and it has to be at least B1 level. If not I really don't see how you can say you understand and are intergrated into the place. Incidentally the UK proposal does not apply to over 65s ( another point not really discovered by the zealous left).
Interestingly my son has an A level Spanish and at university that is considered only B1 level and they say if my son wants to study abroad for a year in South America he needs to do the Cervantes B2 level.
Also the placement tests X has provided I don't think necessarily provides a good assessment of your real level as it focuses a lot on accuracy of grammar and not on communicative ability. In other words it's quite common for students who have studied a language do well in language tests but when they are placed in real situations are totally lost. The UK now uses many ESOL exams which have no vocabulary or grammar components and simply rely on interviewing candidates where they describe pictures, diagrams, produce extended monologues and then engage in conversation. This provides a far more accurate ability to use English as a real tool and not as an academic discipline

 

As I said, it's a guide for your study level - not an actual test that you can pass or fail.

 

I did GCSE and AS level Spanish in the UK (Grade As in both) before I moved to Spain and I can assure you that I was a long way away from being capable of communicating effectively in a day to day situation. I doubt very much that I would have passed a B1 exam, probably not even A2 at that time.

"A level equivalent English as a foreign language" should be within the reach of anyone wanting to move to the UK.

 

If you watch YouTube channels where A level students give advice on the exam the speaker and writing amounts to rote learning of various utterances and sentences that can be applied in the various tasks. Few of them actually are able to spontaneously produce Spanish. In fact even the text books teach them like this- it's all exam teaching. At least in my son's school they could all speak Spanish as they often had grown up in Spain so they simply reply quite automatically without thinking.