Hong Kong’s love of all things Spanish, from food to flamenco dancing, is growing – and that includes their laid-back lifestyle
Ever more Spanish people are being drawn to the city as interest in the country’s food, culture and language blossoms. But can Hongkongers ever really learn to relax and have fun like the Spanish can?
In the four years that David Barral has been in Hong Kong, he has seen the appetite for all things Spanish grow.
“Everything about Spain is getting more popular. I see more people wanting to learn Spanish, more schools opening, more restaurants, more specialist food shops selling Iberico ham,” he says.
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Coming to Hong Kong was the idea of his girlfriend at the time, who had wanted to venture east to help set up a Spanish restaurant. Barral got a job teaching Spanish at a language centre and two years ago opened his own school, The Spanish Academy, in Wan Chai.
The school now has more than 150 students, mostly Hongkongers who want to learn Spanish in preparation for business trips or holidays to Spain and South America.
Barral says an increase in local companies trading with Spain and South America is helping drive the demand for language lessons, as is Hongkongers’ attraction to the laid-back lifestyle of the Spanish people.
“Hong Kong people are very busy, they work a lot. When they see Spanish people more relaxed and having fun, even when the economy is bad, they like it,” he says. “Sometimes in our class we open a bottle of wine. Last night I taught Spanish using tapas.”
