“When it comes to integrating overseas, British expats certainly live up to their reserved and unfriendly stereotype,” says a new study by the international relocation outfit Robinsons.
More than a quarter of Brits living overseas say the people they mix with are mainly their countrymen and women and an even more insular 10% admitted their all their friends were other Brits. Shamefully, only one in ten said they mixed predominantly with locals.
That said, they do like the Kiwis. New Zealand was the place where Brits integrated best, followed by Canada and Asia.
The research also explored the countries where Brits were most, and least likely to integrate with the local communities, ranked according to the percentage of predominantly British friends expats had.
Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your point of view, the Brits kept to themselves most in Africa, the United Arab Emirates and Eastern Europe.
It almost goes without saying that even more shame was heaped on the British islanders when it came to their linguistic capabilities in foreign-speaking countries. More than a third never bothered to learn the local tongue.
Just as bad, they weren’t interested in the local culture.
