Santa Cruz de Tenerife Ranked Spain's Rudest City by Preply Study
A Preply study unexpectedly ranked Santa Cruz de Tenerife as Spain's rudest city, based on residents' everyday behaviors like loud public phone use and not yielding to drivers.
Many Spaniards often describe people from the Canary Islands as friendly, genuine, kind, and unique. However, a study by Preply, an online language learning platform, offers a different view. Preply surveyed its users about the politest and rudest cities in Spain, and the results were quite unexpected.
According to Preply's ranking, residents of Santa Cruz de Tenerife showed the most impolite habits. These included talking loudly on the phone in public and not giving way to other drivers. The study, which surveyed over 1,500 people in 19 major Spanish cities, placed Santa Cruz, the capital of Tenerife, at the top of the "rudest cities" list.
The report looked at twelve common daily behaviors to measure politeness. Santa Cruz scored 6.06 out of 10, higher than the national average of 5.53, putting it ahead of Granada and Alicante-Elche.
Preply's analysis found that Santa Cruz residents often talk on their phones constantly in public, don't slow down for pedestrians, and make a lot of noise in open areas. The city also ranked among those least likely to leave tips, which affected its overall score.
The study, carried out from November 2nd to 7th, 2022, suggests that people see rudeness in everyday actions that disrupt city life. Preply stated that "constantly being on the phone, not letting other cars merge in traffic, or watching videos in public are the behaviors people find most annoying." The platform conducted the study to understand cultural and social differences between Spain's major cities.
After Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Granada (5.95 points) and Alicante-Elche (5.8 points) were named the next rudest cities. On the other hand, Vigo was ranked the politest city in Spain with a score of 5.17. It was followed by A Coruña-Oleiros-Arteixo (5.18 points) and Valencia (5.28 points).
Valladolid was highlighted as Spain's most generous city for tipping, while Santa Cruz de Tenerife was again listed among the least generous.
The study also found that 26% of people surveyed felt that local residents were ruder than visitors or tourists. This feeling was especially strong in Santa Cruz, Cádiz, Vigo, Zaragoza, and Bilbao. However, in cities like Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Granada, and Palma de Mallorca, locals believed that outsiders had worse manners.
Beyond this Preply report, the findings spark a discussion about social customs and politeness in Spain's big cities. Preply, the language learning platform, stressed that "learning a language also means understanding the culture and polite customs of that place." They added that education and respect are just as important to cultural learning as vocabulary or grammar.
The people behind the Preply study explained that the data "isn't meant to point fingers or assign blame. Instead, it aims to understand how citizens view their social environment and what attitudes could be improved for more respectful living together."
However, despite these study results, residents of Santa Cruz are widely considered friendly and good-natured people.