Language barriers

@gmmcwhirter......Outside the tourism sector Costa Rica is not a bilingual country,as many will have you to believe.....If you have a mishap at the bank (not FDIC insured here) or have to deal with the police (traffic accident or robbery) and do not speak Spanish,your life will go from just being difficult to brutal.........

@gmmcwhirter

Hola!!   perhaps read my post under 'administrative procedures'... I offer a more positive approach, perhaps. 

We came here over eighteen years ago speaking virtually no Spanish, and we settled in what can hardly be characterized as a "tourist" area. In fact, the language barrier has not been a significant problem.

For one thing, all public school curricula include instruction in English, from Grade One to Grade Eleven. So a lot of folks, but not everyone, learn some English. Too, at least in the public sector, Costa Ricans have been universally tolerant of our language deficit. It appears that many people you will encounter in public learn enough English to function in that arena. So, while the folks in the bank may not speak much "bakery" English, they are commonly functional in "banking" English. Same for the pharmacies, the gas stations, the local mechanic and many others. Point is, it's all doable.

I should say, too, that while the more Spanish you learn the easier life will be, Spanish is no walk in the park. While there is some commonality of vocabulary between Spanish and English, the structure of Spanish language and the irregular verbs makes becoming fluent very challenging.

Thank you all. We're working on our spanish and my concerns are not as much now as they were this morning.

@rainagain. Thank you for your reply. I'm  a new guy in the forrum and need to ask, where do I find these posts.

When you open the Costa Rica forum... there is a list of topics that are most current... including your own regarding Language barriers... scroll down a few... you'll see one about Navigating Administrative situations. If you made it here... then you are already on the forum.  ???

As per Spanish...  just start learning and don't listen to any of us!!!

Each person learns at their own pace and will decide how much they can 'handle'... sometimes it is good to take a break from it... and then return 10-12 days later.  You will be surprised.   As 'dave' said... considering our ages... becoming fluent, or even close, is probably not going to happen unless you do nothing 'but' study Spanish all day, every day.   The verbs are the hardest because learning just one of them can require memorizing up to 25 or more words because the verb changes for each person; plus there are irregulars at every turn. 

But get the basic present, basic past, and basic future... as well as vocabulary.  I keep a tiny tablet in my pocket and write down every word I hear that I don't know... or even small phrases.  Of course, it makes sense to know/learn the pronouns, the days, months, numbers, and basic Pronunciation... which is really easy because every vowel only has one pronunciation in Spanish.  What you see is what you get... unlike English.   example:   after, laughter, slaughter...  ???   or.... to, two, too.   

Where I live virtually nobody knows english... and what they get in rural high schools is rubbish.  And that is only if they even attend High school... very common to just stop going/drop out.  I know nobody in my village that went to and graduated from high school that is over 50 years old.   My village lost their English teacher from the elementary school due to budget cuts last year, as well as the bus.  Reason..  the village is too small.   So don't believe everybody that English is baked into the 'program' here.  In theory, yes... but in practice.  not even close.  And the 'new' President isn't keen on CR being bilingual... so more cuts are due to occur.  I do my best at volunteering to teach english classes if asked... and currently have 5 different classes... from adults who want to get jobs in tourism, to the local elementary kids who will be far behind the other kids when they get to high school because the largerK-5 schools still have English.  I even teach a family of five because they live remote and their 'school' is a one room shack with 1 teacher for 7 kids and no wifi. 

So just do your best...  learn what you can, and start using some rudimentary Spanish around the house for practice.  Replace your english with Spanish numbers, food names, the time, adjectives, etc.  Make it fun... not a job.

Buena suerte.

@rainagain aah! That fixed it. Thanks