Language barriers in Costa Rica

Buenas Tardes, Costa Rica is an awesome place to live.It definitely has its problems though.Getting yourself set up here in a place that works for you should be one of your first objectives.When I first came here I traveled to all areas of all provinces just to lose myself in the culture.One of the things that can really help you out,and I'm not overstating the importance here is to learn spanish.Ticos  that work in the tourism industry speak english,along with people at the banks etc.,but if your planning on living here,do yourself a favor,and learn spanish.You will earn the respect of the locals,and it will make things like getting your immigration card,and drivers license less stressful, because they speak zero English at these places.Ticos speak a very pleasant version of spanish.It's very easy to understand.So take a class at community college,log on to a course online,or do it here,haz lo,pura vida.

I haven’t posted here much since my initial introduction. I’ve taken all the advice given to me by heart. I’m stil in the process of making the transition but I’ve made multiple trips to different parts of CR in the last year, I’ve started selling off my possessions that I don’t want to take with me, and I’ve figured out banking, logistics,etc.

personally I believe the most important thing I’ve done so far is starting to learn Spanish. On all my tips I’ve found it difficult to connect with the locals who aren’t in the tourist or service industries. I’ve felt like I’m missing out on the CR whole experience because of my lack of language skills

I’ve been using the Duolingo app which I find intuitive and great for basics but will be taking a class or two at the local college once I’ve gotten the basics down.

Hello Priscillla,.

Here are the answers to your questions about Spanish in Costa Rica

First, Spanish is crucial for anyone who plans to live here. The minimum is a survivor level Spanish to handle most daily situations expats will encounter. Furthermore, a person will always be a foreigner if he or she never learns "some" Spanish. Spanish is a necessity to get the most out of the culture and enjoy Costa Rica's wonderful people to the fullest.

Although more and more Costa Ricans are learning English, especially the young and those who work in the area of tourism, Spanish is the official language. The more you know the better.

I have a Master's Degree in Spanish linguistics. Language is communication. So, if you bulid a vocabulary of a few thousand verbs and nouns you can get your idea accross by just using single words and not complete sentences in order to survive the country's linguistic maze. Later on you can learn to make simple sentences as your language skills improve.

To learn the popular phrases, I suggest readers see my website at: www.costaricaspanish.net. I have hundreds of articles with Costa Rican phrases and slang. Everything is FREE on this site. I also publish, "Christopher Howard's Guide to Costa Rican Spanish" which has survival phrases and slang not found in an ordinary Spanish dictionary. It is the only source in English for this information. In my booklet there are a lot of tricks and shortcuts for learning the language based on my 50 years of teaching and research.

For more information on learning the Spanish language, and a highly informative blog about living in Costa Rica see: www.liveincostarica.com

¡Buena suerte! Good luck!

Christopher Howard

Christopher.
I love the website. Localized details in the language is something that’s been missing from me trying to learn Spanish. I’ll be buying your book for sure. Thanks for sharing.

Con mucho gusto

I have lived in CR almost four years.  I will be the first to say that I have not studied real hard, but I have tried to learn espanol.  My biggest problem is understanding "Tico" espanol.  Not only is the local dialect spoken extremely fast, but Tico's tend to drop syllables from the end of words.   So seis becomes se etc.  Now if you can understand their spanish, one will understand the context and hopefully get the word intended.  But, if your like me, a person is lost almost immediately because the words don't even sound like words many times. 

I took three hours a week of tutoring for the first 1.5 years I lived here.  It got me to the point where I can tell a person what I need, what I want,  where I am  going, what time or day it is, etc.   But when I ask a Tico a question in spanish, I can expect a rapid fire reply w/ a bunch of chopped off palabras !   I have listened to gringos speak espanol who grew up here.   Their espanol is as bad as any Tico's.  The best place to learn espanol IMO, is Columbia.  I was in the airport several times in Bogata and could understand almost half of words spoken versus 10% here in CR.   

So, does one need some basic skills in espanol?  Yes.  definitely.  But I manage to get by with my limited vocabulary and usage.  When it reaches the point where i need to communicate, but cannot understand enough, I pull out google translation or Spanishdict and use the internet progtrams to understand and translate between the Tico and myself.  It works usually.

Thanks for the link to your website with Tico expressions. I just shared it on my Spanish school's Facebook page, Estelar Spanish School Costa Rica (https://www.facebook.com/estelarspanishschool/).

I think that Ticos are quite forgiving when it comes to foreigners not speaking Spanish, but obviously it's much better to learn the language, especially if you plan on staying for a while. I really admire my fellow immigrants who take the time to learn Spanish - I see many of them come through my Spanish school in Liberia (Instituto Estelar Bilingüe). Of course I know others who have been here a long time and haven't learned - somehow they get by! But the experience of living here is SO much richer and less frustrating if you speak Spanish.