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I am just curious. I am a fluent Spanish speaker but that is the only second language I know. It would never occur to me to move to a foreign country if I did not speak the language of that country. Yet North Americans and Europeans who speak no Spanish move to Costa Rica. How many of those of you who have a few full time years in Costa Rica and do not speak Spanish, would say that you have a significant and satisfying social life now amongst Ticos?
I can’t see how such a thing could be possible with a language barrier and I assume those of you who do not speak Spanish, are making a serious effort to do so. In the meantime, have you been able to establish some social connections?
[quote=”sprite”] I can’t see how such a thing could be possible with a language barrier and I assume those of you who do not speak Spanish, are making a serious effort to do so. In the meantime, have you been able to establish some social connections?[/quote]
My wife and I spoke no Spanish when we arrived in Costa Rica and do have friends among the Ticos.
My wife joined a couple of organizations of women who speak English but other than that our only social contact is with the local families.
We deliberately avoided moving in to an area populated with Americans and I have almost no contact with expats except on welovecostarica.com.“CuriouSprite” – I’m not quite sure how you plan on twisting & turning this post into “banksters”, those who “control nations …… through control and creation of fiat currencies” and “create economic booms and busts and false flag wars”, “financial terrorists and mass murderers”, the necessity “for U.S. addresses for bank accounts”, etc., but once again I’ll take your bait and respond, all the while hoping some very special mystical event (maybe the lottery) happens to you and you can live a very specil and happy life for many years to come.
This is a potentially great discussion topic if you will refrain from taking off on one of your wacko tangents! (Sorry, couldn’t help it!)
Yes, many Norte Americanos & Euros move to CR with no, or limited, knowledge of the Spanish language, my wife and me among them. We’ve been here over 2 years and have scolded ourselves several (many) times for not learning more of the language, but with so many frequent friend and family visitors, and so many local gringo friends who speak English, and so many Tico local friends that share our language, we honestly have not felt a hard & fast requirement to “speeka da’language”.
I guess a big part of “getting along” is where you live in Costa Rica. Our community, although small, has a great blend of locals and gringos that mix very well together and when needed, help each other with the language.
For the past 3 weeks we have had woodworkers and painters at our house. I can’t tell you how many times I have said “no” to the question “comprende?”. But a few more minutes of gestures and pointing and drawings and “enscriptos” and everything works out just fine. At times like these I agree with you that I would be so much better off with a command, or at least a much better working knowledge, of the language. I know many words and many expressions, my problem is putting them together in sentences.
I wish I were at liberty to tell you about other projects and endeavors I am involved in; however, confidentiality agreements with the “financial terrorists and mass murderers” (lenders) prohibit my doing so. Suffice it to say that I am in daily contact with many CR professionals – lawyers, engineers, architects, contractors and consultants (environmental, forestry, hydrological, urban planners, landscape designers, etc.), – and the project is progressing well in spite of my linguistic shortcomings.
Do I have a “significant and satisfying social life now amongst Ticos?” – Absolutely!
Have I “been able to establish some social connections?” – Absolutely!
So, do I agree with you?
This time (as long as we stay on subject), the answer is “yes, I should learn the language”!
Has it stopped or prohibited me from enjoying our life in CR or allowing me to make through my required business endeavors – Absolutely Not!
What David said, but…..we are working on our Spanish. We feel that it is a courtesy to make a good attempt to be conversational.
Of course you’re right, Sue, and we’ve made a reasonable attempt to learn to communicate, if not converse, in Spanish.
What I’ve decided lately is that the best approach for those who don’t already speak the language is to try to learn “situation specific” Spanish. That is, learn first to understand numbers, then to navigate the food markets, then restaurants, then the bank, the gas station, the ferreteria, etc. If you can learn the basics of the interactions that get your daily chores done, you’ll be way ahead.
We should be brushing up on our Mandrin 😀
My experience has always been that if you constantly stir “crap” you will most certainly get some on you….
Boredom + forum = crap
[quote=”tomstew1″]We should be brushing up on our Mandrin 😀
My experience has always been that if you constantly stir “crap” you will most certainly get some on you….
Boredom + forum = crap[/quote]
So you’re saying that you’re bored, right?
[quote=”DavidCMurray”][quote=”tomstew1″]We should be brushing up on our Mandrin 😀
My experience has always been that if you constantly stir “crap” you will most certainly get some on you….
Boredom + forum = crap[/quote]
So you’re saying that you’re bored, right?[/quote]
Actually I was eating lunch…..
Not bored. I like to refer to it as multitasking. 🙂
you will never understand the mentality or the culture or the humor without speaking spanish. it’s just that simple. i already spoke spanish when i came here, but i have now been taking spanish lessons every week for the last year and becoming totally fluent in the seven verb tenses has enriched my life in ways i never thought possible. i just spent 4 days in nicaragua and most of the people i met (outside of gringo gulch) spoke no english at all, but i was able to find out about their lives, living in nicaragua, understand their concerns and politics, and how they view the rest of the world. you won’t find out those things with situational spanish. and aren’t we the self-righteous gringos who complain endlessly about all the mexicans who come to america and don’t learn the language? how are gringos who move to a latin culture any different? and once you get beyond being able to order in a restaurant, you will find out that the locals have a dim view of those who sequester ourselves in gringo enclaves, shop where gringos are catered to, and don’t integrate into the culture because you simply cannot integrate without the language. and compared to english it’s so much easier to learn and it’s such a beautiful language, as is some of the music, so you’re really missing out by not learning it, not to mention the age-defying benefits of exercising your brain by learning another language. Pura idioma!
I agree 100% with you, Maravilla. This is why I am curious as to how North Americans fare who do not speak Spanish in Costa Rica.I assume they are cloistered amongst themselves either in gated communities or they join clubs with other English speakers. I wonder how much of the new Tico culture one can absorb if one cannot participate in that culture fully. And you must speak the language to do that.
I suppose it is possible to enjoy life in Costa Rica without speaking Spanish. I guess that would be another definition of a “perpetual tourist.” I am just very curious as to how that is done. I would never even have considered moving there without speaking Spanish.
maravilla, you make excellent points and I take no real exception to any of them. That said, however, someone who speaks no Spanish has to begin somewhere, and the “situational” Spanish approach I advocate is a starting point.
You’re absolutely correct that one will never fully appreciate or integrate oneself into the culture absent fluency in the language, but you won’t have the opportunity to approach that fluency if you cannot conduct your daily life. Consider, for example, how much integration you can achieve if you cannot feed yourself. I promise, it won’t be much. To live in the society, one must first stay alive.
most of the gringos i know who fled the country to return to the States did so because of the language barrier. when i asked them why they were leavng they’d say, it’s too stressful. why is it stressful? i don’t speak the language. Why don’t you take spanish lessons? it’s too stressful. go figure.
with the spanish i spoke, i built a house, opened bank accounts, etc. but i was missing the nuances of the culture — the little jokes, the slang, the jabs against this or that person/culture/thing. somewhere in a town near you there is a native speaker who will give you lessons. i pay $6.00 an hour for a one-on-one class for an hour-and-a-half one day a week. it is the thing i look forward to more than anything else. when you can make a joke in spanish and have the other person laugh, you will have mastered the language. and yes, it takes a lot of work to master it, but it is a worthwhile endeavor for the rewards you get at the end of a conversation with a Tico where you are talking about something other than the most trivial of matters. in my mind, there really is no good excuse for not learning it. it’s not like we all have high-powered jobs and lives where time is scarce. but it takes commitment and a desire to succeed, but then i am one of those people for whom no and can’t are not in my vocabulary. and to be honest, i just may be a lifer in this spanish class because the structure of the language is so interesting and complex and enriching. just try it!
[quote=”sprite”]I am just curious. I am a fluent Spanish speaker but that is the only second language I know. It would never occur to me to move to a foreign country if I did not speak the language of that country.
I normally don’t agree with Sprite but this time is an exception. I have been speaking Spanish for 45+ years ever since I went to Mexico in my 20s and discovered that there were 90m people who spoke Spanish there and I couldn’t communicate with them. Off to school so the next visit would be different………. so began my love affair with the Latin culture. I have lived in Costa Rica for almost 40 years, been married to a Tica for almost as long, raised a Tico/Gringo family, worked and retired with a pension from the Caja, had my share of ups and downs and would not have wanted to live my life any other way. I think not learning the language of the country a person lives is short changing oneself. Even with all this I don’t consider myself fluent, maybe 90%. This way I keep studying and maybe learn something every day. Pura Vida
SMsame here, orca. i fell in love with mexico when i was 22. i studied spanish off and on for decades so i’d be able to communicate on the 30+ trips i made there in my lifetime. but many people are afraid of other cultures, and a lot of people who moved here only because it was cheaper than wherever else they were livng, not because they had a love affair with latin culture. i will consider myself fluent (even though my teacher thinks i am already) when i can read 100 Years of Solitude in spanish!
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