What We Learned - Part 2: Speaking Costa Rican

Now that we are back in the States we have been able to put together some thoughts about life in Costa Rica and our experience there. This series of posts should be helpful if you are thinking about moving to or retiring in Costa Rica. Enjoy!

Spanish is the primary language spoken in Costa Rica. However, in our research we heard rumors that many Costa Ricans speak English as well, and that it was easy to get by with limited Spanish. So we jumped in with our (very) limited Spanish and hoped for the best.

We learned the hard way that if you go into a business and the first thing out of your mouth is, “Habla Inglés?” (Do you speak English?) you get marked as a tourist for two reasons. First, most of the high-tourism areas cater to the English-speaking crowd and have employees who speak some English, so they are already expecting you. Also, if you look like a gringo and are carrying a backpack, chances are there is no escaping the classification of “tourista.” Something like 60% of Costa Rica’s economy is based on tourism, so it’s not a big deal to the locals. But beware, if you go in to a town and most of the signs are in English, the prices are going to be more expensive.

The second reason you would get marked as a tourist is that the phrase “Habla Inglés?” uses the wrong verb tense. Now, this may be a little technical for this blog, but after 5.5 months in country no one bothered to tell us this until we were on the plane back to the States, so I feel particularly zealous about it: Costa Ricans hardly ever use the familiar, tu, verb tense. It is either the formal, usted, or one that I’d never heard of: the vos tense (instead of vosotros). So the correct way to ask, “Do you speak English?” is “habla usted Inglés?”  Or if you want to say “How are you?” it is “Cómo está usted?"  Seriously. Use usted/ustedes and you will be fine. And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, don’t worry, you will just sound like a tourist. No biggie. But, I got weird looks all the time, and now I know why. Or, wait... that wasn't just because I was butchering Spanish? Hmm...

Here are some other little nuances of Costa Rican Spanish that are good to know:

Hola!: the familiar greeting, hello, can also be used to say goodbye.

Buenos!: short for “Buenos dias!” a common greeting meaning “good morning.” You will also hear “Buenas!” in the afternoon and evening.

Pura Vida!: A response to “Cómo está usted?” meaning, roughly “living the good life!” Costa Ricans have great pride in their country, the natural beauty and peacefulness, and that they do indeed live the good life.

Con mucho gusto: You’re welcome. Literally it means “with much pleasure,”  You will never hear a local say “de nada.” If you tell someone “gracias” (thank you) they will respond “con mucho gusto” or simply, “con gusto” (basically, “it’s my pleasure”).  I loved this, and found it very charming.

Porfa: please, short for “por favor.”

Tico/Tica: a Costa Rican man or woman.

We were able to learn a lot of Spanish while we were there, and got to the point that we could understand most of what was said to us. Responding back was not as easy, but we did get better with time. We met many expats living in Costa Rica who are fluent in Spanish, and some who just get by with the basics. So, it really depends on where you are going, and what you will be doing as to how much Spanish you will need.  We spent most of our time in communities that had large American or Canadian populations, so we never got the full immersion method of language acquisition. But if I were going to give advice on this topic I’d say, the more Spanish you know beforehand, the better.

Meanwhile, we are back in Michigan where no one speaks Spanish. So we've got to figure out how to keep up our skills and make sure Cassie learns some Spanish as well. I'm thinking that watching cartoons in Spanish counts, right? Thank goodness for the internet. I suppose we'd better start planning our next trip so we don't lose our vocabulary all together!

Adios!

Lisa