How Well Are You In Speaking Spanish?

Although it is commonly said that everyone speaks English in Costa Rica, it is not really the case. Certainly many who work in the tourist trade speak some English, and there are a number of expats who speak anything from English to German to Dutch, but the people you'll meet day to day speak only Spanish. The one area where you will hear English widely spoken is on Carribean coast, where many of the Afro-Carribean inhabitants are of Jamaican descent, and speak a distinctive regional Creole. The major problem, for English speakers, is that Spanish has a lot of grammar, including two nouns genders, two different verbs for "to be" and a verb mood that can be very hard to grasp. There’s no better way to experience life off the tourist trail and to practice your Spanish than staying with a Tico family. Ticos are polite, patient and forgiving interlocutors, and will not only tolerate but appreciate any attempts you make to speak their language. The rules of pronunciation are very important. Unless there's an accent, all words ending in l, r and z are stressed on the last syllable, all others on the second last. Unlike in the rest of Latin America, in Costa Rica the final d in many words sometimes gets dropped; thus you'll hear "uste" for "usted" or " verda" for "verdad". All vowels are pure and short. There are lots of opportunities to learn this language in San Jose. On the other hand, most homestay programmes are organized by the country’s various language schools and cater mainly to students. Once your Spanish skills improve, you will find that soap operas can be a good way of picking up (admittedly rather melodramatic conversational slang. Instructors are almost invariably Costa Ricans who speak some English. Most schools have a number of Costa Rican families on their books with whom they regularly place students for homestays. If you want some more information about learning Spanish, I recommend to visit Costa Rica real estate forums or school noticeboards.