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I love the plan we have to live in Costa Rica and my wife is on board too BUT she got fixed in her mind that she never will learn the langauge. How easy has it been for you guys to learn the local language? SPanish dont look real easy
Keeping an open and receptive mind is crucial in trying to start a new language. Having said, not everybody is able to learn Spanish.
Try and study before you get down here then immerse yourself in Costa Rica, try to read the daily newspaper in Spanish, try to watch Spanish TV, if you must watch US TV, watch it with subtitles, try and talk with your maid in Spanish and of course start a formal class when you arrive
Like anything else, if you devote time to this every single day, you will probably be quite surprised at your progress.
I have lived here for 7 years and although some people tell me that I am ‘bilingual,’ I certainly don’t feel like I am.
All my girlfriends have been Spanish speaking (they say a “long-haired dictionary” is best but your wife would not appreciate that).
If I am with a well educated group of Spanish speakers I understand about 90%, if I am listening to people in the street talking, maybe 70%.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comPOSTED IN THE WRONG PLACE AND REPOSTED HERE BY SCOTT
Posted Mar 15,2007 11:10 AM joescool1
Hi my name is joe morabito from hudson new york. Nine months ago I purchased a product from the pimsler approach, you can find it online under learn to speak spanish. I can tell you that I am learning spanish well and get to speak with my mexican customers at my deli, sub shop. I am considering investing in a gated community south of jaco and know at this point I will be somewhat able to communicate. I study everyday. the hardest part is conjugating verbs but no matter they understand you. thanks for reading , joeIf you have time and the foresight, take a Spanish class at your local community college, night high school, or wherever. Spanish shares many nouns with English. It’s the irregular verbs that will bedevil you and there’s no alternative to memorizing them. Sadly, some of the most used and most useful verbs are irregular. If you start learning Spanish right now, you’ll be usefully fluent in a few weeks or months.
That said, we moved to Costa Rica knowing virtually no Spanish and it hasn’t been a huge obstacle to getting along. If you smile, remain patient and courteous, and try to communicate in Spanish (even a little bit), folks here will go out of their way to be helpful.
REPOSTED HERE BY SCOTT
Posted Mar 17,2007 5:37 AM kathleen6711
Hola, I bought “Behind The Wheel Spanish” which is a CD/book product. I purchased this on Amazon.com after reading many user reviews. A local high school may offer classes but if they are have started (which mine had) then it’s best to go another route. It says if you practice 1/2 hour each day you can learn in about 4 months. I agree it’s the verbs and sentence structure which is the most difficult. Having said that, it’s true that some people are better at learning new languages (we all have our aptitudes) but tell your wife take it a little at a time. No sense setting yourself up for failure before you begin :)Best of luck, you can do it!Katheen from Boston
I have not taken spanish since high school, but having tried to learn German, I know that spanish is easier. What is really important is that you don’t give up. In the end it doesn’t matter if you learn it in 2 year or 5 years. What is important is that you did learn it.
Edited on Mar 19, 2007 12:04
We recently bought a program called Visual Link Spanish after hearing about it on this discussion forum….it is very good….we also tried the cd’s in the car but lost interest rather quickly…
Hola Everyone,
I have a son, 18 years old who plans to spend a month in Costa Rica and he wants to learn spanish. We have a house on a beach near Orotina, and I would like him to stay there. We also have friends in Cartago who offered to have him in their home but if I could find a good language school near our place, where he could have classes for a month or so, that would be the best solution for him.
All information welcome
thanx
JoI think Spanish is one of the world’s easiest languages to learn. It’s all phonetic, so spelling and speaking are the same. Yay! If you read a lot, listen to Rock en Espanol, and take some formal classes, and of course practice WITHOUT FEAR on every Spanish speaker you encounter, it should be no problem. Central Americans are very forgiving of your mistakes and you’ll soon start to hear the irregular verbs used so regularly you’ll just pick those up by repetition and osmosis (don’t stress about memorization). If you can learn English with all of the exceptions and mishmash of different language bases, you can learn Spanish. If you or your wife are really shy with trying out the language, try learning in a bar environment. A few cervezas can really go a long way in helping you let the words just flow without being afraid. The worst that can happen is you’ll laugh a lot. Also, people who are more involved in the community learn languages a lot faster than those who stay at home, so get your wife out there volunteering, taking dance lessons, or even just shopping.
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