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I think my girlfriend (who has spoken less than 100 words to me in English in nearly nine years) would probably not appreciate it if I didn’t whisper sweet Spanish nothings in her ear …
Scott
that’s funny, Scott! but those things are so much more romantic in french, spanish, italian, or portuguese than in english. it’s part of the Latin lover mystique. there is no American lover mystique that i know of! jejeje
[quote=”maravilla”]i admit i just don’t get that because there is no way to understand the culture without speaking the language. it’s not just about being able to buy a quart of milk, or a screw at the ferreteria. [/quote]
Yup, you just don’t get it, all right. You are correct that there is more to living here than buying milk and screws, but one can take what one can avail oneself of without having to have access to everything.
Think about it . . . If one lived in (say) New York City all one’s life, one could still never take it all in. Nor might one wish to, for that matter. But that doesn’t mean that one could not enjoy life in New York City, with all it has to offer, does it?
It’s true that one cannot “. . discuss ideas, literature, history, political thought, hopes and dreams . . .” with those with whom one does not share language, but there is more to life than human interaction, and every individual has the right to make of life whatever s/he can and will without some total stranger setting some purely arbitrary minimum standard for their enjoyment of it.
A deaf, dumb, blind and paraplegic person, for example, who has very limited language skills and mobility could still enjoy fishing, no? Not everything is about human interaction.
Too often, you jump to the unsupportable conclusion that what works for you is some universal norm to which everyone else should adhere. It ain’t so. Nor has it ever been. Nor will it ever be.
Nobody died and left you in charge.
hey, i don’t want to be in charge of anything. but i know two people who are leaving costa rica this month because they couldn’t crack the language barrier and found life just too stressful and isolating. and in the last 5 years i’ve known at least a dozen people who left for the same reason, so obviously language is a big obstacle. and i know what the ticos say behind the backs of those who don’t speak any spanish at all, but hey if it’s working for you, carry on. Communicating with people on all levels is what i enjoy most about life, but i realize there are people who don’t do that in their own language.
If you don’t want to be in charge of anything, maybe you would consider using “should” a little less liberally because it certainly sounds like you’re either passing judgement on strangers or issuing edicts.
As to those who have left, the same could be said of folks we knew who moved to, and then from, the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Rarely is a significant life change such as an international relocation occasioned by any one factor. But you’re saying that your circle of acquaintances is broad enough to include fourteen people who have permanently left Costa Rica due exclusively to their lack of command of Spanish? That’s either an incredible coincidence or you must have a circle of acquaintances that numbers in the hundreds. We know quite a few folks too, but we don’t know anyone who has departed Costa Rica for other than financial reasons.
yes, i know hundreds of people here, maybe even thousands, and because i publish a magazine and have a full-time p.r. job, i come in contact with lots and lots of people from all over the world who have moved to costa rica. and yes, financial reasons and language barrier are the two biggest reasons for going “home.”
I agree with [i]maravilla[/i].The reasons of both financial and language are ‘right up there’ with the people I knew personally that have returned. Plus of course, disillusionment of the hopeful dreams and missing family.
Two combat tours, and 29 years of military service; and I still need to do the paper drill and range test in Costa Rica!
this thread was about Gun Laws and went all the way to a language, either bilingual or not
WELL
thank God my .38 cal still shoots .38 bullets and is not trilingual
and while still on this issue;
what is the difference between the .38 revolver and a .9mm automatic reagarding the prices for the rounds, is there good ammo sold there in CR and not cheap but affordable??
Thank You
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