More Spanish Survival  tips for Tourists and Expats

The last couple of articles in this series contained some useful advice for maneuvering one’s way through Costa Rica’s linguistic jungle.

Here are some more language tidbits that show the differences and similarities between Spanish and English.

  1. In Spanish “ph” becomes “f.”

PH = F

Elephant – elefante

Telephone – teléfono

  1. Also in Spanish “th” becomes “t.”

TH= T

Catholic – católico

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Spanish and English are surprisingly similar

In my last column, I showed tourists and expat retirees some simple rules for increasing their Spanish vocabulary.

Here are some more useful tips:

Category 4: VERBS

This category is made up of words that end in “ic.” To change them simply add the letter “o.”

IC=ICO For example: the public = el público

  • El Atlántico
  • Automático
  • eléctrico
  • artístico
  • democrático

NOTE: An accent means that you stress a read more