Guide to Costa Rican Spanish

Experienced businessman will tell you that doing business in any foreign country can be difficult, not to mention when one doess not speak the language.

All of the guidebooks about living in Costa rica mention the many obstacles of conducting business: endless red tape, slow moving bureaucracy, different laws and customs and above all another language.

It is imperative if you are doinig business in Costa Riaca on a regular basis that you learn Spanish. You can use a bilingual lawyer to assist you, but sooner or later you will have to become somewhat self-sufficeint and acquire a basic Spanish business vocabulary. Now there are three great books to help you achieve this end.

The first is, Just Enough Business Spanish by Passport Books. This handy guide provides one simple A-Z list of business trems to help you: communicate at sales meetings, in discussions of contracts and when making presentations. It also contains phrases and words that can help you when travelling, at your hotel and coping with typical business trip problems. In general, this guide will make doing business in Costa Rica or any country south of the border much smoother.

The second book is Talking Business in Spanish published by Barron’s. It is excellent and contains all of the essential information you need to know. It has more than 3,000 business terms dealing with accounting, adverising, banking computers exporting and importing, finance and investment, labor relations, manufactoring and marketing - all translated from English to Spanish and Spanish to English, plus general phrases for travellers.

Finally, there is Wiley’s English-Spanish, Spanish-English Dictionary by Steven M. Kaplan. It is very complete and provides a ready reference to essential terms and phrases used in all areas of business, including international business, banking, management, commerce, and securities. It has over 40,000 business words and phrases and is user-friendly.

Tiquismo of the week:

Burrocracia which sounds like the word burocracia which means bureaucracy. However, if you notice the first word has an extra “r”. The beginning of the word “burro” which means ‘donkey” in Spanish. This word play is the Spanish speakers way of making fun of the asinine way most bureaucracy works in their countries.

Spanish speakers customarily shake hands more frequently than Americans when greeting each other. In general, people shake hands every time they meet and every time they part. Among Hispanics, it is also common for women to kiss on the cheek and for men to embrace or hug. The latter practice is almost unthinkable in our culture. In Spanish the word for a hug is un abrazo and the word for a kiss is un beso.

There are many ways to say hello and good-by. If you meet a friend, you say Hola, ¿Qué tal? (Hello, how are you doing?) or ¿Cómo estás? (How are you?). If you meet a person you don’t know well or a non-family member it’s more appropriate to say, buenos días (good morning) or buenas tardes (good afternoon), ¿Cómo está usted? (How are you?) (How are you), adiós (good-by) or hasta mañana (see you tomorrow), hasta pronto ( see you soon) can be used in any situation.

Young people in some Spanish countries often use the Itialian word ciao (pronounced “chao” or “chau“) to say good-by. In Costa Rica you might often hear a young person add the expression ¡Pura vida! (great or fantastic) to the expressions above when saying good-by.

Tiquismo of the week:
Roco is a disparaging term for an old person which is often used by young people.