Guide to Costa Rican Spanish

Recently, I was engaged in a discussion about how to determine one’s fluency in a foreign language. The material below should give you an idea about how to figure out your own level of fluency in Spanish.

In order to figure out whether you are fluent in a language, you need to analyze your own language abilities. According to the “official” definition, fluency refers to an ability to converse fluidly and easily. Do you feel comfortable speaking the language? Can you communicate easily with native speakers? Can you read newspapers, listen to the radio, and watch tv? Are you able to understand the gist of the language as it is spoken and written, even if you don’t know every single word? Can you understand native speakers from different regions?

(1) Novice (Beginner)
A novice has extremely limited vocabulary and grammar, understands very little of the language when spoken normally, has difficulty making self understood by native speakers, and thus has serious problems in an immersion situation. A novice may be able to order food in a restaurant, buy a train ticket, and find lodging for the night, but only with great difficulty.

(2) Survivor (Intermediate)
A survivor converses using basic vocabulary (time, date, weather, family, clothes); uses the present, past, and future tenses more or less correctly; and is aware of difficult grammar topics (e.g., subjunctive, relative pronouns), but either uses them incorrectly or awkwardly rearranges sentences in order to avoid them. Still needs to use a dictionary and/or phrase book around, but can survive in an immersion situation: order food, give and receive directions, take a taxi, etc.

(3) Conversationalist  (Advanced)
A conversationalist has the ability to converse about fairly abstract ideas, state opinions, read newspapers, understand the language when spoken normally (on TV, radio, film, etc.) with slight-to-moderate difficulty. Still has some trouble with specialized vocabulary and complicated grammar, but can reorganize sentences in order to communicate and figure out the majority of new vocabulary within the context.

(4) Fluent

Context- A fluent speaker may have some gaps in vocabulary, but is capable of figuring out these terms in context. Likewise he or she can reword sentences in order to describe an object, explain an idea, or get a point across, even if he or she doesn’t know the actual terms.

Thinking in the language - Pretty much everyone agrees that this is an important sign of fluency. Thinking in the language means that you understand the words without actually translating them into your native language.

The reverse is also true: when speaking or writing, a fluent speaker doesn’t need to construct the sentence in his/her native language and then translate it into the target language – a fluent speaker thinks of what he or she wants to say in the language he or she wants to say it.

Dreams - Many people say that dreaming in the language is an essential indicator of fluency. This is debatable.

Debater A fluent speaker can participate in extended conversations, understand the language when spoken normally (on TV, radio, film, etc.), figure out meaning of words within context, debate, and use/understand complicated grammatical structures with little or no difficulty. Has good accent and understands dialects with slight-to-moderate difficulty.

(5) Native speaker (Mother tongue)
Someone who has spoken the language from at least the age of 5 (this age limit is subject to some debate: According to some theories a native speaker can have started learning the language as late as any time up to puberty). In theory, understands essentially everything in the language: all vocabulary, complicated grammatical structures, cultural references, and dialects. Has a native (i.e., invisible, “normal” in his/her region) accent.

Tiquismo of the week –

Lora vieja no aprende a hablar – You can’t teach an old parrot to speak or you can’t teach an old dog new tricks

Having a good vocabulary is one of the keys to understanding and Speaking Spanish.  If someone asks you a question in Spanish and there is a word you don’t know, there is a good chance you won’t be able to understand the question. Conversely, if you are asked a question and there is a word or words you do recognize, you just might understand what is being asked.  Furthermore, when a native speaker is talking to you at full speed, you don’t have time to think about the meaning of words or you will be lost. Having a good vocabulary will help you avoid this situation.

It is surprisingly easy to build your Spanish vocabulary, because all that is involved is memorizing nouns, verbs and then learning how to use them to form sentences.  With a little self-discipline and motivation, anyone can build a Spanish survival vocabulary of between 200-3,000 words in a relatively short period of time. Even if you are lazy, you can learn a minimum of one new word a day.  At the end of a year you will know over 300 words.  If you are really motivated, then try memorizing five or more words a day.  By using this method you will be able to become your own teacher after a while.

An excellent way to build your vocabulary is to carry a pocket-size notebook around with you wherever you go and play a vocabulary game by asking yourself the names of different objects on the street and in your home. Then use a dictionary to find the meaning and start to make lists in your notebook. Visualizing the new word and associating it with the object it represents can help you learn easier. Study your new words everyday. Then practice using the words in simple sentences. Let’s  say you just learned the word “casa” (house).  To practice you can say, “La casa es grande” (The house is big).

You can also use a type of “pigion” Spanish to make yourself understood by using your vocabulary. For example,  by using a series of nouns you can describe a whole day’s activities. For example, Ayer (yesterday), mi familia (my family), coche (car), la playa (beach), agua (water), sol (sun), calor (heat), tarde (afterneoon), la casa (house), la cena (dinner), siete (seven o’clock), etc. As you can see by just using this method you can make yourself understood.

The following expressions are used to express the idea of being tired of or fed up with something or someone.

Estar cansado/a de – to be tired of (very common phrase)
Estar harto/a – to be fed up with (very common phrase)
Estar hasta el copete – to be fed up with
Estar hasta el gollete - to be fed up with (Spain)
Estar hasta el gorro - to be fed up with (Mexico)
Estar hasta el moño – to be fed up with (Spain)
Estar hasta el tope – to be fed up with
Estar hasta la coronilla – to be fed up with (used widely in Latin America)
Estar hasta la madre – to be fed up with (used in Central America and Mexico); also means to be drunk
Estar hasta de cejas – to be fed up with
Estar hasta las narices – to be fed up with
Estar hasta los topes - to be fed up with
Estar hasta los ovarios - to be fed up with (very vulgar  and ONLY  used by women)
Estar hasta los cojones to be fed up with (very vulgar and used ONLY by men)
Estar hasta los huevos – to be fed up with (very vulgar and used ONLY by men)

Tiquismo of the week : Palmarse – to die

“Christopher Howard’s Guide to Costa Rican Spanish”
By Steve Silver
Special for Costa Rica Today

Christopher Howard  first became  fascinated by the Spanish language and culture while studying in Puebla, Mexico over thirty years.  Mr. Howard’s latest 160-page guidebook reflects his life-long interest in the subject.  It is a must read for anyone thinking of spending long  periods of time in Costa Rica.

When Mr. Howard moved to Costa Rica in the early 1980s he quickly realized that he would have to learn Costa Rican-style Spanish. Despite having an advanced degree in Spanish, having studied and lived in Mexico and having traveled to every country in Latin America he quickly realized that Spanish was spoken a little different here.  First, he noticed that  there were a lot of local expressions and vocabulary with which he was not familiar.  So he set out  learn all the nuances  of the local lingo.   His new guidebook is the result of almost 25 years of research in the field of Spanish as a second language. By no means is it a complete course in the Spanish language, but does provide neophytes with the basics to  survive here.  Travelers, students, full and part-time residents as well as serious language students will all benefit from the information in this handy book. Howard has taken some of the material from his weekly newspaper columns “Learning the language” and “Short Cuts for Learning Spanish.”

The book is divided into different sections.  The first part deals with pronunciation and has some handy drills to help students sound  more like native speakers.  The next section contains essential Spanish survival phrases you will need for  most daily situations you will encounter in Costa Rica. There is another chapter which shows how Costa Ricans use the vos form of verbs instead of the tú form to address friends. Then there are two chapters dedicated to Costa Rican street slang and useful idioms.  You won’t be able to find most of this material in a standard Spanish dictionary or any other source in English.

The next chapter contains a section on piropos or phrases used for flirting.  Two great sections follow where Chris gives his  secrets for learning  the language.  At the end of the guide is a list of good books  and other sources for learning the language. Finally, the is a short English- Spanish, Spanish-English dictionary.

This guide is pocket-size so you can take it with you wherever you go.

It is available  in Costa Rica through 7th Street Books, Librería Internacional and  Librería Universal. On line it can be obtained through  Amazon.com or www.escaprartist.com.  It can also be purchased in U.S. and Canadian bookstores. Worldwide distribution is through Book Surge.

Mr. Howard has also authored: The bestselling “New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica.”,  the equally popular “Living and Investing in Panamá.”  the one-of-a-kind “Living and Investing in Nicaragua” and  “Living and Investing in Cuba,”  He has co-authored “Driving the Pan-American Highway to Mexico and Central America”  and the soon-to-be released  blockbuster “The Official Guide to Costa Rican Real Estate.”

October 2005

• You are in shock and awe when someone shows up “on time”.
• You are in shock and awe when YOU show up on time.
• You haven’t looked at your wrist in years to see what time it is.
• You forgot that there used to be a watch there…You haven’t had a tan line where the watch used to be in years….You don’t own a watch.
• You can even travel in other countries without a watch.
• You whip out the debit card for amounts less than a thousand colones…
• You occasionally wear the pants that make your butt look big because you know you will get a little extra attention from the guys.
• You call everyone “mi amor” or “cielito“.
• You know that 3 oçlock means 4, four oclock means 5 etc….