www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Can I get by with little to no spanish with the girls? What about for everything else? Thanks!

I hope you brought an electronic translator. The Franklin ones are $20. Great way to practice espanol. Many will speak some English. Enough to serve your purpose.

It's a lot harder to meet a "normal" girl if you don't speak spanish. The working girls will make the effort, a normal girl may or may not.

You will get by fine...pay a little extra cause youre goofy and then a little extra for your lack of spanish. Its gonna be fine, bring mucho dinero.

You really don't need to know much, if any, Spanish to bang chicas down here. Although, knowing some basic survival phrases is good when travaling to any foreign country. As long as you stick with places like the Del Ray, Zona Blue, and maybe Sportsman's Lodge, there will always be more the enough chicas that know enough English for you to communicate with.

Having no Spanish can limit you to the gringo places for finding chicas, and as such, you will pay gringo prices. Still a good deal. Knowledge of Spanish merely expands your opportunities. Personally, I've found that I get higher quality chicas for less money, at more locations the more Spanish I learn. If knew no Spanish, I wouldn't even try going to some of the Tico bars like Molino Rojo and other places.

You'll have fun even if you don't know one word of Spanish but i think that it's still important to learn some Spanish especially if you plan to make frequent trips.For me it really enhances my time with the chicas and i'm sure that it would enhance your time as well.Good luck!

Short answers -

Girls - Yes - Try to learn a few key phrases from CRT (big help!)
Hotel - Yes, usually not a problem except housekeeping
Taxi - Yes, but know what you should pay and make sure the meter is on
Food - harder but yes
Directions - No , even if you are fluent bring a map or go back to your hotel!

Be nice, polite, patient, bring a little pocket translator with you and you will get along fine. Or find a wingman that speaks Spanish.

The more Spanish you speak the better your chances of a great experience turning into a fantastically great experience.

Cacostarica10:

I've been traveling to Costa Rica for over a decade and as Vegas Bob, Berk 2302, and Pacoloco will testify to I do not know enough Spanish to place an order at Taco Bell's restaurant. Do not worry about it go on your trip and have a great time. Don't worry about the girls true love knows no language boundaries. Just bring money. If you enjoy yourself and have a desire to return then invest time and money in learning the language.

Lee

_________________
PS: DO NOT SEND MONEY!

I downloaded a torrent for Learning Spanish that I've been using for a single day now and I already feel 20x more confident trying to speak in Spanish or at least include some basic/key words in Spanish when I try to communicate with someone that also speaks very little English. Of course, you could always buy one of these lessons as well. I just put it on my ipod and listened to it for a couple of hours.

Coming from a complete newbie, I've now been in Costa Rica for 2 months. I've never been to any other non-English speaking country before. You can get along just fine for a month or so, however now it has become very frustrating without knowing Spanish and it's very fulfilling to learn some.

Cliffs: Spanish is not necessary to have a great time, however making the effort to learn some will definitely increase your vacation enjoyment thoroughly.

I bought a game called "My Spanish Coach" for my Nintendo DS. It is fun and makes spanish easy to learn. It gauges your level and decreases repetitiveness of words or phrases as you go along mastering them. I HIGHLY recommend it. Available at any video game store.

My 1st trip to CR will be in April and I am using this game on a daily basis. Within one week, I am now able to count to 100 and know a few colors in spanish.

It also has a dictionary and phrases built-in.

Htoad-
The only color that you need to know with the chicas is verde