How to Learn Spanish

Anyone who is seriously considering living or retiring in Nicaragua needs to learn at least basic Spanish. Although you could probably survive here without speaking a word of the language, you don’t want to be that person.

Life becomes a lot easier if you can communicate in the language. On the flipside, not knowing Spanish will become a real handicap the longer you stay here.

If you are adventurous and bold enough to move to Nicaragua, you are adventurous and bold enough to learn a foreign language, at any age. Part of the fun of living in another country is communicating with the local people, making new friends and enjoying the culture.

Speaking Spanish will enable you to achieve these ends, have a more rewarding life and open doors to many new, interesting experiences. Knowing some Spanish can also save you money when shopping on the street and negotiating fees with taxis, building contractors, any other vendors and salespeople. People are less likely to take advantage of you if you can communicate.

Learning Spanish does not have to be a huge undertaking, in terms of time or money.

Students of all ages can enroll at one of Nicaragua’s intensive conversational language schools, or find private tutors for relatively little money.

Many of the Spanish academies, in addition to language instruction, offer exciting field trips, interesting activities and room and board with local families—all of which are optional. Living with a family that speaks little—or preferably zero— English is a wonderful way to improve your language skills, make new friends and learn about Nicaragua’s culture.

Total immersion is the best way to learn a language. Regardless of your best intentions, you will most likely default back to your native tongue if you allow yourself to be in a situation where you don’t have to speak Spanish to communicate. It is best to put yourself in an atmosphere where you are forced to speak Spanish, even though finding such an atmosphere is increasingly harder do to this era of globalization.

Spanish has more verb tenses and rules than English, but fewer exceptions to those rules (English, by comparison, makes almost no sense if you try to learn the language by understanding its rules). Spanish, unlike English, is also spelled phonetically, for most part.

With a little self-discipline and motivation, anyone can acquire a basic Spanish survival vocabulary of between 200 and 3000 words in a relatively short time. Many Spanish words are cognates, so you can guess their meanings by hearing them or looking at them.

The Spanish alphabet is almost identical the English one, except it has 28 letters rather than 26 (“ll” and “ch” are considered separate letters in the Spanish alphabet). Pronunciation is also usually easier than English, because of its phonetic spelling. But that still doesn’t keep even the most seasoned Spanish-as-a-second language speakers from getting lost inside words with too many syllables.

Practicing with native-Spanish speakers will dramatically improve your language skills, by hearing how Nicaraguan Spanish is spoken in everyday conversation.

You will learn many new words and expressions not ordinarily found in your standard dictionary or classroom.

Watching Spanish-language programs on television and listening to the radio and language cassettes can also improve your Spanish. For beginners we suggest you purchase "Christopher Howard's Spanish Guide" advertised in this book. It is designed especially for people planning to retire, live or do business in Central America. It makes learning easy because the student learns the natural way, by listening and repeating as a child does—without the complications of grammar.

If you are interested in a more profound study of Spanish, we are including at the end of this section a list of language academies in different parts of the country. Please check first with the school of your choice for current prices.

The Spanish spoken in Nicaragua is basically standard Castillian Spanish, except for one big difference, which confuses beginning students. Spanish has two forms for addressing a person—usted and tú. However, in Nicaragua vos (pronounced in Nicaragua as “bo”) is used instead of tú. The verb form used with vos is formed by changing the r at the end of a verb infinitive to s and adding an accent to the last syllable. This form is seldom taught because it is considered a colloquial form; used only in Central America and some parts of South America (Argentina and Uruguay). It is not found in most Spanish textbooks.

Don’t worry! Once you live in Nicaragua for a while and get used to the Nicaraguan way of speaking, you will learn to use the vos form almost automatically. If you use the tu form, don’t worry about it. Tu is not common, but is used here from time to time. People will know what you’re talking about.

Another trait of the Nicaraguans is the common use titles of respect, such as don (for a man) and doña (for a woman) when addressing a middle age or older person formally. These forms are used with the first name — as in the case of the famous “don Juan.”

Other common titles are Licenciado (college graduate, or lawyer), or Licenciada for a woman. Other common titles include: Doctor, señor, señora, maestro (teacher, but often used as slang for someone you don’t know), and mister (which can refer to man or woman, but is usually considered uneducated). Former revolutionaries are often referred to as Comandante.

For some basic Spanish phrases see the section in Chapter 10 titled “Important Phrases and Vocabulary.”