One of the smallest countries in Central and Latin America, Costa Rica is famous for its national parks. It is even called a reserve country, because there are more than seventy of them on the territory of the state. Tourists arriving here should take a Russian-Spanish phrasebook with them, because the official language of Costa Rica is Spanish.
Some statistics and facts
- For the first time, the local Indians of the Huetaro tribe heard the Spanish language in 1502, when the fourth expedition of Columbus reached the shores of Central America.
- Colonization continued for several decades, and by the end of the 16th century, the Huetaro Indians were almost completely exterminated. Since then, Spanish has become the only language for the inhabitants of the state.
- Part of the population of Costa Rica uses the Lemon dialect of the Jamaican dialect of the Creole language, which is based on English, in everyday life. As a rule, these are mulattos, descendants of slaves taken to Costa Rica from the Antilles.
- Total Costa Ricans, there are about 3.5 million people, of which 500 thousand live outside the country.
Spanish in the reserve country
Residents of Costa Rica speak Spanish, which has its own characteristics and is different from the language of the Iberian Peninsula. It contains many diminutive suffixes "-tico", from which Costa Ricans are often called "ticos". But borrowings from the Indian language are practically not preserved. The reason for this is the total extermination of the indigenous population in the 16th century.
Huetaro and the Chibchan family
The language of the Huetaro Indians was once spoken throughout Central America. He belonged to the family of Indian languages of South America, some of which have disappeared without a trace, while others can be found in Colombia, Nicaragua and Panama.
Tourist notes
Many residents of Costa Rica and residents of the Caribbean coast, where the main resorts are located, speak good English. English is taught in schools as a foreign language, and the level of education in the state is one of the highest in Latin America.
Restaurant menus and other important information for the traveler have been translated into English in tourist areas. In information centers and travel companies, you can always use the services of English-speaking guides to nature reserves and national parks or tour guides.
