Culture of Costa Rica

While studying Spanish in Costa Rica, you’ll come in contact with an extraordinary Latin American culture. Here’s a little insight into the background of Costa Ricans.

The locals refer to themselves as Tico or Tica (female). “Tico” comes from the locally popular usage of “tico” diminutive suffixes (e.g., ‘momentico’ instead of ‘momentito’). The tico ideal is that of a very friendly, helpful, laid back, unhurried, educated and environmentally aware people. Visitors from the United States are often referred to as gringos, which is virtually always congenial in nature. The phrase “Pura Vida” (literally pure life) is a motto ubiquitous in Costa Rica. It encapsulates the pervading ideology of living in peace in a calm, unflustered manner, appreciating a life surrounded by nature and family and friends. Register at our Spanish Language school and experience it yourself!

Some folk might use maje or mae (actually maje means “dumb”) to refer to each other although this might be slightly insulting to older folk.

When you take our intensive or immersion Spanish courses, you’ll meet Costa Rican traditions and culture, which tend to retain a strong degree of Spanish influence. Their spoken accent is rather different than its Central American counterparts. Normally “–ito” or “–ita” is added to many words to sound more polite and courteous. Costa Rica boasts a varied history. Costa Rica was the point where the Mesoamerican and South American native cultures met. The northwest of the country, Nicoya, was the southernmost point of Nahuatl cultural influence when the Spanish conquerors came in the 16th century. The center and southern portions of the country had Chibcha influences. However, the indigenous people have influenced modern Costa Rican culture to a relatively small degree, as most of the Indians died from disease and mistreatment by the Spaniards. The Atlantic coast, meanwhile, was populated with African slaves in the 17th and 18th centuries, although most Caribbean Costa Ricans of African descent come from Jamaican workers brought in during the 19th century to work in the construction of railways connecting the urban populations of the Central Plateau to the port of Limón on the Caribbean coast. During the 19th century many Chinese and Italian immigrants came to the country to work on the construction of the railroad system as well.

Costa Rica: Haven for Ecotourism and Biodiversity

If you decide to study Spanish in Costa Rica, you will see for yourself that Costa Rica is home to a rich variety of plants and animals. While the country has only about 0.1% of the world’s land mass, it contains 5% of the world’s biodiversity. Over 25% of Costa Rica is composed of protected forests and wildlife reserves (national parks).

One national park that is internationally renowned among ecologists for its biodiversity (including big cats and tapirs), and where visitors can expect to see an abundance of wildlife is the Corcovado National Park.

Tortuguero National Park is home to spider, howler and white throated capuchin monkeys, the three-toed sloth, 320 species of birds (including eight species of parrots), a variety of reptiles, but is mostly recognized for the annual nesting of the endangered green turtle, and is considered the most important nesting site for this species in the world. Giant leatherback, hawksbill, and loggerhead turtles also nest here.

The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve hosts 2,000 plant species including numerous orchids. Over 400 types of birds can be found here, as well as over 100 species of mammals. Costa Rica as a whole has over 800 species of birds. The entity entrusted to do genetic and biochemical prospecting on Costa Rica’s biological wealth is the INBIO (Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad), established in 1989.

Experience this wonderfully diverse natural realm firsthand when you take intensive Spanish courses in our prestigious Spanish language school, as we put you in contact with the best of nature tours and excursions.

Spanish and World Economy

It's increasingly difficult to ignore the spread of Spanish in the United States. Over the past decade, the demand for Spanish Language courses worldwide has just about doubled. In both the United States and Canada, Spanish is the most popular foreign language to learn. In the U.S., it is the most popular by a very wide margin. Bank ATMs offer instructions in Spanish. The Yellow Pages in many cities adds a Spanish-language insert. And Spanish is working its way into everyday use, including all mass communications media.

As countries in Latin America are strengthening and expanding their economies, they are becoming more important as trading partners. Many countries in Latin America have signed or are on the verge of signing on to NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), which was originally set up by the United States, Canada and Mexico but has now expanded to include CAFTA, (Central American Free Trade Agreement), currently being negotiated by Costa Rica, and already signed by most of the other Central American countries and the Dominican Republic. This should act to further strengthen trade and business ties between these countries and the U.S. – making a knowledgeable handling of Spanish for business an even more important asset for Americans in the business world.

Now you know some of the important facts about the relevance of learning Spanish in Costa Rica. Take a step further and start learning Spanish in our distinguished Spanish Language School.

Costa Rican Spanish

Costa Rican Spanish is more closely related to classical European Spanish than to that of our neighboring Latin American countries (see related articles). That is one of the reasons why if you decide to learn Spanish in Costa Rica in a reputable Spanish language school, you are most likely to acquire the clearer diction and pronunciation required for today’s international Spanish for business.

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The end of Roman Domination

Roman domination ended in the 5th century AC, when the empire dismembered. In our days the only thing conserved in Spanish from the pre-Roman languages are a few suffixes, some of them abundant in Spanish peninsular toponyms and last name endings.

Latin

Latin, the official language of the Romans, asserted itself rapidly as a communication instrument throughout all of the Roman Empire. Toponyms indicate that a mixture of Roman elements with Celtic and Basque elements also occurred. Latin, a clear and precise language, energetic, practical and orderly, acquired grace when it came in contact with the Greek language. Hence many words of Greek origin were incorporated into the Spanish language during this period through the imposition of Latin. Latin belongs to the so called Italic languages, which were spoken before Christ in the peninsula of the same name. In their turn, such Italic languages belonged to Indo-European, whence most of the languages spoken in Europe come from. Likewise, the Indian and Persian languages belong to the Indo-European trunk, from which one can conclude that a great part of our world has the same linguistic forebear.

There were two kinds of Latin, classical and vulgar. The first was used by writers and scholars; the latter spoken by the people of Rome. This is the one that prevailed in all the colonies. This Latin showed different modes, according to the time of conquest, the different regions of the Italic peninsula it proceeded from, closeness or farness to the metropolis, etc. This way, in each conquered territory ­–the term nation cannot yet be used– the imposed language acquired different hues of expression. With the passage of time, the evolution of Vulgar Latin, together with the formation of nations, came to give what we call today the Romance, Roman or Neo-Latin Languages: Spanish, French, Italian, Provençal, Catalan, Galician-Portuguese, Rhaeto-Romanic, Romanian, and Sardinian.

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The Romans

Romans start the conquest of Hispania in the year 206 BC. The original reason for Roman interest in Spain was the presence of the Carthaginians there, and it was as part of the war against Hannibal that the Romans first sent troops to the peninsula in 218 BC. Their original intention appears to have been to prevent reinforcements being sent to Hannibal in Italy from his bases in southern Spain, but by the time the command was taken over in 210 by Publius Cornelius Scipio, this had been extended to include the removal of the Carthaginians from Spain altogether, which was achieved following the defeat of the Carthaginian armies at Baecula (Bailén) in 208 and Ilipa (Alcalá del Río) near Seville in 207. Pacification was completed until the year 19 BC, when Augustus definitely subdued the Cantabrians and Asturians. Thus, Rome, when conquering new lands, ended disputes among tribes, towns and cities, imposing their culture, which brought with it the concept of law and citizenship. The Romans were masters in management and law. We must remember that Roman law established the basis of occidental legislation. The Romans completely changed the way of life of the inhabitants of Hispania, bringing not only the Latin ways of life, but also the Greek culture, which they had acquired when they conquered the Helvetian region. Very soon they started building Latin cities in the Iberian Peninsula and they extended rapidly over different regions of the colonized country. By 90 BC, natives of Salduia (Zaragoza) fought side by side with the Romans in the social war of Italy.

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Lack of Pre-Roman Unity

We cannot speak of linguistic unity in the Iberian Peninsula before the arrival of the Romans. The Iberian and Taressian alphabets each served for different languages. Each colonizing group (Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Celts, etc.) conserved and extended their own language.

Besides the languages mentioned, one must add Basque. The Basque language, which has been preserved up to now, does not have any linguistic relation to the other languages which were and are spoken in Spain, has a still controversial origin.

There are three theses:

• Basque is of African origin. It shows decisive coincidences with the Cantabrian languages, like Berber and others.
  
• Basque originated in the Caucasian region. Its grammatical structure is very similar to the Caucasian languages.
  
• Basque is a mixed language. It is akin to the Caucasian languages in its structure and origin. It incorporated numerous elements of the Iberian languages, as well as from Celtic and Latin.
  

The second and third theories are the ones that hold currently (a lot of this due to pressure from some “experts” geared towards getting it away as much as possible from African origins). Since its origin to the 10th century, Basque was a language transmitted through oral tradition. More or less ample texts appear up to the 16th century, but without reaching cult language quality. It still keeps its elemental grammar structure in our days, but subjected to Latin and Romance language influence. Basque has spawned many dialects, and many toponyms are of Basque origin, mainly along the Pyrenees.

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Celts

The Celts invaded Hispania in the VII century BC originating from southern Germany. They settled in Galicia, southern Portugal and in the region called Sierra Morena. Later they mixed with the Iberians in central and lower Aragón, and formed a region called Celtiberia. There are many toponyms of Celtic origin, and most of them have warrior names. Some of the main ones are: Coimbra, Carrión, Segovia, Zaragoza, and Lérida.

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Central and Northeast Regions

Concerning the central and northeastern regions of Spain, we can’t define precisely which group or groups of humans colonized them. There is a hypothesis regarding a Ligur migration (coming from the northern and central region of Provenza, Italy). This supposition holds due to the toponyms (names of places or names derived thereof) found in different parts of Spain. Toponyms such as Pontevedra, Santander, Murcia, Madrid,

Lérida and Barcelona come from and are characteristic of (although not exclusively) the Ligur language.

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Phoenicians and Greeks

The Phoenicians from Carthage founded today’s city of Cadiz in the southern part of the peninsula, whom they called Gadir. Later the Romans called it Gades and the Arabs Qádis. The word gadir is of Punic origin and it means walled-in precinct. Another important city established by the Phoenicians was Málaga (Málaka: factory). The Greeks, exiled from the south by the Phoenicians, settled in the region of Levante. There they founded important cities such as Lucentum, today Alicante, and Emporion, Ampurias. These two influences, Phoenician and Greek, prompted the development of Iberian art.

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History of the Spanish Language

The origin of Spanish goes back many centuries before our times. It is supposed that the first inhabitants of what is today the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) settled on both sides of the Pyrenees (a mountain range between France and Spain). These settlers spoke a language that survives in the Basque Language (Basque is spoken in the Basque Country, region of Spain).

The Iberians settled in another geographical region, (the Coast of Levante), from whose name the peninsula takes its name. Their culture probably came from the African coasts. The Tartessian civilization, influenced by oriental ethnical communities settled where we now find the southern region of Portugal and the lower part of Andalusia. It is known that this culture ruled during many centuries.

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INTENSA - Costa Rica, Intensive Spanish Learning School

Learn Spanish in Costa Rica at INTENSA Spanish language schools. INTENSA offers immersion Spanish language courses for teachers and intensive Spanish for business and medical personnel. At INTENSA you will learn Spanish in an effective, fun way. Our Spanish language lessons emphasize a conversational mode while your homestay and travels in Costa Rica will let you learn Spanish in a variety of practical situations. INTENSA has three Spanish language schools in Costa Rica, each with a different ambiance. Check for our seasonal discounts when you learn Spanish here. Inquire about specialized Spanish language courses for high school or college groups.

Why Intensa Spanish School?

• 26 years teaching Spanish in an effective, fun way.
• 3 sites to meet your lessons needs: San José, Alajuela and Escazú.
• Flexible programming.
• Highly qualified, motivated Costa Rican teachers.
• Emphasis on conversation, communicative mode in acquiring language skills.
• Placement in small groups at your conversation level.
• Programs meet university credit requirements.
• Our people will help you plan your adventure travel
• Seasonal discounts at our Intensive spanish language immersion programs.
• Specialized spanish language courses for high school and college groups.
  15 years experience as site for university extension programs.