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Puerto Rico Travel Tips – English vs Spanish 🇵🇷

Should travelers speak English or Spanish in Puerto Rico? San Juan locals give their best language travel advice for visiting Puerto Rico.

The Near Horizon

1 month ago

I think people that that come to Puerto Rico should learn to speak Spanish speaking the native language is the best way to mingle around you can connect with other people and we're going to get you where to eat where to drink where to dance I think it connects you so much better and you can have a better experience in Puerto Rico as well just by trying to speak Spanish yeah I think people that visit Puerto Rico should definitely try to learn a little bit of Spanish I feel like all people don't b
ecause they're like oh embarrassed like oh my Spanish is so bad but really it shows that you want to connect Puerto Ricans are supposed to learn English since prek kindergarten so if you talk English probably almost everybody should talk back but we really appreciate if you try speaking Spanish even if it's a all or simple or but we really do appreciate it well I mean in Puerto Rico we speak English we we got second language uh as in school so they teach you every grade you have to take English
so most people know English but they're scared to talk because like they never practice it and they they're worri like they're not going to understand same way when the Americans they take a couple classes in Spanish and they come to Puerto Rico and we speak fast they're like wait wait I don't I don't speak Spanish let's go let's switch to English it's better like for example I used to work at a restaurant where a lot of people from the United States would come and they would say oh thank you so
much for uh speaking English for me because I have some trouble with my Spanish and it's not necessary for me but it's definitely appreciated in heartwarming at least in this area sanguan a lot of people speak English because it's a very touristic area so it wouldn't really be a problem but it would be great for them to speak Spanish you know it'll be easier for the people who only speak Spanish here I've noticed a lot of people in the island don't know how to speak English in the metropolitan
area a lot of people do but if you move outside of it there's a surprising amount of people that don't know how to speak English they might understand it but they won't know how to speak it Coupe and it's like an area in San Juan people there don't speak English at all but it's like I've seen a couple of like tourists there and they have like a little bit of a hard time communicating with other people people actually would try to understand you and try to maybe talk English as well a lot of don'
t like talking English I don't know why they're very afraid of it so it's not like other countries that they actually try so yes it could help you like yeah try to understand each other people that come to Puerto Rico I think they will um at least be interested in and try to understand our language and speak just a little bit because sometimes when we go to the United States we are like mostly abated to speak English so I think it that will be like an exchange so we can speak engl English and th
ey could speak Spanish I think speaking the native language of any place shows respect to to to the people of that place yeah definitely for something like Spanish it's not Japanese bro like there are some basic things like all hello alios is goodbye gracias is thank youas is how are you just look it up and like do exercises and practice like it's the very least anyone to a Spanish speaking country can do Puerto Rican already very good host but it'll endear you more to people because like sadly
it's not that common I think that some people just don't think that they need to learn other languages um but I think it's a loss for them

Comments

@MichelleMastrobattista

Just checked out some of your other videos and I really appreciate this channel! Love that you’re educating people about the real culture of Puerto Rico. So many people come here and don’t care to learn. This is so needed! ❤

@jlm3744

I agree that when I visit Puerto Rico, most people in San Juan can speak and understand English, and when I go out to like San Sebastian and Mayaguez, most people can't speak or understand English. When I go to Puerto Rico, I don't want to learn a little Spanish, I want to become fluent and try my best to speak Spanish. Sadly last time I was down there and I walked around Viejo San Juan alone, I tried practicing Spanish and some people made fun of me.🤦‍♂️But it's not all bad, some people switched to speaking english because they picked up on my struggling and just switched to speaking English but I would continue to practice my spanish even when they switched to English. Hope things are better when I go down there on the 6th next month.

@clarkbl

I speak very good Spanish. 50% of the time I lived there people would still respond to me in English, even when their English was way worse than my Spanish. Some even seemed to take offense when I initiated conversation in Spanish, as though I was making the assumption they didn't speak English and that was somehow rude. But I would agree. If you live there, then learn Spanish. It will get you out of paying an inflated electrical bill estimate from LUMA. On the flip side, I want to see PR prosper, and having the ability to work without restriction with any business in the USA makes for a huge opportunity for the locals if they learn English fluently. I hate to see PR residents underpaid, and I personally think the low wages are largely because of the lack of English fluency.

@reucat24

Spanish goes a long way, also the best way to really connect with Puerto Ricans and learn the culture and not feel like an outsider or stranger.