- what language do the inhabitants speak?

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what language do the inhabitants speak?

Author: dolmar (---.student.Princeton.EDU)
Date: 04-30-03 00:54

Hello, A couple of my friends and I are planning to spend a few days in end of May in Culebra. However, one of us is concerned that we won't be able to get around because it seems to us that the main language spoken is a heavy dialect of spanish. Hence, we were wondering whether most of the inhabitants can speak english and whether we can get around speaking english on the island?

Also, we have not yet booked a place to stay and are 3 weeks away from our desired deaprture date. Is it too late to do so since the island can only accomodate around 200 visitors at a time?

thanks so much for replying,

-marimar

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Re: what language do the inhabitants speak?

Author: Carlos (136.145.49.---)
Date: 04-30-03 08:23

Marimar:

Heavy dialect of spanish??? LOL
In the island there are a lot of people that are bilingual ( spanish - english ). I am one of those cases...my english is not perfect but I will try to do my best.

Don't worry...there are a lot of people from the states in the island and in all of the store/restaurant/establishment they speak both lenguage.

About booking a place to stay you are just in time..don't wait another week. Here in Puerto Rico May 26 is a holiday...so the weekend from May 23 to May 26 will be a long one with a lot of people traveling to Culebra Island. Another thing, the Island can accomodate around 800 visitors, at a time, not 200.

I hope this would be helpfull for you, enjoy Culebra.
Carlos

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Re: what language do the inhabitants speak?

Author: Nelly (---.chail.org)
Date: 04-30-03 15:32

Spanish dialect???

Like Carlos said, most of the people that have businesses are bi-lingual. If not, you still have some time to learn some Spanish or buy a dictionary. After all, you are the one traveling to a mainly Spanish speaking country, not the other way around.

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Re: what language do the inhabitants speak?

Author: Jayme (---.nyc.rr.com)
Date: 05-04-03 09:48

At a place were the number one form of income is tourism, you would expect the "business owners and workers" to speak some form of English, and yes the large majority of them do. There is no need to buy a Spanish dictionary or learn Spanish. This is still America and there are many Americans living there. My husband is PR and speaks Spanish and rarely needed to use it. The locals will open up a bit more when you speak to them in Spanish and it is very helpful to know a little when trying to "pull" information from them. For the most part you will be fine as everyone knows enough English to communicate. Greet everyone with an "Hola" or Buenos Dias" and as they will appreciate your effort they will more than likely make their own.

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