Nadia F. Says:
I like the idea of moving to Panama City. I have a few words of Spanish from high school, but I’m a bit nervous about living somewhere people speak it all the time. Do you have any advice?
IL Panama Editor Jessica Ramesch Says:
Hi Nadia,
I landed here in 1990 without a word of Spanish and, at first, learning it seemed like an insurmountable task. I soon realized, however, that a bit of Spanish would help me make friends and have a richer experience. I also learned that Panamanians love to tease, and so I got comfortable—very quickly—with making mistakes.
So the best advice I can give you is to have fun with it… and don’t worry about being perfect.
Ask any seasoned traveler and they’ll tell you that even the humblest attempts at speaking the local language are greatly appreciated. This is especially true in Panama. If you try to speak Spanish—even a little—people will engage with you and even go the extra mile to help you.
Whether you’re trying to buy a SIM card at a small electronics shop or cough syrup at the local farmacia, you’ll need basic Spanish here. Since you studied it in your youth, you’ll probably be surprised how much it all comes rushing back.
My first few months here weren’t always easy, but people were very friendly, so I didn’t feel too embarrassed to try. I was relieved to find that Panamanians are really difficult to offend.
I was also relieved to find that day-to-day Spanish was easy to master. I focused on learning the words and phrases I needed to take taxis and interact with people at shops or supermarkets. It was enough to secure my independence, so to speak. With some basic Spanish under my belt, I could move about on my own and get all my errands done. Anything I learned after that was just icing on the cake.
As long as you are kind and show that you’re trying—even if all you can say is por favor and gracias—you’ll find people here to be tremendously helpful.
I still remember the day I wanted soap, and repeated the word sopa over and over again. My new Panamanian friend didn’t give up on me. She could see that I was trying, and she was patient. She pulled out a can of soup to show me what sopa was. Finally, I understood that I’d been using the wrong word. I mimed washing my hands and she understood right away. We laughed so hard over my sopa, I never made that mistake again (and the word for soap, by the way, is jabón).
If you’d like to start learning some Spanish before you get to Panama, take a look at Warren Hardy: Webtutor. It’s a program designed to get you speaking basic, useful Spanish and give you a base to build on when you get here.
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