Language

If you speak Spanish learned in Spain, Mexico, Colombia, or basically anywhere other than Costa Rica, you will be immediately impressed at how politely Costa Ricans speak – sometimes to a fault. Here it’s typical to call any adult “don” (for the men) or “doña” (for the women), even though most other parts of Ibero-America reserve those titles for extreme deference (great grandparents, the owner of a thousand-hectare ranch, etc.). Ticos speak using the formal usted version of the second person (“you”) with everyone, even their children. The less-formal tú is used very little and considered foreign, and Ticos use the vos construction when hanging around with friends.

Ticos - or Costa Ricans - got their nickname in Central America because of their excessive use of diminutives. In English, diminutives are used almost exclusively with names. For example, “Jimmy” would be the diminutive of “James.” In Spanish, however, you can turn any noun or adjective diminutive, with the same sort of cute, or intensifying, effect. And in Costa Rica, they do. Hence, an every-day phrase like Me regalas un cafe y el postre de la casa (“Give me a coffee and the house desert”) becomes Me regalas un cafecito y el postrecito de la casita. This and other Costa Rican mannerisms make Costa Ricans appear to be a more polite people to outsiders, and their clear pronunciation makes Costa Rica a popular place to learn Spanish. Be forewarned, however, that as with any regional accent, there are many Tico linguistic mannerisms that other Latin Americans would find quite weird. For example, Costa Ricans call waiters and waitresses muchacho and muchacha, respectively, which is equivalent to calling out “boy” or “girl.” It’s not a very polite way to address the waiters at restaurants in other parts of Latin America.