Living in Mexico Without Spanish
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Updated November, 2023
Do you need Spanish to live in Mexico?
Many people ask if you can live happily in Mexico without speaking Spanish. Since the very first book I wrote was a Spanish learning tool, you probably think this is a trick question. The truth is that you can live very happily in Mexico without Spanish, or at least very little Spanish, enough to operate day to day navigating restaurants, public transportation, and shopping.
Most retired expats in Mexico don’t speak the language conversationally. Even younger friends of mine in Mexico with English-speaking Mexican husbands and children have never learned beyond the basics. Keep in mind however, that Mexico has the overall lowest level of English proficiency when ranked against 112 countries according to Mexico News Daily.
Usually expats don't have a desire to assimilate into the culture in a traditional sense although they manage to assimilate in other ways, such as by volunteering, or organizing and attending fundraisers for local Mexican charities and causes. Expats and foreign residents find ways to contribute even without fluency in Spanish.
You don’t have to speak Spanish in many popular expat destinations.
Any place you’re considering retiring or moving to in Mexico probably has a reasonably large expat community. The mutual bond of being an expat, while often times making for strange bedfellows, makes friendships easy to make. It’s perfectly natural to approach strangers simply by virtue of your shared status, far less awkward than at home.
For all the disparaging things you read in expat forums about “gringo gulches,” enclaves and gated communities where expats who don’t speak the language often live, many expats are very content, ecstatic in fact, living in them. Some of these enclaves are surrounded by golf courses and other amenities. It’s a very good life (If you want a book that really captures the spirit of a happy "non-assimilated" expat, read Fran Lebowitz's hilarious "Tales from a Broad: An Unreliable Memoir.")
Just like neighbors who live in American suburbs and rarely find the need to go into the anchor city, foreign residents host pot luck dinners, community happy hours, have active Facebook pages with social calendars. Support one another in times of illness or trouble is the order of the day in tight expat communities and for many, that’s enough. Being happy in Mexico is what matters.
Not speaking any Spanish will necessitate more forethought and planning. You will need to find the English speaking doctors as soon as you arrive, rather than waiting until you need one. You will need to find out which hospitals/emergency rooms will most likely have English-speaking staff or serve tourist areas.
When traveling by car, you will need to make sure to take a pocket dictionary in case of a breakdown. Even when you speak good Spanish, phone conversations are more of a challenge in a second language. You will need a few bilingual friends who can help you with phone calls to the electric, cable and telephone companies. The websites Linguee and Google Translate can help you translate entire phrases before a service call.
Mexicans are very tolerant of non-Spanish speaking expats. In most cases, when you don’t speak the language, the Mexicans you meet will work in service industries that rely upon, or at least desire expat clients. Restaurant and bar staff, shop keepers, realtors, house-keepers, tour operators, property management personnel, some plumbers and electricians who speak English will be the sum of your interaction with natives, although some could well become friends. As long as you’re as kind and patient as they are, you will be rewarded. Gratitude helps too.
Many Mexicans prefer having the opportunity to practice their English to your speaking Spanish. Several times I have found myself in conversations where a Mexican is speaking English and I’m speaking Spanish. We’re both trying to improve our second language and find ourselves at an impasse, neither one of us willing to give up our ground.
We must look ridiculous to bystanders too, stubbornly plowing along in a linguistic wrestling match until stumbling upon a topic where the one with the stronger grasp of the pertinent vocabulary in the second language does a take-down. When you speak only English, you avoid this competitive situation completely.
I will offer a few tips however from observing non-Spanish speakers speak with natives, mistakes I’ve made myself.
First, don’t raise your voice.
There is some type of cognitive dissonance that makes us think if we speak louder, they will understand us better. No idea why. My Mexican friends learning English never do this. From that we might assume, it’s a cultural dominance issue.
That particularly goes for buses
Somewhat related to talking loudly when someone can’t understand you is the common sight of seeing a passenger yelling in English across the aisles to friends in front or behind them while taking public transportation. This is the social equivalent of talking on your cellphone in a public place. My Spanish friends comfort me by saying Italians are just as bad as Americans are. (What a relief?)
I can honestly say I have never, ever heard Mexicans yelling at each other while taking public transportation unless it’s a hired party bus (this is not to be confused with how loud they can be socializing outside in their neighborhoods.)
As you’re speaking in English to someone who doesn't, speak slowly and clearly.
That will allow your listener to more easily pick up the cognates - the nouns and verbs that are very similar in both English and Spanish. As the cognates accumulate, eventually you will get your point across.
You will likely be able to anticipate the basic meaning of what has been written or said. What should they be saying? What would they be saying if speaking English? Humans are pretty predictable conversationalists.
I've seen non-speakers go completely blank when faced with any sentence in Spanish, automatically saying "I don't speak Spanish." Look at the words before you shut down. It's been estimated that 80% of academic Spanish is made up of cognates, words that sound almost the same in both languages.
If the word looks like a word in English, the odds are in your favor that the word has the same meaning in both English and Spanish. The chances of stumbling on false friends is fairly remote as a beginner or survival Spanish speaker is pretty remote and not worth worrying about.
Thousands of people live happily in Spanish-speaking countries without Spanish. You will want to develop relationships with English-speaking Mexicans who can tell you want you should pay for things, places to avoid, social customs and maybe intercede for you from time to time.
Life in Mexico is undeniably less frustrating, cheaper and socially richer if you’re conversant in Spanish. This I know first-hand from comparing my very first visit, when I hardly spoke any of the language, to my daily experiences after committing myself to learning the language for a few years (post-50 BTW). However, I can testify from the dozens of expats who don’t speak Spanish and I’ve met over the course of my nine years here that you can have an excellent life in Mexico without it.
Mexico is a country of soft expressions and meaningful glances that say more than words could ever convey - in any language. If you can lower volume and seek to emulate the general graciousness Mexicans exhibit in their interactions every day, that will be enough.
Related links:
Recover your sense of royalty living in Mexico - Ventanas Mexico
Ten days of life with Spanish vs. without it - Ventanas Mexico
Most recent:
On the practical matter of testing for particle matter in your water in Mexico.
About the author:
Kerry Baker is the author of "If Only I Had a Place" is her book on renting luxuriously in Mexico for less, year after year and written specifically for the aspiring expat. Renting well every year is part of developing your social infrastructure and this book offers a system.
Her second recent book is “The Mexico Solution: Saving your money, sanity, and quality of life through part-time life in Mexico.” This is the only how-to book out there that won’t leave you numb. She most recently co-authored a cookbook for expats, snowbirds and travelers seeking to eat healthy in Mexico, The Lazy Expat: Healthy Recipes That Translate in Mexico.