How to Get Around in Spanish-Only Mexico

I've written a great deal about the monolingualism of Americans. Less than 9% speak more than one language. I have also written that it is a good idea to learn Spanish if you plan to move to central Mexico or any area of Mexico where English is not widely spoken. The reason for this is that monolingualism reigns in most central Mexican towns. Most central Mexicans, at least those I know, have no illusions of being bilingual. In fact, in towns that could be drawing more and more American tourism, you could be hard pressed to find employees in the hotel, restaurant, and tourist service industries that can speak English. There are some. Most, however, don't.

Need as the primary motivation has driven many, if not the majority of Mexicans in the coastal resort towns, to become fairly bilingual. We were surprised visiting Puerto Vallarta at how many in the tourist service industry could speak English and speak it well. Desperate need as the motivating factor drove them to learning English as a means of improving their earning capacity. Speaking English, they realized, meant earning more money.

In central Mexican towns, San Miguel de Allende being the exception, the livelihood of the locals has not depended on tourists who only speak English. Towns such as Guanajuato, Dolores Hidalgo, and Silao are places that could experience the benefits of the American tourist but haven't. That could be related to the fact the populations of these towns are massively monolingual.

We met a trio of feisty Aussie women who made this point. They loved Guanajuato. Although Guanajuato was just one place where they were stopping for a few days on their package tour, they bemoaned how they would not return here on their own because the hotel employees were not bilingual. On the package tour, they had the benefit of a Spanish speaker to help them over the language hurdles. But, they would not come alone without a Spanish speaker because of the difficulties with the language.

The point is if these towns want more tour dollars, they will eventually have to address the issue of their own monolingualism so they will be more attractive to tourists who only speak English. Americans are not the only notoriously monolingual country. Think of Australia for one.

So, what does the tourist do when he or she only speaks English? Are the linguistic hurdles insurmountable? Hardly!

In a word: a phrasebook.

Now, I know what you are thinking. You can't manipulate some poor hotel desk clerk's time at a hotel while you thumb through a phrasebook looking up how to say this or that. It would make you nervous and probably freak the employee out.

But, there is a way.

I had a friend who went to Germany in 1975 to study abroad for a year. During the holiday breaks, he traveled extensively throughout Europe. However, he spoke only English and German. To handle the various predictable linguistic nightmares, he and his travel partner resorted to phrasebooks.

They obtained Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and French phrasebooks. They anticipated the various situations in which they would need some useful phrases. Hotels, taxis, theaters, museums, restaurants with all the imaginable meal choices, laundry, seeing a doctor, and so on. Before traveling, they took 3 x 5 cards and wrote down all the things they thought they would need to say to someone in a foreign language. They grouped the cards in categorical stacks and languages. So, when they went to Spain, they whipped out the Spanish stack and could thumb through the stack to the taxi section or whatever section they needed at the time.

They would read the phrase from the cards. Sometimes, they just shamelessly showed the card to the cab driver, hotel clerk, waiter, or whatever.

They would show the card with "We want to go to hotel _______" to the cab driver and fill in the blank with the name of the hotel.

They would show the monolingual waiter the card with "I want to order fried eggs and ham, please."

"I need an extra blanket for my room, please," they would read off to the hotel clerk.

This worked and did so in a big way! Eventually, after touring Spain for a week or so, they were able to say what was written on many of the cards from memory. Most phrasebooks have some pronunciation instructions so you can include the pronunciation on the cards as well.

Absurd? Not at all. Silly? Maybe. But, look at the advantages. You will be armed with a way to overcome the language barrier in a monolingual region of Mexico. You may even end up memorizing a few phrases in Spanish. The other day we got into a cab. The driver was brand-new and a bit of a nervous wreck. He asked us before we could open our mouths if we spoke any Spanish. We set him at ease immediately when he heard my wife and I begin to chat away in his language. The poor guy needs to see the need to learn some English.

My hope is that those in the service industry in central Mexico will see the need to learn English so they can begin to rake in more tourist dollars.

In the meantime, here are some phrasebooks I recommend as adequate for the task:

• Spanish at a Glance: Phrase Book & Dictionary for Travelers (Barron's Languages at a Glance Series) by Heywood Wald (check Amazon for used copies and prices)

• TravelWise Spanish (Barron's Educational Series) (Paperback) by Barron's Educational Series (Author), Tessa Krailing (Author) Price: $11.04

• Berlitz Spanish Phrase Book (Berlitz Phrase Book) (Paperback) by Inc. Berlitz International List Price: $8.95

• Easy Spanish Phrase Book: Over 770 Basic Phrases for Everyday Use (Dover Easy Phrase) (Paperback) by Dover List Price: $1.50

I would check Amazon.com and Ebay.com for the best prices. Most will be available at your favorite brick-and-mortar bookstores as well.