In a word, no! Although Puerto Vallarta is at heart a fishing and farming town, you don’t need to speak Spanish to get along well here. If you do speak Spanish, you’ll get plenty of opportunity to use it, but you can manage quite well speaking only English. Puerto Vallarta welcomes visitors from all over the world, many of whom are English-speaking.
If Puerto Vallarta is your retirement destination, you’ll quickly pick up the most important words and phrases. Before you know it, you’ll be speaking Spanish like an old pro. Until then, however, you will find that the people of Puerto Vallarta, as ever-gracious hosts, will speak English if they know it.
Puerto Vallarta has welcomed literally thousands of English-speaking US and Canadian citizens in the past ten years. You’ll find English spoken in shops and restaurants, and most service providers will accommodate you if you speak English only.
If you’re willing to learn Spanish, you’ll also find classes designed to introduce non-native Spanish speakers to the language. On the whole, Spanish isn’t difficult to learn, and if you’ve lived in the Southwest US, chances are good that you’ve seen Spanish words on signs and labels for years.
As a retirement destination, Puerto Vallarta is filled with US and Canadian residents. You’ll be in good company among many native English speakers. Your friends and neighbors are likely to have come from the US or Canada, and in time, you’ll learn and speak the language with ease.
Puerto Vallarta didn’t become a choice retirement destination by making life difficult for non-English speakers. Without a doubt, you’ll find navigating, shopping, and getting assistance in English to be quite easy.
One caveat: all legal documents in Mexico are drafted in Spanish. You will need assistance from an attorney to translate documents and ensure that you understand your legal rights and obligations. When it comes to property purchases, Select Mexico Properties has an attorney on site to help you work through the land sale, bank trust issues and taking possession of your property. This is one of the few instances where you will require professional translation assistance if you don’t speak Spanish.
If you’re ready to take the plunge, contact a Select Mexico Properties sales representative today and start packing! Your Puerto Vallarta retirement destination is waiting!
Photo Credit: Quetzalcoatl Salvador Gomez Cabrera
Relevant Tags:language barrier, mexico properties, native english speakers, retirement destination
