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The biggest regret for travelers in Medellin, Colombia, is not learning Spanish beforehand, as it significantly impacts daily interactions, budgeting, navigation, and cultural immersion.
The host's primary regret after a week in Medellin, Colombia, is not having learned Spanish prior to arrival. Despite reading that El Poblado is an expat-heavy neighborhood, English is not frequently encountered, making communication challenging. While translation apps help with one-way understanding, they don't fully bridge the gap. The host reflects on his past attempts to learn Spanish in college, which were sidelined by more demanding computer science courses, and now wishes he had persisted, as Spanish is crucial for daily life in Medellin.
Several instances highlight the difficulties caused by the language barrier. These include struggling to order food at a restaurant, leading to a tense interaction, and receiving an unintended beer when asking for the bill at another establishment. These situations underscore the importance of knowing basic Spanish phrases for ordering, paying, and general politeness. The host also notes that unexpected costs, like ordering drinks one didn't intend to, can impact a travel budget, especially for those trying to be cost-conscious.
Beyond simple transactions, the lack of Spanish proficiency can complicate navigation, especially with public transportation, and pose risks in emergency situations. The host shares an anecdote about a near-miss on public transit in Miami due to a language barrier and emphasizes that emergencies are where not knowing Spanish is most regretted. Furthermore, attempting to understand local culture and lifestyle in non-English speaking neighborhoods is significantly harder without language skills. Even in dating and social interactions, the inability to converse in Spanish makes forming connections and making plans extremely difficult.
Learning Spanish before visiting Medellin is crucial for daily interactions, from ordering food to asking for directions. Without it, you risk misunderstandings, unexpected costs, and difficulty navigating, especially outside tourist zones.
Yes, you can travel to Medellin without speaking Spanish, but it significantly impacts your experience. While translation apps help, they don't replace genuine communication for budgeting, social interactions, or emergencies.
A common regret is not learning basic Spanish, which hinders communication, budgeting, and cultural immersion. Travelers might also underestimate the need for Spanish in non-expat areas or for navigating public transport.
The language barrier can affect your budget in Medellin by leading to unintended purchases, like extra drinks, or by making it harder to negotiate prices or find cost-effective options. Misunderstandings can result in unexpected expenses.
While some people in tourist areas of Medellin may speak English, it's not widely spoken, especially outside of El Poblado. Relying solely on English can lead to communication challenges in daily life, transportation, and local establishments.
Knowing Spanish is vital for handling emergencies effectively in Colombia. Being able to communicate your needs, location, and situation clearly to authorities or medical personnel can be critical in urgent situations.
0:03 Hey YouTube, it's Alex Conley. In today's video, I want to go over a question that occurred to me. In life, all of us have some kind of regret, hopefully not too many when you're young. But we always have something that kind of bugs us.
0:21 The question came to mind: What's my biggest regret in coming to Medellin? What do I regret about my decision to come here? Fortunately, that's not a question I have a problem answering. My biggest regret in coming here to Medellin is that I didn't learn Spanish beforehand.
0:44 For those of you who aren't familiar, here in Colombia, the predominant language is Spanish. Most of the people here in Medellin, their first language is Spanish. Especially right now with the pandemic, I see very, very few tourists. There are days where I go days without seeing a tourist, and I really don't hear English too often.
1:08 This contrasts some of what I read online. I'd read online that this neighborhood, El Poblado, is a predominantly expat-type neighborhood and that there's going to be more English here than elsewhere. But in fact, in my time here in El Poblado, I actually don't encounter English very much.
1:29 I have been fortunate to be able to use a translation app, but still, that mostly helps with me communicating to the other party. But as far as me understanding what they're trying to say, that's a bit more difficult.
1:43 You might be asking, well, hasn't everybody had a little exposure to Spanish from the United States? I have had some. I had two years in high school and I took part of the Spanish one class recently at my college back in the states. Unfortunately, I had to drop the Spanish class because I was also taking some really difficult math and science courses, and my major is computer science.
2:07 So I've had to prioritize the technology studies. But that being said, I kind of wish I tried to stick it out in Spanish, even if I had to drop, you know, a month later or something. Because here in Medellin, Spanish is very prevalent, and you're going to notice when you come here that your Spanish skills, or lack thereof, will definitely make an impact on your trip.
2:30 I certainly haven't had a bad time, but there's been a number of times where I really wish I had a stronger command of the Spanish language. A few instances come to mind in the last week.
2:43 The most noteworthy incident, and not really an incident, it wasn't really a dramatic or emergency-type situation. But you can see across the street from where I'm filming, there's a Santa Fe mall and there's a restaurant that I've tried in other countries in Santa Fe mall that I wanted to try here just to see how it is here in Colombia.
3:06 So when I went to order, I got a response from the cashier and I couldn't really understand what she was saying. I tried to indicate my lack of understanding: 'No me habla español.' My Spanish is small. The first bit is, 'I don't understand Spanish.'
3:27 But basically, she kind of sped up and said what she was saying a bit faster, and it got to be kind of tense because eventually, there was one person in line behind me. All this took place over the course of a couple of minutes, but I kind of realized we're not really making headway here. She's trying to serve a number of people, and it's time for me to move on.
3:52 So I said, 'Lo siento,' I apologize to her in Spanish, and then just kind of walked away without further incident. But that's something to think about right off the bat.
4:00 And another situation that happened: I was at a restaurant I really like, and this was not in any way on the server at all, but I think it's called La Avocado Cafeteria. This restaurant, as you can imagine, the name is an avocado-themed restaurant. This was my first night in Medellin; I was exhausted, tired, sleep-deprived, had flown halfway across the world, I guess the other hemisphere.
4:32 Basically, when I asked for the bill, I was served a beer. So that's something to think about when you are trying to pay bills, or to order things, or to close out your tab. These kinds of things, it's really helpful to know some basic Spanish, like your basic numbers, such as please, thank you, no, yes, of course, no. It's just no, but still, it's worthwhile to understand some of the words and phrases you imagine you're going to be using on a day-to-day basis.
5:12 So like for me, I like to eat out a couple times a day. I find that I'm not going to cook as well as people cook wherever I'm traveling, and it tends to be a little bit more affordable when you consider the time cost. But if I knew Spanish, a number of these interactions would be a lot smoother, I think. And maybe I would have had a better time when I tried to go to that restaurant.
5:41 And previously, like I said, I'm not a big drinker. You may or may not have heard that in my previous videos, but I don't have anything against it. I've never really had a problem with it, but it just, as I get older, my body just doesn't handle it as well. And so it's something that I've kind of put out in my life.
5:59 So I didn't want the check. He did bring me beer. I did drink it just out of politeness, and also because at that very moment, I was like, 'You know what? I could have one right now.' And fortunately, I could afford it. I think it was like the equivalent of two or three bucks.
6:14 But that's one thing that is worthwhile to keep in mind if you're trying to moderate your costs, if you're a budget-oriented traveler, or even if you just like prefer to splurge on a few things and save on others. For me, I don't factor in alcohol costs in my travels because, over the course of months of travel, I'm going to spend maybe twenty dollars, maybe thirty dollars on alcohol. It's maybe ten dollars a month, and that's like occasionally I'll have a drink if it's a social situation and I'm invited out, but it's not something that I seek out myself.
6:52 And it's not something that I feel like I miss out on if I don't have it. And so I don't plan to pay for that. But if you're somebody that, for example, you're like me and you don't drink, but you really enjoy doing excursions, well, since I'm not spending on alcohol, maybe I can spend more on that.
7:14 But if I get into situations where I end up ordering food that I didn't intend to order, or drinks I didn't intend to order, that might affect that budget somewhat. And it's not that big of a deal, but little things like that do add up.
7:26 One thing to keep in mind when I mention the importance of learning Spanish, and like I said, this is more on why I regret not learning more Spanish and some of the things that can happen because of it. Not emergencies, but I like to iterate, I like to optimize, I like to make it the best I can given the resources and limitations placed on me.
7:56 So back to the point I was trying to make: a big mistake that people make is they think when they are traveling abroad, particularly if you're living in an expensive country, synonymous with developed, like the UK, the United States, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, these types of countries, things are expensive. And so many countries that you'll go to, not all, but many, will be cheaper than where you're from.
8:27 And the mistake that some people get in their mind is, 'Oh, because it's cheap, I can just not pay attention to spending.' I have had this experience at various points myself when I was younger and just didn't have as much long-term thinking into my financial planning. But that's something I think about: little odds and ends here and there, they will add up over the course of the trip.
8:48 And when you're doing conversions in your head, sometimes it can be easy to think, 'Oh, it's just like, you know, 20, it's just the equivalent of 20 bucks.' That's what I'd spend in my home country on dinner and drinks. But if you're accounting to stretch your dollar, you're trying to get your dollar to go further, or your British pound to go further, these kinds of things add up.
9:10 And so that's something worth considering and why I do recommend having some basic Spanish because you're going to reduce that. You may not eliminate it totally. I think that unless you're a native Spanish speaker or very fluent, there's likely going to be some challenges in translation on occasion.
9:28 Just because there's things that could go into this, like Colombia has at least several, in my mind, unique dialects of Spanish. So the Spanish I would learn if I were taking Spanish lessons in Mexico City, I might learn a slightly different version of Spanish, especially with slang, accents, and local lingo and references.
9:46 You know, if you're in Mexico City, you may refer to the subway station, whereas if you're in Cartagena, there is no subway station in Cartagena. It's a beach resort-type town, and that kind of language is just not going to factor in your day-to-day. Whereas it very well might if you're in Bogota, or even in Medellin. Medellin has a rail system.
10:11 That's something else. If you're aiming to reduce budget by using public transportation here in Medellin, or let's say you're in Bogota, not understanding Spanish is going to make that a lot harder. It's going to make it more difficult to ask directions. It's going to be more difficult to pay attention to the proper stop. You might be a little bit more antsy, like, 'I hope I don't miss it. I hope I don't miss it. I better concentrate.'
10:41 I better concentrate so that if it comes up, I can just jump off. If you let's say you end up falling asleep, like when I lived in the Bay Area, I noticed several people, and I even myself, took naps on public transit. Let's say you fall asleep, you're so relaxed, you've had a wonderful meal here in Medellin and you ride multiple stops past. Well, it would be valuable for you, let's say your phone died and you didn't notice your phone died while this happened and you didn't have an easy way to charge it. It would be really valuable for you to ask a local person, 'Hey, I need to get off at this stop. Do you know how many stops I need to wait until I get off at the proper stop so I can get back to my accommodation?'
11:27 Things like that haven't personally happened to me here, but something similar did happen to me in Miami. I didn't fall asleep and go past my stop, but I was on a bus in Miami, Florida, in a predominantly Cuban and Spanish-speaking neighborhood. Everyone on the bus spoke Spanish; there was no English on the bus. Then one gentleman did get on the bus, and his English was really good, and we had some conversations that were really nice while I went along my way to the event.
11:59 That's something to consider. Another big thing, this is kind of the big thing: emergency situations. If you find yourself in an emergency situation, you're really going to regret not having some basic Spanish to work your way through it. I've been told specifically, like, 'Don't go to certain neighborhoods without Spanish.' There are certain neighborhoods where you're just not going to be able to communicate effectively.
12:32 I'm not going to speak on those neighborhoods, whether they're safe or not during the day or night. I do go by crime statistics, but that's worth considering. Even outside of the possibility of danger, there are going to be neighborhoods, regardless of where you are in a Spanish-speaking country, that don't have English. You could go there and physically see the neighborhoods, look at the buildings, and eat the food, but getting a feel for what the lifestyle and culture is like, what it's like to live and work in that neighborhood, these things are going to be harder to perceive if you can't speak the language and understand what people are saying on the street.
13:21 But really, the emergency situation is my biggest regret with not learning enough Spanish yet. I'd like to work on it a little bit each day. If I get into an emergency situation, even if I'm here in a normally English-speaking neighborhood like El Poblado, it would be really valuable to be able to speak Spanish to work my way through the situation with other people involved or bystanders.
13:50 The reason I mention this is not only did I hear about it in another video, but also a couple of days ago, I was kind of wandering around and encountered what I imagined to be a minor accident. Nobody was hurt, or else I wouldn't bring it up, but nobody was hurt from what I could tell between a motorcyclist, a delivery guy, a taxi driver, and a car. They were arguing and shouting at each other.
14:21 I don't drive in other countries; that's just one of my rules. It just doesn't seem like a good idea to me. But that's something to consider. If you are somebody that does want to ride a motorbike or rent a car, learning Spanish is really going to help you out. Let's say you get pulled over, and you need to discuss with the cop what's going on. If you're speaking Spanish, you're going to be able to meet him halfway much more easily.
15:01 When you don't speak Spanish, it's much more likely you'll feel like you just have to do whatever he says. Not to say you shouldn't always follow the laws, rules, and regulations and put your safety first, but there are times where, let's say you're local and you've been living somewhere for years, and some people don't learn the local language. Some people will live in Mexico for 20 years and speak almost no Spanish.
15:24 I don't recommend that. I think if you're going to stay somewhere long-term, learn the language. But let's say you've been living there for 10 years, and by all accounts, you're local at that point, but you don't speak Spanish. The officer pulls you over for speeding, and you weren't speeding, and you feel comfortable explaining that, but you don't know how to speak the language. Well, then you might just be stuck in a frustrating situation where you can't negotiate on your own behalf.
15:56 That's where I think learning Spanish should be really helpful. Like I said, if you're into vehicles, if you're into the idea of renting a car or riding a bike, being able to speak Spanish helps. You get a defender vendor if you bump somebody or somebody bumps you. These types of things can make the experience just a lot smoother and a lot less stressful, and open up different opportunities and possibilities for you that otherwise wouldn't be a thing.
16:21 So that's kind of most of what I want to talk about when it comes to my regret and managing. Aside from that, Medellin has been wonderful. It's really sunny, the weather is really warm and nice, and the people are friendly. It does have the big city feel, so some people are kind of in a hurry where they can come across as a bit brisk, but I'd expect that in any city of its size. That shouldn't really be shocking to viewers that if you're in a big city, some people are going to be in a hurry; it's just the nature of it.
16:52 I don't let it bother me too much. Wrapping up, is there anything else related to not knowing Spanish that I think would be valuable? Well, kind of the obvious one: if you're dating. If you know you're a single guy or gal and you're coming here to Colombia, in part, to potentially meet a partner, that's really going to be difficult without Spanish. It's really, really going to be difficult.
17:29 Making small talk, joking around, flirting, making plans to go to a movie or go out to dinner – these kinds of things are going to be really difficult without Spanish. And then when you get there, it's like, what are you going to talk about? There have been several instances where I encountered a woman I'd be interested in and wanted to ask for her number or invite her to hang out, but because I don't have any Spanish, I just have to stand there like an idiot and wish I'd put more time into that.
18:08 So that's another thing. But to kind of remedy all this, I like to always be optimistic to the most realistic extent possible. I like to address things that I can address, and Spanish is something I can improve. That's something that all of you should know as well. Even if you don't have Spanish right now, you're in an English-speaking country, and it's cold because it's where I'm from in the States. It's real cold, you want to get out, you're like, 'Man, that looks really sunny and beautiful, and I don't see any snow on the ground, and people are walking around in t-shirts.'
18:45 Well, you can learn Spanish. You can improve your Spanish. I don't have any affiliates or partnerships right now with any Spanish teaching or learning opportunities, but if I do, I'll let you guys know and put that information in the description below. This is something I want to work on. I feel that I have a learning mindset and that I can improve my Spanish.
19:11 There are a number of different options that I'm looking into. I'm most likely going to go with hiring a local person here in Medellin to meet me a couple times a week for like an hour and work on Spanish together. I think that in time, if I work on my Spanish, the city will continue to grow on me. It's already grown on me a lot, but I think it will continue to grow on me because I will see more and more layers of Colombia, more and more layers of Medellin.
19:40 I'll be able to branch out more into neighborhoods like Laureles. I've heard a lot of good things about Laureles, but Laureles is definitely a Spanish-speaking neighborhood, and it doesn't really seem like I'm going to get the full picture, the full experience, and brush up on my Spanish. So that's something I recommend for you guys and gals if you want to come to Medellin.
19:58 If you want to know what my biggest regret is, it's not, you know, being a better Spanish student. I'm working on changing that and I'll definitely update you all with my results and how that goes. I'll compare what it was like when my Spanish was weaker and what it's like when my Spanish is a little bit stronger. I don't imagine I'll ever be fluent to the extent of a native speaker, but I think I can do better than where I'm at now.
20:24 Anyway, thank you so much for watching. I appreciate you taking the time to engage with my content. Definitely let me know what you think down in the comments. Give me a thumbs up if you think there's anything that you regret about your trip to Medellin. Let us know too, and it definitely helps to create this dialogue where...
20:47 Of this dialogue where we're sharing ideas, and oh, I agree with this or I disagree with that. We kind of move closer to the truth. But anyway, thank you for watching, and I will see you next time.
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