texan4life Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 Traveling to Monterey, Mexico for a friends wedding in March; will be staying a Thursday through Sunday or Monday. Anyone been there, or to Mexico in general and have any advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One Hundred Fifty-Two Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 I’ve only been to Acapulco and Cancun. My days were basically spent in this order: get drunk, go to the beach, get drunk, go to the pool, get drunk, go to dinner, get drunk, go to the club. texan4life 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shitty Rambo Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 My motherland! Haha, Mexico is so much fun. I'd suggest getting a loud/wild cab driver, kicking him back a good $20 tip and ask him to take you to his favorite spots/come pick you up every half hour. By doing this I've found some really awesome places that weren't full of Americans drinking goofy ass margaritas or getting hung upside down to do beer bongs. It's how I stumbled across Restaurante Chicos Paradise in Puerto Vallarta. That might be my favorite place in the world. Take advantage of street food/little food shops. They're all good and cost 1/4 the price a chain place like Senior Frogs or Margaritaville charges for food/drinks. Al pastor tacos are the buisness. Just tip decently and you'll be taken care of. Mexican people are very hospitable and want you to come back. texan4life 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battra Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 Do you speak any Spanish? Cancun and Playa del Carmen are pretty bilingual now, but I'd be surprised if Monterrey is. texan4life 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texan4life Posted November 29, 2017 Author Share Posted November 29, 2017 2 hours ago, Tidal Wave said: I’ve only been to Acapulco and Cancun. My days were basically spent in this order: get drunk, go to the beach, get drunk, go to the pool, get drunk, go to dinner, get drunk, go to the club. Thanks haha 57 minutes ago, Shitty Rambo said: My motherland! Haha, Mexico is so much fun. I'd suggest getting a loud/wild cab driver, kicking him back a good $20 tip and ask him to take you to his favorite spots/come pick you up every half hour. By doing this I've found some really awesome places that weren't full of Americans drinking goofy ass margaritas or getting hung upside down to do beer bongs. It's how I stumbled across Restaurante Chicos Paradise in Puerto Vallarta. That might be my favorite place in the world. Take advantage of street food/little food shops. They're all good and cost 1/4 the price a chain place like Senior Frogs or Margaritaville charges for food/drinks. Al pastor tacos are the buisness. Just tip decently and you'll be taken care of. Mexican people are very hospitable and want you to come back. I'll definitely do some of this, especially with the food. Thanks for the advice! 31 minutes ago, Battra said: Do you speak any Spanish? Cancun and Playa del Carmen are pretty bilingual now, but I'd be surprised if Monterrey is. No, I have had Rosetta Stone in my possession for 4 years now, so hopefully I can put it to use and learn a fair amount in 4 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerseydave77 Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 You’ll be surprised how a little Spanish, even slow respectful attempts, can earn you a lot of friends and courtesy. texan4life 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texan4life Posted November 30, 2017 Author Share Posted November 30, 2017 12 hours ago, jerseydave77 said: You’ll be surprised how a little Spanish, even slow respectful attempts, can earn you a lot of friends and courtesy. Nice, I can definitely see that. The last thing I want to be is that egocentric person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battra Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 1 hour ago, texan4life said: Nice, I can definitely see that. The last thing I want to be is that egocentric person. I thought about this some more...and Monterrey is a big industrial center. I used to have loads of clients there at my old job. There will be some English speakers there, as lots of raw materials they use come from the States, but as for the average joe on the street, not sure. Work on your Rosetta Stone as best you can. Jerseydave is 100% correct, the attempt is worth as much as the words and if they speak some English, and this is just my experience with folks all over the world, they'll try even if they're not confident in it. Think about the things you'll be doing and work on that vocabulary... Like do you want to go dancing? "Baila" "Discoteque" Donde podemos bailar? Also...bar is El Bar... Me gusta un buen bar. Donde? Cuanto cuesta? (How much is it?) I'm sure you know some Spanish numbers...I mean we all watched Sesame Street! texan4life 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerseydave77 Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 Btw - Duolingo on your phone will give you an assist on some basics. I can speak Spanish like a four year old - some sentences and comprehension. It helps me increase vocabulary and is easy to use. My Mexican in-laws say I speak well but I know they are being kind and complimentary since no one else in my family can say a single word or even tries. texan4life 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texan4life Posted November 30, 2017 Author Share Posted November 30, 2017 1 hour ago, Battra said: I thought about this some more...and Monterrey is a big industrial center. I used to have loads of clients there at my old job. There will be some English speakers there, as lots of raw materials they use come from the States, but as for the average joe on the street, not sure. Work on your Rosetta Stone as best you can. Jerseydave is 100% correct, the attempt is worth as much as the words and if they speak some English, and this is just my experience with folks all over the world, they'll try even if they're not confident in it. Think about the things you'll be doing and work on that vocabulary... Like do you want to go dancing? "Baila" "Discoteque" Donde podemos bailar? Also...bar is El Bar... Me gusta un buen bar. Donde? Cuanto cuesta? (How much is it?) I'm sure you know some Spanish numbers...I mean we all watched Sesame Street! 1 hour ago, jerseydave77 said: Btw - Duolingo on your phone will give you an assist on some basics. I can speak Spanish like a four year old - some sentences and comprehension. It helps me increase vocabulary and is easy to use. My Mexican in-laws say I speak well but I know they are being kind and complimentary since no one else in my family can say a single word or even tries. Thank you both so much for the info, I appreciate this so much. I just downloaded Duolingo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battra Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 No worries...I'm a linguist by profession and by nature. It's fun to talk about. I cannot understand how so many American are proud of their ignorance by only speaking one language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nancy_raygun Posted December 1, 2017 Share Posted December 1, 2017 9 hours ago, Battra said: No worries...I'm a linguist by profession and by nature. It's fun to talk about. I cannot understand how so many American are proud of their ignorance by only speaking one language. To be fair, it's really tough to learn another language. I took French classes for like 6 years and the best I can do is name some of the colors and count to 39. Some of us just don't have brains wired for it I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battra Posted December 1, 2017 Share Posted December 1, 2017 12 hours ago, nancy_raygun said: To be fair, it's really tough to learn another language. I took French classes for like 6 years and the best I can do is name some of the colors and count to 39. Some of us just don't have brains wired for it I guess. No it isn't. Unless you think Americans are dumber than the vast majority of population of the world. I'm sorry...but it's not. I speak Spanish (Mexican and Castilian), Conversational Japanese, and I can read Portuguese. Seriously...it's not hard if you want to learn it. It's ten times harder to learn algebra or chemistry than it is to learn another language. It's like saying... I can remember that ok and good are synonyms, but not that bueno and good are synonyms. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billya Posted December 1, 2017 Share Posted December 1, 2017 It's also worth noting that the way that languages are taught in most American schools isn't necessarily ideal. Using it for 45 minutes in class with someone who isn't a native speaker of the target language and then going about the rest of your day in a monolingual environment isn't conducive to learning. It just takes time and using the language in order to learn it effectively. That being said, pretending that because you speak multiple languages it is all of a sudden an easy feat is such a stupid argument to make. I can speak two languages other than English with fluency, but I wouldn't say that I am able to do so because it was easy. It takes time, contextualized learning and lots of embarrassing moments to actually be able to use a language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battra Posted December 1, 2017 Share Posted December 1, 2017 Learning to speak language takes a concerted effort. That's all. The way I do it is by using it in my head. If I don't know a word, I'd think it in pig latin and look it up later. It's no different than learning anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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