Mexico, the Land of Tropical Splendor. It’s no wonder this country is the 7th most visited country in the entire world by tourists. A study
by the Mexican government showed that in 2018, the country welcomed about 49.6 million tourists. 7.9 million of those tourists came from the United States, the most significant chunk from Mexico’s tourist population pie chart. It was also discovered that the highest number of tourists Mexico welcomes annually is between December and April—the dry season of Mexico. But it was noted by a Central American Specialist that between those months, the best month is during January when it is the optimum heat and cold temperatures with just the right amount of other tourists.
Going to another country as a tourist or merely migrating for the first time, it is vital that you can communicate with the locals in any possible way. You start asking yourself, “Is English widely spoken in Mexico?” According to ICEF, Nearly 21% of the Mexican population speak some level of English. Furthermore, where most ex-pats live and tourist locations there is a higher number of Mexicans who have at a minimum reached conversational English proficiency.
English is a universal language because the different countries of the world are interdependent due to globalization. These countries must be able to communicate with one another. This is important in trade, disputes, technology, diplomatic relations, and the focus of this article, tourism. Luckily for you, most tourists prefer staying at well-known cities in Mexico like Mexico City, Cancun, Acapulco, and Puerto Vallarta. So communicating in some cities mentioned, and the possibility that you may interact with one of that 12% of the population, you are good to go. Though relying only on this small data for your tourist travel to Mexico is a bad idea. To directly answer the question if English is widely spoken, based on everything that was mentioned, no, it is not. But you are still able to communicate somehow with them when needed.
Where English is not a problem.
Imagine planning an itinerary when going on vacation in Mexico, and you start thinking about you and your family, or possibly friends, on which of you guys can comfortably speak Spanish. It turns out, barely any of you know a single thing in speaking Spanish. Well, no worries, there are known places in Mexico that will feed your curiosity about the country and its culture while communicating correctly with the locals.
#1 Lake Chapala/Ajijic, Mexico
One of the known expat places in Mexico is the town of Ajijic, Mexico. In this country’s position, you can go on with your daily life without worrying about being misunderstood or simply not understood at all because of the language barrier. In the entire country, 40% of the total number of expats live around this area. Most people living here know or only speak English, which won’t be a problem for you when you also come and visit.
#2 Cancun, Mexico
Cancun is a popular city in Mexico that is famous for its beaches and the conservation of nature. The city is located in the southeast of Mexico in the state Quintana Too. The beaches are engulfed by the Caribbean Sea. The city is also known to be “The International Capital of Spring Break” most teenagers and young adults would simply dream of going on vacation here. Yet, it is still one of the most popular tourist destinations in Mexico. As a popular tourist destination in Mexico, the locals have learned to adapt to communicate appropriately with the millions of tourists this city welcomes in a year. Almost 90% of Cancun’s population can speak and understand the English language.
#3 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Almost the same as Cancun, Puerto Vallarta is a popular beach tourist destination in Mexico. Compared to Cancun, this tourist destination is located on the other side of the coast. It is situated in the Pacific Oceans’ Bahia de Banderas in the state of Jalisco. As expected in a popular tourist destination such as this, English-speaking Mexicans are pretty standard. Still, it’s worth the effort to try to learn the basics of Spanish just in case you want to interact with some of the locals in the area.
Importance of English to Mexico
Because of a globalized competitive world, English has become the language of business and relations. The primary universal language of the world that allowed this globalized society. In Mexico, the English language is of extreme importance to the government and its people. Mexico has almost won the race competing with other developing countries in terms of quality of life and economics. The Land of Tropical Splendor could also be considered the most advanced developing country in the entire world.
With this in mind, it is understandable why Mexicans somehow value learning the English language, especially when a high percentage of their population considers migrating to mainly English-speaking countries. Plus, they are neighboring with one of the biggest English-speaking countries in the world, the United States of America. Let us also consider the truth of how English is a language with a ton of excuses for the tons of rules that comes with learning it. This only shows that Mexicans are a more comprehensive patient group of people who would do anything to understand people outside their country’s borders.
English Learning in Mexico
Nearly 24 million people in Mexico study the English language, mainly caused by the growing demand of a globalized economy to have a universal understanding through one language, which is English. According to Education First,Mexico’s English Proficiency Index ranked the entire country #67 of 100 countries/regions. They have an EF EPI score of 48.99 and the 16th country in Latin America, fluent in the language.
An article stated that around the year 2009, the country launched the program Programa Nacional de Inglés en Educación Básica (PNIEB), whose sole purpose is to aid the Mexican people who study in public schools in learning English around the time when they are a child. The program results indicated that it produced about 350 teacher trainers, who trained 17,000 teachers, and then taught about 800,000 students. This drastically increased the number of English speakers in the country while also showing the importance of learning the language.
Final Thoughts
Mexico has fully embraced the English language to further compete with the globalized world, and at the same time, to depend on their connections with other countries. As a tourist, traveling to Mexico won’t be a problem just as long as you know the right places to go if you’re highly considering the fact of the language barriers. But as a temporary guest to another country, you still have to put a once of effort into learning the country’s national language as a form of an act of respect towards its local citizens. Plus, imagine efficiently communicating with the locals as you travel around big cities or even through the suburbs and provinces of Mexico; how impressed they would be when you can somehow speak and understand what they’re saying.
I believe you should consider to at least learn even the common phrases of Spanish when traveling to Mexico, despite knowing now how English proficient Mexicans are because of culture. When traveling, you only travel to see places you don’t have in your home country. You travel because you want to immerse yourself in the culture, immersing yourself with their traditions and the people’s values. Being able to easily communicate with the Mexican people will make that experience grander and worthwhile. Understanding a little bit of Spanish and utilizing the English language with the knowledge of the places in Mexico who has a population that speaks good English will have you immersing in their culture in no time and having.