# Speaking English in Querétaro



## MissKT (Feb 24, 2013)

I'll be moving to Querétaro in August to teach in an American school. I will only need to speak English at the school, but I am wondering how difficult of a time I am going to have in the rest of the city.
I took four years of Spanish in high school, but my speaking skills are dismal and my listening skills leave something to be desired. 
Are there many English speakers in Querétaro? Am I going to be in for a major wakeup call?


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

QueretaroTeacher said:


> I'll be moving to Querétaro in August to teach in an American school. I will only need to speak English at the school, but I am wondering how difficult of a time I am going to have in the rest of the city.
> I took four years of Spanish in high school, but my speaking skills are dismal and my listening skills leave something to be desired.
> Are there many English speakers in Querétaro? Am I going to be in for a major wakeup call?


You are moving to a Spanish speaking country. People who routinely deal with foreigners, hotel clerks, fancy restaurants, airports etc, might speak English. The average person you run into will not. But people are friendly and your high school Spanish will probably serve you in good stead and come back to you.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

TundraGreen said:


> You are moving to a Spanish speaking country. People who routinely deal with foreigners, hotel clerks, fancy restaurants, airports etc, might speak English. The average person you run into will not. But people are friendly and your high school Spanish will probably serve you in good stead and come back to you.


I agree with this excellent advice. Since you have a few months till you arrive in Querétaro, it would be a good idea to take a Spanish class at your local community college or perhaps look for a private tutor to help "wake up" the Spanish you learned in high school. Best of luck to you!


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## MissKT (Feb 24, 2013)

Thank you to the both of you!


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

QueretaroTeacher said:


> Thank you to the both of you!


¡De nada!


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## ValRomx (Nov 12, 2012)

*Destinos*

To get your ear and comprehension primed, you might seek out Destinos, the Spanish language course (and PBS show) from the early 90s. It's available online (search WGBH and Destinos) and it's 30-45 minutes of spoken Spanish you can watch/listen as you wish.


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## conklinwh (Dec 19, 2009)

A lot will depend on where you live and work in QRO. Because there has been almost an explosion of companies setting up operations and building in the QRO area(including what is reported to become the largest mall in Latin America), there could well be areas that are more oriented to English but in general a little rudimentary Spanish works well.
QRO is becoming quite a large city and in the 5 years or so that we have been shopping and visiting there it looks to have more than doubled.


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

conklinwh said:


> A lot will depend on where you live and work in QRO. Because there has been almost an explosion of companies setting up operations and building in the QRO area(including what is reported to become the largest mall in Latin America), there could well be areas that are more oriented to English but in general a little rudimentary Spanish works well.
> QRO is becoming quite a large city and in the 5 years or so that we have been shopping and visiting there it looks to have more than doubled.


Querétaro receives 40 families per day!


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## conklinwh (Dec 19, 2009)

GARYJ65 said:


> Querétaro receives 40 families per day!


Officially or unofficially? 

Was in centro for lunch Monday and was a little less crowded than normal. Now we ate on the water in Juruquilla a few days earlier and was really bustling.


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

conklinwh said:


> Officially or unofficially?
> 
> Was in centro for lunch Monday and was a little less crowded than normal. Now we ate on the water in Juruquilla a few days earlier and was really bustling.


According to a relative that works in the government OF QUERETARO, those are THE numbers they handle for budgets AND projects


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