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Costa Rica Newspapers

One of the best ways to take advantage of your stay in Costa Rica to learn the language is to scope out the Costa Rica newspapers and get a bit of practice reading Spanish. You can view Costa Rica news papers online and polish your Spanish skills, or you can skip down to read the “week in review” segment: the daily news summarized in a weekly version in English. Reading a newspaper from Costa Rica through the internet is a good way to get a gist of what is going on this Central American country before you visit or you move. News papers in Costa Rica are not openly political. Many Costa Rica news papers do favor a party or an ideology, but they tend to downplay their preferences and political bent.

If you need to know what is going on, there are different sources to choose to keep updated in Costa Rica. News papers from Costa Rica are as varied as the population base, and for most everyone, there is a place to find the necessary information. Every morning it is normal to see hundreds of workers head to work with newspapers under their arm. There are several main dailies, La Nacion, La Republica, Al Dia and La Extra. For most news of daily events, political happenings and lots of ads, La Nacion news paper is the most official source of information. It is followed by La Republica, centered on business and economy. Al Dia is a smaller spin-off of La Nacion with a popular sports section. The most widely read newspaper in Costa Rica is the pulp tabloid La Extra. With many pictures of half dressed women, gory pictures of accidents and a popular advice column titled 'troubled feelings' it is the best seller in numbers. There is also a government sponsored Costa Rica news paper named La Gaceta, where all new laws and projects have to be printed to become official. Other papers you can read are La Prensa Libre, Ojo and El Heraldo. The weekly Semanario Universidad provides a fresh leftish perspective on national issues to balance out the rightist view of the main papers. If you wish to improve your knowledge of Spanish or 'tico language', these papers are a good place to start. For those who would like access to news in English, La Nacion has a link to an English weekly update with the highlights of national happenings. The Tico Times is an English language weekly publication with a good level of journalism. Between news articles and reports on tourism and activities, the Tico Times newspaper also includes information on the cultural scene in Costa Rica for foreigners including theatre, support groups and mass given in English.

Ticos like their newspapers and they use them to communicate. Whether it’s a regional newspaper like the Tamarindo news or the Nosara newspaper, it is the way through which many communicate and share the important events of their life. In February, you can read the romantic classified adds that come out for Valentine’s day, you can read about Doña Amalia asking her neighbor to return the borrowed umbrella, and you will see adds for rock groups looking for new band members or trying to find a secondhand drum set. But not only is the contact unique, the format of a Costa Rica news paper is slightly odd for many. The main newspaper in Costa Rica, la Nacion, is printed magazine fashion and is probably half the size of papers you may have seen back home. There are no pesky sections to unfold and refold, and you can comfortably have the paper opened on your lap and be able to read both the top and the bottom without having to contort yourself into uncomfortable positions. Browse through our bilingual site for more information on Costa Rica’s newspapers, news and other facts on Costa Rica as well as reservations and much more.