Curaçao Travel Forum

I understand that the official language in Curacao is Dutch.

I understand that English, Spanish, and Portuguese are also "widely spoken". Does that mean everybody is fluent in all these languages? Or would it be beneficial for me to gain a basic grasp of Dutch before I travel to Curacao?

There should be no problem with English language. They say most of the people in the Netherlands Antilles speak 3 or 4 languages with proficiency.
Have fun. Franco

Right, there's absolutely no problem in communicating in English. I really admire the people there, most of them indeed do speak 4 languages or more.

We were there in March 2005 and had no problem. We rented a car and drove around the island and never found anybody who didn't speak English or at least understand it. It is a wonderful island, food was great, and people were friendly.

The language spoken by the people of Curacao is called Papiamento.

Dutch is the official language.

But everybody also speaks English and Spanish.

You dont need to learn any Dutch words, English will be just fine there.

HAHA! No, you will certainly get around and answered to in English, Spanish, Portuguese AND Dutch....Altough some basic papiamentu will always make good impression. Try http://www.papiamentu.com/ and graps some basic lines before you arrive.
Actually, I personally believe, as economic and cultural developments happen AND due to the WWW, we (well, most of us) do understand and speak English better than we do Dutch...
I welcome you, and hope you have a pleasant stay!