Does English Exist in the Barrios of Mexico City & Latin America?

Is there English in the barrio of Mexico City?

And, by extension, other Latin American cities?

Well, I can't speak for every single Latin American city obviously.

Massive generalizations coming ahead.

Still, when I began traveling to other Latin American cities like Barranquilla, I remember going into "the barrio" to see a girlfriend of mine named Marcela where I saw English.

Some business that calls itself shit like "Iron Gym" or maybe a hamburger place that calls itself "Crazy burgers" or a barber spot that calls itself "Hair (whatever something in Spanish here)."

When I lived in a Mexican city called Pachuca -- where you get no gringos -- I sometimes saw that too.

And, over the years of living in Mexico City, I definitely have seen no shortage of English on businesses in the barrios.

Be it Cuautepec, Tepito, Iztapalapa, Pedregal de Santo Domingo, San Miguel Teotongo in Iztapalapa, Colonia la Federal, Agricola Oriental, etc.

And, outside of seeing businesses using English language words to name their business or for a slogan, you might also encounter that occasional random person that seems to speak English well enough.

Anyway, when it comes to businesses, here's an example I found in Cuautepec north of Indios Verdes in Mexico City.

Among all the other examples I've seen with not just bigger gym businesses but also normal mom and pop businesses using English language words for their business.

Anything to Add

Honestly, it's not the most important topic on the planet.

Just something I wanted to document very quickly as a native English speaker about how you'll see English incorporated into everyday life even in the barrio.

Some gringos I have met seem to have this impression that you'll only find English on the "gringo tourist trail" when that is definitely not true.

Obviously you'll find a lot more of it though in areas on that trail.

Like Cancun or Roma Norte of CDMX or Cartagena of Colombia or wherever.

No doubt about it.

But let's not pretend that shit is only need in the gringo heavy areas of Latin America.

You'd be surprised at the amount of English in "the barrios" of Latin America.

Though it's not flooding such areas and definitely not everywhere, you'll notice it here and there.

Definitely in Mexico City anyhow (and well before the recent wave of new gringos) and also, at least in my experience, some other Latin American cities too.

But, like I said, I'm not trying to overemphasize how much English you'll see in the barrio of such cities either.

Just showing it does exist even in those areas (though to a much smaller degree for obvious reasons).

Anyway, it's not the most important topic.

If I ever get around to it, I'll post more pictures of this English language shit from such areas to this article if I ever get to it.

If you got anything to add, drop a comment below.

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Thanks for reading.

Best regards,

Matt