Language

The official language in Panama is Spanish. Due to the US influence in Panama throughout its history a lot of people think English is spoken by most Panamanians.  That's NOT the case.  Allthough many former "zonian's" are bilingual and those working in the international banking sector obviously speak foreign languages, surprisingly few average Panamanians speak English.

The Spanish spoken in Panama is pretty fast and people tend to swallow the 's' a lot.  Like all countries in Central and South America, there's a lot of slang expressions.