CHILE
Language

Cities in CHILE

Santiago

Language

Spanish Language Map_{Photo: Simonsyo CC 4.0 International no changes made}

The language of instruction in Chile is Spanish. The Spanish word for language is "español", but in most countries in South America it is preferred to say "castellano". When asked "do you speak Spanish", they also say "Habla castellano" instead of "Habla español".

Chilean in South America differs most from the original Castillian. Chilean is a bit more difficult to understand than the other South American variants; it is pronounced a bit faster and it contains quite a few own Chilean words. The Chilean language is further interspersed with terms from English, German, Italian, Serbo-Croatian and various Indian languages.

The Mapuche language, "Mapudungun" is still important regionally. About half a million Mapuches still speak this native language. In the north, Aymara is spoken by the small Aymara population.

English	Spaans	Mapuche
down	abajo	nag
fishing hook	anzuelo	cùlí
dancing	bailar	pùrun
light	luz	lighuen
knee	rodilla	triló
drum	tambor	cultrún
elderly	viejo	cushe
English	Spaans	Aymara
calm	tranquilo	aliqa
wet	mojado	ch’araña
black	negro	ch’iyara
cleam	limpio	k’uma
rude	crudo	khallu
happy	alegre	kusi
fat	gordo	lik’í
luke	tibio	llaphi
almost	casi	niya
dry	seco	phara
ripe	maduro	puquta

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Sources

Asal, S. / Chili
Lannoo.

Caistor, N. / Chili : mensen, politiek, economie, cultuur
Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen / Novib.

Castillo-Feliú, G.I. / Culture and customs of Chile
Greenwood Press.

Dwyer, C. / Chile
Chelsea House Publishers.

Filippo, H. / Chili
Elmar.

CIA - World Factbook.

BBC - Country Profiles.

Last updated March 2024
Copyright: Team The World of Info