PERU
Language

Cities in PERU

Lima

Language

Spanish language map_{Photo: Gabbykawaii07 CC 4.0International no changes made}

In addition to Spanish, called "Castellano" in Peru, Quechua, spoken by the Indians of the central mountainous region, has also had the status of an official language since 1975; the Indians around Lake Titicaca speak Aymará and the Amazon Indians speak a multitude of unrelated languages.

Spanish is spoken by about 70% of the population. Quechua is spoken by the majority of the Native American population. Aymará is still spoken by about two million people in Peru and Bolivia. Quechua and Aymará were not written languages and still do not have an official spelling method today, so the spelling differs from place to place.

The Amazon Indians are divided into 53 ethnic groups speaking languages from 12 different linguistic families.

The glossary below clearly indicates how the three main languages in Peru differ from each other:

English	Spanish	Aymará	Quechua
one	uno	maya	u’luc
two	dos	paya	iscai
three	tres	quimsa	quinsa
five	cinco	pe(i)sa	phisca
ten	diez	tunca	chunca
tomorrow	mañana	arumanti	tutamanta
son	hijo	yoka	churi
black	negro	chiara	yana
nose	nariz	nasa	senca

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Sources

Le Grand, J.W. / Peru : mensen, politiek, economie, cultuur
Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen : Novib

Luft, A. / Peru
Elmar,

Lyle, G. / Peru
Chelsea House Publishers,

Peru
Cambium,

Peru, Bolivia
Lannoo

Rensink, E. / Peru
Gottmer,

Te gast in Peru
Informatie Verre Reizen

CIA - World Factbook

BBC - Country Profiles

Last updated March 2024
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