August 23, 2008

4th country adopts Native language

Indigenous languages added to new Ecuadorian constitutionEcuador could soon become the fourth country in the Western Hemisphere to have indigenous languages included in the list of the nation's official languages.

In late July, the National Constituent Assembly--the political entity that is writing what could become the country's new constitution--decided to include Quechua and Shuar, along with Spanish, as official languages. The proposed constitution will be put to a national vote Sept. 28.
And:Of the 8.5 million Quechua speakers in contemporary Latin America, 2.3 million of them are in Ecuador, where the need for Spanish-Quechua translators is growing; whereas Shuar is spoken by about 30,000 people in Ecuador and 20,000 in Peru.

Quechua is also one of the official languages of Peru and Bolivia. Both of these countries have Spanish as the other official idiom. The official languages of Paraguay are Guarani and Spanish.
Comment:  For more on Native languages, visit my Pictographs blog.

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