Peru Languages

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Peru

Languages

Description

Official languages of Peru are

• Spanish - or Peruvian Spanish. Spoken natively by 82.6% of the population. Used by the government, media, education systems, and commerce.
• Quechuan - spoken by 13.9% of the population. Spoken by Amerindians living in the Andean highlands.
• Aymara - spoken by 1.7% of the population.

There are four Peruvian dialects

• Andean Spanish
• Peruvian Coastal Spanish
• Andean-Coastal Spanish
• Amazonic Spanish

Some of the indigenous languages spoken in Peru include

• Asháninka
• Bora
• Aguaruna

Spanish is more predominant along the coast of Peru. The indigenous populations living east of the Andes speak various languages and dialects (estimated at 50).

• Indigenous languages of Peru

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Alphabet

Pronunciation

Language Aids and Dictionaries

Dictionaries

Online Dictionaries

Language Aids

References

Most materials used in Peruvian research are written in Spanish. However, you do not need to speak or read Spanish to do research in Peruvian records. You will need to know some key words and phrases to understand the records, however.

Because of Peru’s history, Roman Catholic records are the most common. You may find other languages in Peruvian records for areas with large populations of German, Italian, Japanese, and other immigrants.

Spanish grammar affects the way names appear in genealogical records. For help in understanding name variations, see Peru Names, Personal.

Language Aids

To learn phrases useful for writing genealogical query letters to Peru see the Spanish Letter Writing Guide on the Internet.

The FamilySearch Library provides the following genealogical word lists on the Wiki:

• Spanish Genealogical Word List
• German Genealogical Word List
• Latin Genealogical Word List
• Polish Genealogical Word List
• Portuguese Genealogical Word List
• French Genealogical Word List

The following books and English-Spanish dictionaries can also aid you in your research. You can find these and similar material at many research libraries:

Blanco Garcia, Vicente. Diccionario ilustrado latinoespanol y espanol-latino (Illustrated Dictionary Latin-Spanish and Spanish-Latin). Madrid: Aguilar, 1968. (FS Library book 473.61 B598d.)

Cassell’s Spanish-English, English-Spanish Dictionary. New York: Macmillian Publishing Company, 1978. (FS Library book 463.21 C272c.)

Ramos Wold, Lillian, and Ophelia Marquez. Compilation of Colonial Spanish Terms and Document Related Phrases. Fullerton, Calif.: Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research, 1996. (FS Library book 467.97203 W83c.)

Additional language aids, including dictionaries of various dialects and time periods, are listed in the FamilySearch Catalog in the “Locality” section under:

PERU - LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES

Some dictionaries can also be found in the “Subject” section under:

SPANISH LANGUAGE - DICTIONARIES

SPANISH LANGUAGE - DICTIONARIES ENGLISH