Mexico Languages

Mexico Wiki Topics

Mexico Beginning Research

Finding Town of Origin Getting Started Guided Research Online Learning Record Finder Research Strategies

Record Types

Cemeteries Census Church Directories Church Records Civil Registration Colonial Records Compiled Genealogies Directories Emigration & Immigration Land & Property Military Records Newspapers Nobility Notarial Records Online Genealogy Records Probate Records Public Records Religious Records Vital Records Websites

Mexico Background

Biographies Church History Dates & Calendars Gazetteers Historical Geography History Languages Maps Naming Customs Periodicals Social Life & Customs

Mexico Genealogical Word Lists

Spanish

Cultural Groups

Indigenous Peoples Chinese in Mexico

Local Research Resources

Archives & Libraries Societies Local FamilySearch Center

Mexico

Languages

Description

Spanish is the de facto national language in Mexico. It is spoken by the vast majority of the population. There is no stated official language.

Mexican Spanish includes the variety of dialects and sociolects of the language spoken in Mexico.

The Mexican government recognizes sixty-eight linguistic groups and 364 varieties of indigenous languages.
The Indigenous and Native American languages spoken by a large population of Mexico include:

• Nahuatl - the only indigenous language spoken by more than a million people in Mexico.
• Yucatec Maya
• Tzeltal Maya - also known as Tzeltal or Tseltal (a Mayan Language)
• Tzotzil Maya - also known as Tzotzil (a Mayan Language)
• Mixtec - part of the Mixtecan languages
• Zapotec - part of the Zapotec languages
• List of Indigenous Languages of Mexico by population size

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

The official language of Mexico is Spanish, which is spoken by 90 percent of the people. Indian languages of the Aztecs, Mayans, and other tribes are still spoken throughout the country. Originally there may have been more than 200 roots of native languages. In 1889, Antonio García Cubas estimated that 38% of Mexicans spoke an indigenous language, down from 60% in 1820. By the end of the 20th century, this figure had fallen to 6%. In the early history of Mexico after the Spanish conquest, the spiritual leaders knew Latin, and where schools were established, Latin was a required subject. So you may find some Latin terms included in church records.

Hundreds of native languages and dialects existed although very few written records survived the European conquest. Of these the Náuatl language, spoken by the Aztecs of the Central Plateau region, is predominant, followed by the Mayan of the Yucatan Pennisula and Northern Central America. The Zapoteco, Mixteco, and Otomi languages, follow in importance. Mexico is a diverse country in terms of the languages that are used from the US border down to the Guatemalan border and it depends on the era of interest as well. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, there were diverse tribes or cultures with their respective languages. The Mayan language in the south is Tarahumara, Yaqui, Apache, Comanche. In the north, the language is Navajo which makes the territory a diverse and fascinating array of languages. Later Spanish, French, English, Chinese, and other foreign languages create a mix like as in any other country.

In the early records a great many Indian words, especially names and localities, found their way into the Spanish language. Many of them were modified to make them more pronounceable to the Spanish conquerors. Spanish phonetics may affect the way names appear in genealogical records. For example, the names of your ancestor may vary from record to record in Spanish. For help in understanding name variations, see Mexico Names, Personal.

Word List(s)

• Evans, Bruce, Cecilia Carmona, and Rafael Carmona. Mexican Spanish phrasebook & dictionary. Carlton, Victoria: Lonely Planet Global Limited, 2018. Available at: WorldCat.
• Useful Spanish phrases - Omniglot
• Spanish phrases and expressions - Mondly
• Useful phrases in Nahuatl - Omniglot
• Useful phrases in Yucatec Maya - Omniglot
• Useful Tsotsil phrases - Omniglot
• Spanish Genealogical Word List

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Alphabet

• Spanish alphabet - Omniglot
• Nahuatl alphabet - Omniglot
• Yucatec alphabet - Omniglot
• Tzeltal alphabet - Omniglot
• Alphabet of the Mixtecan Languages - Omniglot
• Isthmus Zapotec alphabet - Omniglot
• Rincón Zapotec alphabet - Omniglot
• Aloápam Zapotec alphabet - Omniglot

Pronunciation

• Pronunciation of Spanish in Latin America - Omniglot
• Nahuatl pronunciation - Omniglot
• Nahuatl pronunciation dictionary - Forvo
• Yucatec pronunciation - Omniglot
• Yucatec Maya pronunciation dictionary - Forvo
• Tzeltal pronunciation - Omniglot
• Tsotsil pronunciation - Omniglot
• Isthmus Zapotec pronunciation - Omniglot
• Rincón Zapotec pronunciation - Omniglot
• Aloápam Zapotec alphabet and pronunciation - Omniglot
• Quiatoni Zapotec pronunciation dictionary - Forvo
• Velázquez de la Cadena, Mariano, Edward Gray, and Juan L. Iribas. A new pronouncing dictionary of the Spanish and English languages. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973. Available at: WorldCat.

Language Aids and Dictionaries

Dictionaries

• Evans, Bruce, Cecilia Carmona, and Rafael Carmona. Mexican Spanish phrasebook & dictionary. Carlton, Victoria: Lonely Planet Global Limited, 2018. Available at: WorldCat.
• Hamel, Bernard H. Hamel's bilingual dictionary of Mexican Spanish. Beverly Hills, CA: Bilingual Book Press, 2002. Available at: WorldCat.
• Karttunen, Frances E. An analytical dictionary of Nahuatl. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992. Available at: WorldCat.
• Bierhorst, John. A Nahuatl-English dictionary. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1985. Available at: WorldCat.
• Lima, Rubem. English-Yucatec Maya dictionary. Minneapolis: R. Lima, 1996. Available at: WorldCat.
• Montgomery, John. Maya-English/English-Maya (Yucatec) dictionary & phrasebook. New York: Hippocrene Books, 2004. Available at: WorldCat.
• Sarles, Harvey B. Monosyllable dictionary of the Tzeltal language. n.p.: n.p., 1961. Available at: WorldCat.
• John-Martin, Emily. Mixtec picture dictionary. Mexico: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, 2013. Available at: WorldCat.
• Munro, Pamela and Felipe H. Lopez. San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec dictionary. Los Angeles: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Publications, 1999. Available at: WorldCat.
• Britton, A. Scott. Zapotec-English/English-Zapotec (Isthmus) concise dictionary. New York: Hippocrene Books, 2003. Available at: WorldCat.
• Dutton, Brian, L. P. Harvey, and Roger M. Walker. Cassell's concise Spanish-English, English-Spanish dictionary. Macmillan, London, New York: Cassell, 1977. Available at: WorldCat.
• Diccionario de autoridades. Madrid: Real Academia Española, 2013. Available at: WorldCat.

Online Dictionaries

• Dictionary English - Spanish - Glosbe
• Dictionary English - Nahuatl languages - Glosbe
• Dictionary English - Tzeltal - Glosbe
• Dictionary English - Zapotec - Glosbe
• Dictionary English - Isthmus Zapotec - Glosbe
• Dictionary Choapan Zapotec - English - Glosbe
• Dictionary Yalálag Zapotec - English - Glosbe

Language Aids

• Mexican Spanish language - Omniglot
• García, Yan. Learn Nahuatl. n.p.: n.p., 2021. Available at: WorldCat.
• Parker, Philip M. Webster's Yucatec-English thesaurus dictionary. San Diego, CA: ICON, 2008. Available at: WorldCat.