Language
Portuguese (196,342,592 speakers) is the most spoken language in South America, followed by Spanish (193,243,411), which is the official language of most countries, along with other native languages in some countries. Portuguese is the official language of Brazil. Dutch is the official language of Suriname; English is the official language of Guyana, although there are at least twelve other languages spoken in the country such as Hindi and Arabic. English is also spoken in the Falkland Islands. French is the official language of French Guiana and the second language in Amapa (Brazil).
Indigenous languages of South America include Quechua in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, and Bolivia; Wayuunaiki in northern Colombia (La Guajira); Guaraní in Paraguay and, to a much lesser extent, in Bolivia; Aymara in Bolivia, Peru, and less often in Chile; and Mapudungun is spoken in certain pockets of southern Chile and, more rarely, Argentina. At least three South American indigenous languages (Quechua, Aymara, and Guarani) are recognized along with Spanish as national languages.
Other languages found in South America include, Hindi and Javanese in Suriname; Italian in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Venezuela, Peru and Chile; and German in certain pockets of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Peru and Paraguay. German is also spoken in many regions of the southern states of Brazil, Riograndenser Hunsrückisch being the most widely spoken German dialect in the country; among other Germanic dialects, a Brazilian form of Pomeranian is also well represented and is experiencing a revival. Welsh remains spoken and written in the historic towns of Trelew and Rawson in the Argentine Patagonia. There are also small clusters of Japanese-speakers in Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Arabic speakers, often of Lebanese, Syrian, or Palestinian descent, can be found in Arab communities in Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and less frequently in Paraguay.
In most of the continent's countries, the upper classes and well-educated people regularly study English, French, German, or Italian, and are typically well-traveled. In those areas where tourism is a significant industry, English and some other European languages are often spoken. There are small Portuguese speaking areas in northernmost Uruguay because of the proximity of Brazil, as well a small Spanish speaking minority in the other side in southernmost Brazil. The cross exposure has led to the creation of the Portuñol creole language.
Read more about this topic: South America, Culture
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Famous quotes containing the word language:
“Language is an archeological vehicle ... the language we speak is a whole palimpsest of human effort and history.”
—Russell Hoban (b. 1925)
“You can’t write about people out of textbooks, and you can’t use jargon. You have to speak clearly and simply and purely in a language that a six-year-old child can understand; and yet have the meanings and the overtones of language, and the implications, that appeal to the highest intelligence.”
—Katherine Anne Porter (1890–1980)
“A mind enclosed in language is in prison.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)