Languages in Bolivia

Reflection of this metis population, the country has diverse languages.

The official language of the Bolivian Multi-national State is Spanish. Indeed, this is the institutional language that is used in the administrative system, for business, social and cultural relationships…

Nevertheless, less than half of the Bolivian population speaks this language as a mother tong. As the matter of fact, there are still numerous pre-Hispanic languages, as the Aymara and the Quechua in the mountainous regions that are commonly spoken.

In the same way, in Amazonia, there are a lot of indigenous people that each have a specific dialect. It is possible to mention, among others, the guarani, the chiquitino, the moxo, etc. Indeed, a lot of Bolivian people are bilingual, Aymara-Spanish, Quechua-Spanish, etc…

However, this incredible cultural richness is recognized to the highest sphere of the State: there are 27 official languages in the Constitution of 2009. Obviously, this represents the political mark of Evo Morales; his claim for his indigenous origins pass thought the official acknowledgment of the multilingualism reality, and the establishment of the most ambitious policy of bilingual education of the continent.

But, by lack of means, the bad quality of teaching, the poor school participation rate in the countryside, the failure to account cultural factors and the lack of possibilities to then integrate to a secondary school system, reduce on a concrete form this policy to a simple formulation of intentions.

So, if you want to venture far from the city and go deeper in the countryside, it is better to have a Spanish-Aymara dictionary.