Languages
Native
Spanish
69%
K'iche'
11%
Language Samples
Hola, ¿cómo estás?
Hello, how are you?
Estoy muy bien, gracias.
I am very well, thanks.
Jun, kaʼi, oxiʼb, kajiʼb, joʼob, waqiʼb, wuquʼub, waqxaqiʼb, belejeb, lajuj.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Linguistic History
Guatemala is the most linguistically diverse country in Central America, home to 25 officially recognised languages: Spanish and 22 Mayan languages, plus Xinca and Garifuna. The Maya civilisation flourished here for thousands of years, and their writing system — the only fully developed pre-Columbian script in the Americas — was used to record K'iche', Yucatec Maya, and other languages. Spanish was imposed by conquistadors from the 1520s onward, but Mayan languages proved remarkably resilient; today K'iche' alone has around 1 million speakers.
Similar Languages
Spanish (Mexico)
96%
Spanish (Honduras)
95%
Spanish (El Salvador)
95%
Portuguese
89%
Media
Temple I at Tikal — the ancient Maya city where K'iche' and related languages were born
Photo: Mundo Maya · CC BY-SA 4.0
Did You Know
01
Guatemala recognises 25 languages in its constitution — 22 Mayan languages, plus Spanish, Xinca (an isolated language), and Garifuna (an Arawakan language spoken on the Caribbean coast).
02
The Mayan writing system, deciphered over the 20th century, is the only true writing system ever developed in the pre-Columbian Americas.
03
The Popol Vuh — the K'iche' Maya creation epic — is one of the most important pieces of pre-Columbian literature ever transcribed, written down by a Maya nobleman around 1550.