According to the Ethnologue Web site, in addition to Spanish, 290 living language varieties are spoken within Mexico. This includes between 87,000 and 100,000 people who speak Mexican Sign Language. Eight percent of Mexico’s population speaks one of many native-american languages. When creating Spanish translations for use in Mexico, it is important to understand that much of this country’s unique Spanish vocabulary reflects Mexico’s cultural diversity, and the influence of other languages that co-exist with Spanish.
To name just a few of the larger language varieties—other than Spanish—that are spoken in Mexico:
- 1,749,000 Nahuatl language family
- 740,000 Maya language varieties (southern states)
- 444,000 Zapotec language family
- 418,070 Mixtec language family
- 367,000 Mazahua language varieties (México, Michoacán)
- 272,000 Totonac language family (Puebla, Veracruz)
- 252,000 Otomi language family
- 190,000 Tzeltal language varieties (Chiapas)
- 185,000 Mazatec family
- 134,000 Chol language varieties (Chiapas and Sabanilla)
- 122,000 Huastec varieties (Veracruz, San Luís Potosí)
- 120,000 Me’phaa language varieties (Guerrero)
- 97,000 Chinantec language family (Oaxaca)
- 95,000 Tarahumara language family
- 90,000 Mixe family (in Oaxaca)
- 79,000 Tzotzil language varieties (Chiapas)
- 59,000 Popoloca language family
- 42,000 Chontal language varieties (Tabasco, Oaxaca)
- 40,000 Mayo (Sonora , Sinaloa)
- 40,000 Plautdietsch (German language; Chihuahua)
- 40,000 Purepecha language varieties
- 38,000 Chatino language family (Oaxaca)
- 36,000 Tojolabal
- 28,000 Amuzgo language family (Guerrero, Oaxaca)
- 25,000 Tepehuan language family
- 20,000 Huichol (Nayarit and Jalisco)
- 15,000 Cora language varieties (Nayarit)
Considering the incredible linguistic diversity of this country, it is hardly surprising that Mexican Spanish (like many other varieties of Spanish spoken around the world) regularly uses so many words originating from languages already spoken in that country before the arrival of the Spanish in the early years of the 16th century.
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