If you are wondering what language is spoken in Peru, the short answer is Spanish, the first language of roughly four in five Peruvians. But Peru is officially multilingual: Quechua, Aymara and dozens of other Indigenous languages hold official status in the areas where they predominate, from Andean villages to the Amazon rainforest.
This guide walks through who speaks what and where, why “Quechua” is really a family of languages, and which everyday English words (llama, for one) started life in the Andes. You will also see how Peruvian Spanish differs from the Spanish you may have learned in school. Explore our translation services for details.
Key Takeaways
- Spanish is the main language of Peru and the mother tongue of about 82.6% of people counted in the 2017 census.
- Quechua is the largest Indigenous language, with around 3.7 million first-language speakers, followed by Aymara.
- Peru’s Ministry of Culture recognizes 48 Indigenous languages: 44 from the Amazon and 4 from the Andes.
- The 1993 constitution makes Spanish official everywhere and Indigenous languages official where they predominate.
- Peruvian Spanish is full of Quechua loanwords, and so is English.
What Language Is Spoken in Peru Today?
Walk through Lima, Arequipa or Trujillo and you will hear Spanish almost everywhere. It is the language of government, schools, courts, television and business, and the great majority of Peruvians grow up speaking it. Peruvians usually call it castellano (Castilian) rather than español.
Head into the highlands, though, and the picture changes. In Peru’s 2017 national census, about 13.9% of people aged five and older said they learned Quechua as their mother tongue, and about 1.7% named Aymara. A smaller group, under 1%, grew up with one of the Amazonian languages.
The census, run by the national statistics institute INEI, asked about the language a person learned in childhood. That matters, because many Peruvians are bilingual: someone who lists Quechua as a first language very often speaks Spanish too.
| Language | Share of first-language speakers (2017 census) | Where you will hear it |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish (castellano) | About 82.6% | Nationwide, especially Lima, the coast and every large city |
| Quechua | About 13.9% | The Andes, above all Apurímac, Huancavelica, Ayacucho, Cusco and Puno |
| Aymara | About 1.7% | The far south around Lake Titicaca: Puno, Moquegua and Tacna |
| Other Indigenous languages | Under 1% | Mostly the Amazon regions, such as Loreto, Ucayali, Junín and Amazonas |
What Are the Official Languages of Peru?
Peru does not have just one official language. Article 48 of the 1993 Political Constitution names Spanish as official and adds that Quechua, Aymara and the other native languages are also official in the zones where they predominate, as set out by law. Explore our Spanish dialects and regional variations for details.
In practice, that means Spanish works nationwide, while an Indigenous language gains official standing in the districts, provinces or regions where it is the main language of the community. A 2011 statute, Law 29735, builds on this. It regulates the use, preservation, development, recovery, promotion and spread of Peru’s native languages.
Quechua’s official status is older than the current constitution. Decree Law 21156 first declared it an official language of the republic in 1975, and Peru still marks May 27 each year as its day of native languages (originally Día del Idioma Nativo).
Quechua: The Language of the Incas Is Still Alive
Quechua was the main language of the Inca Empire, and it did not disappear when the Spanish arrived. Today it is the most widely spoken Indigenous language family in the Americas, heard not only in Peru but also in Bolivia, Ecuador and parts of Colombia, Argentina and Chile. Many speakers call it runasimi, which means “the people’s language.”
Is Quechua one language or many?
Linguists treat Quechua as a
family of related languages
, not a single tongue. A speaker from Cusco and a speaker from Ancash, in the central highlands, may struggle to follow each other, a bit like a Spanish speaker listening to Portuguese. Peru’s best-known varieties include Cusco-Collao and Ayacucho-Chanka in the south and Ancash and Huanca Quechua in the center.
This matters for anyone preparing written material. A health leaflet written in Cusco Quechua will not automatically serve readers in Huaraz. Explore our history and evolution of Spanish for details.
A few Quechua phrases
- Imaynallan kashanki? “How are you?” A common greeting around Cusco.
- Allillanmi. “I am well.” The usual reply.
- Tupananchiskama. “Until we meet again.”
Spellings shift from region to region, so do not be surprised to see slightly different versions on signs and in phrasebooks.
Aymara and the 44 Languages of the Amazon
Aymara is Peru’s second Indigenous language by number of speakers. It is concentrated in the high plateau around Lake Titicaca, mainly in the Puno region, with communities in Moquegua and Tacna, and it crosses the border into Bolivia, where most of its speakers live, and Chile. Aymara and Quechua share many features after centuries side by side, but most linguists today put that down to long contact and do not treat them as one family.
According to the Ministry of Culture’s list of Indigenous languages, Peru has 48 native languages in all. Four are Andean (Quechua, Aymara, Jaqaru and Kawki) and 44 are Amazonian. The rainforest is where the real variety lives: small communities along different rivers often speak languages with no family connection to one another.
| Language | Family | Main area |
|---|---|---|
| Asháninka | Arawak | Central rainforest, especially Satipo province in Junín |
| Awajún | Jíbaro | Northern Amazon (Amazonas, Loreto, San Martín, Cajamarca) |
| Shipibo-Konibo | Pano | Mainly the Ucayali region |
| Jaqaru | Aru (related to Aymara) | Mountain villages of Yauyos province, Lima region |
Some of these languages are thriving in their home territories, and others are down to a few elderly speakers. Kawki, a relative of Jaqaru, is one of the most endangered languages in the country.
How Is Peruvian Spanish Different?
Peruvian Spanish is easy for other Spanish speakers to understand, and the coastal speech of Lima has the reputation of being the base of standard Peruvian Spanish. Like most of Latin America, Peru uses ustedes for the plural “you” (no vosotros) and pronounces z and soft c like an s. Explore our native Spanish speaker translation expertise for details.
The vocabulary is where Peru stands out. Centuries of contact with Quechua left a long list of loanwords, especially for food, farming and family life. If you want to see how much Spanish can change from one country to the next, compare this list with our guide to the languages spoken in Argentina, or read about Spanish dialects and accurate translation.
| Word in Peru | Meaning | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| palta | avocado | Quechua; Mexico says aguacate, from Nahuatl |
| choclo | corn on the cob | Quechua chuqllu; Mexico says elote, from Nahuatl |
| cancha | sports field or court | Quechua kancha |
| papa | potato | Quechua |
| calato | naked (informal) | A Quechua borrowing common in everyday speech |
| chamba | job, work (informal) | Not Quechua; also heard in Mexico, Central America and Colombia |
Palta, choclo, cancha and papa all come from Quechua, and several have spread well beyond Peru. Chamba is informal, the kind of word you use with friends rather than in a cover letter.
Quechua words you already use in English
English borrowed from Quechua too, usually by way of Spanish. Llama, puma, condor, quinoa and guano all trace back to it, and jerky comes from ch’arki, the Quechua word for dried meat. Not bad for a language many people assume is extinct.
What Other Languages Will You Hear in Peru?
Immigration added more layers. Chinese immigrants, most of them from Guangdong province, arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and Chinese-Peruvian restaurants, known as chifas, are now everywhere in Lima. Japanese is heard in immigrant communities too, and in the central jungle towns of Pozuzo and Oxapampa, German is still spoken. Explore our professional Spanish translation services for details.
English is common in hotels, tour agencies and restaurants around Cusco, Machu Picchu and Lima’s Miraflores district. Outside the tourist trail, plan on Spanish. Peru also has its own sign language, Peruvian Sign Language (Lengua de Señas Peruana), which has been officially recognized by law since 2010.
What Peru’s Languages Mean for Translation
For most paperwork that travels between Peru and the United States, such as birth and marriage certificates, school transcripts, police records and contracts, the language pair is Spanish and English. Peruvian documents come with their own vocabulary, institutions and formats (a birth certificate is a partida de nacimiento, for example), so it helps to work with a translator who knows the country and not just the language.
Marketing and community materials call for the same care. Wording that sounds natural in Mexico or Spain can feel off in Lima, and a message aimed at highland communities may need Quechua, in the right regional variety. Our human translators handle these distinctions every day through our Spanish translation services.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Spanish the only official language of Peru?
No. Spanish is official throughout the country, but Article 48 of the 1993 constitution also makes Quechua, Aymara and the other native languages official in the zones where they predominate. Law 29735, passed in 2011, regulates the use, preservation and promotion of those native languages. So a region with a large Quechua-speaking population can, and often does, treat Quechua as an official language alongside Spanish.
How many people speak Quechua in Peru?
In the 2017 national census, around 3.7 million Peruvians, or about 13.9% of people aged five and older, reported Quechua as the language they learned in childhood. The real number of people who can speak or understand it is likely higher, because the census question covered first languages only. Quechua is strongest in the southern Andes, particularly Apurímac, Huancavelica, Ayacucho, Cusco and Puno, and large numbers of speakers have also moved to Lima. Explore our certified document translation services for details.
Do people in Peru speak English?
Some do, mostly in tourism and international business. You can expect English at hotels, airports, tour companies and many restaurants in Lima, Cusco and the Sacred Valley. In smaller towns, markets, taxis and government offices, English is much less common, so a few Spanish phrases go a long way. Official documents are issued in Spanish, which means they generally need translation for use in English-speaking countries.
Is Peruvian Spanish different from Mexican Spanish or Spain’s Spanish?
The grammar is essentially the same and speakers understand one another without trouble. The differences are in accent and vocabulary. Peruvians say palta where Mexicans say aguacate, and choclo where Mexicans say elote. Compared with Spain, Peru does not use vosotros and does not pronounce z with a “th” sound. For formal documents these differences are small, but for advertising and web copy they matter.
How many Indigenous languages are spoken in Peru?
Peru’s Ministry of Culture officially lists 48 Indigenous languages. Four are Andean: Quechua, Aymara, Jaqaru and Kawki. The other 44 are Amazonian, including Asháninka, Awajún and Shipibo-Konibo. Quechua and Aymara account for the great majority of speakers, while several Amazonian languages and Kawki have very small speaker communities and are considered endangered. Other sources may give different totals because they count Quechua varieties separately.
Need a Document Translated From Peru?
Whether it is a birth certificate from Lima, a university transcript from Cusco or a business contract, our human translators can help you get it into clear, accurate English or Spanish. Chat with our team for a quote, or call 1-800-230-7918 to talk through your project.
