Editing Latin America (section)

===Language===
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Placard piemontèis a San Fransesch an Argentin-a.jpg|thumb|Trilingual sign in San Francisco, Argentina, in [[Argentine Spanish|Spanish]], [[Italian language in Argentina|Italian]] and [[Piedmontese language|Piedmontese]].]]

[[File:Map-Most Widely Spoken Native Languages in Latin America.png|thumb|Most widely spoken Native languages in Latin America:<br>'''{{color|blue|Quechua}}''', '''{{background color|black|{{color|#f9dc38|Guaraní}}}}''', '''{{background color|black|{{color|#ff9922|Aymara}}}}''', '''{{color|#cc0000|Náhuatl}}''', '''{{color|#006600|Mayan Languages}}''', '''Mapudungun''']]

[[Spanish language|Spanish]] is the predominant language of Latin America. It is spoken as first language by about 60% of the population. [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] is spoken by about 30%, and about 10% speak other languages such as [[Quechuan languages|Quechua]], [[Mayan languages]], [[Guarani language|Guaraní]], [[Aymara language|Aymara]], [[Nahuatl]], [[English language|English]], [[French language|French]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and [[Italian language|Italian]]. Portuguese is spoken mostly in Brazil, the largest and most populous country in the region. Spanish is the official language of most of the other countries and territories on the Latin American mainland, as well as in Cuba, Puerto Rico (where it is co-official with English), and the Dominican Republic. French is spoken in Haiti and in the French [[overseas department]]s of [[Guadeloupe]], [[Martinique]], and [[French Guiana|Guiana]]. It is also spoken by some [[Panamanians]] of Afro-[[Antilles|Antillean]] descent. Dutch is the official language in [[Suriname]], [[Aruba]], [[Curaçao]] and [[Bonaire]]. (As Dutch is a [[Germanic languages|Germanic language]], the territories are not necessarily considered part of Latin America.) However, the native and co-official language of [[Aruba]], [[Bonaire]], and [[Curaçao]], is [[Papiamento]], a [[creole language]] largely based on Portuguese and Spanish that has had a considerable influence from Dutch and other [[Portuguese-based creole languages]].

[[Indigenous languages of the Americas|Amerindian languages]] are widely spoken in Peru, Guatemala, Bolivia, Paraguay and Mexico, and to a lesser degree, in Panama, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, and Chile. In other Latin American countries, the population of speakers of Indigenous languages tend to be very small or even non-existent, for example in Uruguay. Mexico is possibly contains more Indigenous languages than any other Latin American country, but the most-spoken Indigenous language there is Nahuatl.

In Peru, [[Quechua languages|Quechua]] is an official language, alongside Spanish and other Indigenous languages in the areas where they predominate. In Ecuador, while [[Quichua]] holds no official status, it is a recognized language under the country's constitution; however, it is only spoken by a few groups in the country's highlands. In Bolivia, [[Aymara language|Aymara]], Quechua and [[Guaraní language|Guaraní]] hold official status alongside Spanish. Guaraní, like Spanish, is an official language of Paraguay, and is spoken by a majority of the population, which is, for the most part, bilingual, and it is co-official with Spanish in the Argentine province of [[Corrientes]]. In Nicaragua, Spanish is the official language, but on the country's Caribbean coast English and Indigenous languages such as [[Miskito language|Miskito]], [[Sumo languages|Sumo]], and [[Rama language|Rama]] also hold official status. Colombia recognizes all Indigenous languages spoken within its territory as official, though fewer than 1% of its population are native speakers of these languages. [[Nahuatl]] is one of the 62 Native languages spoken by Indigenous people in Mexico, which are officially recognized by the government as "national languages" along with Spanish.

Other European languages spoken in Latin America include: English, by half of the current population in Puerto Rico, as well as in nearby countries that may or may not be considered Latin American, like [[Belize]] and [[Guyana]], and spoken by descendants of British settlers in Argentina and Chile. German is spoken in southern Brazil, southern Chile, portions of Argentina, Venezuela and Paraguay; [[Italian language in Brazil|Italian in Brazil]], Argentina, Venezuela, and Uruguay; [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[Polish language|Polish]], and [[Russian language|Russian]] in southern Brazil and Argentina; and [[Welsh language|Welsh]], in southern Argentina.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1163503|title=Reference for Welsh language in southern Argentina, Welsh immigration to Patagonia|publisher=Bbc.co.uk|date=July 22, 2008|access-date=April 23, 2013|archive-date=March 12, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110312033518/http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1163503|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.1stclassargentina.com/tours/WelshImmigration.html|title=The Welsh Immigration to Argentina|work=1stclassargentina.com|access-date=October 4, 2009|archive-date=March 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319080522/http://www.1stclassargentina.com/tours/WelshImmigration.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.andesceltig.com/|title=Reference for Welsh language in southern Argentina, Welsh immigration to Patagonia|publisher=Andesceltig.com|date=September 29, 2009|access-date=April 23, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170917174822/http://andesceltig.com/|archive-date=September 17, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> Non-European or Asian languages include Japanese in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay, [[Korean language|Korean]] in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Chile, Arabic in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, and Chile, and Chinese throughout South America. Countries like Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil have their own dialects or variations of German and Italian.

In several nations, especially in the Caribbean region, [[creole languages]] are spoken. The most widely-spoken creole language in Latin America and the Caribbean is [[Haitian Creole]], the predominant language of Haiti, derived primarily from French and certain West African tongues, with [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Amerindian]], English, Portuguese and Spanish influences as well. Creole languages of mainland Latin America, similarly, are derived from European languages and various African tongues. The aforementioned Papiamento, commonly spoken on the Dutch Caribbean [[ABC islands (Leeward Antilles)|ABC Islands]], is a [[Portuguese-based creole languages|Portuguese-based creole]].

The [[Garifuna language]] is spoken along the Caribbean coast in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Belize, mostly by the [[Garifuna people]], a mixed-race [[Zambo]] people who were the result of mixing between Indigenous Caribbeans and escaped Black slaves. Primarily an [[Arawakan languages|Arawakan language]], it has influences from Caribbean and European languages.

Archaeologists have deciphered over 15 pre-Columbian distinct writing systems from Mesoamerican societies. Ancient [[Maya civilization|Maya]] had the most sophisticated textually written language, but since texts were largely confined to the religious and administrative elite, traditions were passed down orally. Oral traditions also prevailed in other major Indigenous groups including, but not limited to the [[Aztecs]] and other Nahuatl speakers, [[Quechua people|Quechua]] and Aymara of the Andean regions, the [[K'iche' people|Quiché]] of Central America, the [[Tupi-Guaraní]] in today's Brazil, the [[Guaraní people|Guaraní]] in Paraguay and the [[Mapuche]] in Chile.<ref>{{cite book|last=Meade|first=Teresa A.|author-link=Teresa Meade|title=History of Modern Latin America: 1800 to the Present|date=2016|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|location=Chichester, UK|isbn=978-1-118-77248-5|page=13|edition=2nd}}</ref>