Editing Quechuan languages (section)

==Current status==
{{Update|part=section|date=February 2023|updated=}}
[[File:El quechua como lengua materna (censo nacional 2007).png|thumb|upright=1.59|Map of Peru showing the distribution of overall Quechua speakers by district]]In 1975, Peru became the first country to recognize Quechua as one of its official languages.<ref name=NYT1975>{{cite news |title=Peru officially adopting Indian tongue |first=Jonathan Gay |last=Kandell |date=May 22, 1975 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1975/05/23/issue.html |access-date=April 22, 2016 |archive-date=March 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200327030201/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1975/05/23/issue.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Ecuador conferred official status on the language in its 2006 constitution, and in 2009, Bolivia adopted a new constitution that recognized Quechua and several other indigenous languages as official languages of the country.<ref name=Andes>{{cite book|title=The Andes: A Geographical Portrait|first=Axel|last=Borsdorf|date=12 March 2015|page=142|publisher=Springer|isbn=9783319035307|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lgEyBwAAQBAJ&q=ecuador+constitution+quechua&pg=PA142|access-date=7 November 2020|archive-date=26 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526070611/https://books.google.com/books?id=lgEyBwAAQBAJ&q=ecuador+constitution+quechua&pg=PA142#v=snippet&q=ecuador%20constitution%20quechua&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

The major obstacle to the usage and teaching of Quechua languages is the lack of written materials, such as books, newspapers, software, and magazines. The Bible has been translated into Quechua and is distributed by certain missionary groups. Quechua, along with [[Aymara language|Aymara]] and minor indigenous languages, remains essentially a [[spoken language]].

In recent years, Quechua has been introduced in [[intercultural bilingual education]] (IBE) in [[Peru]], [[Bolivia]], and [[Ecuador]]. Even in these areas, the governments are reaching only a part of the Quechua-speaking populations. Some indigenous people in each of the countries are having their children study in Spanish for social advancement.<ref>Adelaar 2004, pp. 258–259: "The Quechua speakers' wish for social mobility for their children is often heard as an argument for not transmitting the language to the next generation.... As observed quite adequately by [[Rodolfo Cerrón Palomino|Cerrón Palomino]], "Quechua (and [[Aymaran languages|Aymara]]) speakers seem to have taken the project of assimilation begun by the dominating classes and made it their own."</ref>

[[Radio Nacional del Perú]] broadcasts news and agrarian programs in Quechua for periods in the mornings.

Quechua and Spanish are now heavily intermixed in much of the Andean region, with many hundreds of Spanish loanwords in Quechua. Similarly, Quechua phrases and words are commonly used by Spanish speakers. In southern rural Bolivia, for instance, many Quechua words such as ''wawa'' (infant), ''misi'' (cat), ''waska'' (strap or thrashing), are as commonly used as their Spanish counterparts, even in entirely Spanish-speaking areas. Quechua has also had a significant influence on other native languages of the Americas, such as [[Mapuche language|Mapuche]].<ref name="Moulianetal2015"/>

===Number of speakers===
It is difficult to measure the number of Quechua speakers.<ref name=":2" /> The number of speakers given varies widely according to the sources. The total in ''[[Ethnologue]]'' 16 is 10 million, primarily based on figures published 1987–2002, but with a few dating from the 1960s. The figure for Imbabura Highland Quechua in ''Ethnologue'', for example, is 300,000, an estimate from 1977.

The missionary organization FEDEPI, on the other hand, estimated one million Imbabura dialect speakers (published 2006). Census figures are also problematic, due to under-reporting. The 2001 Ecuador census reports only 500,000 Quechua speakers, compared to the estimate in most linguistic sources of more than 2 million. The censuses of Peru (2007) and Bolivia (2001) are thought to be more reliable.

*Argentina: 900,000 (1971)
*Bolivia: 2,100,000 (2001 census); 2,800,000 South Bolivian (1987)
*Chile: few, if any; 8,200 in ethnic group (2002 census)
*Colombia: 4,402 to 16,000<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.ling.fi/DICCIONARIO.htm| title = Alain Fabre, Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pubelos indígenas sudamericanos| access-date = 2016-09-23| archive-date = 2020-09-25| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200925212732/http://www.ling.fi/DICCIONARIO.htm| url-status = live}}</ref>
*Ecuador: 2,300,000 (Adelaar 1991)
*Peru: 3,800,000 (2017 census<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://censos2017.inei.gob.pe/redatam/|title=Inei – Redatam Censos 2017|access-date=2018-09-17|archive-date=2018-09-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913021542/http://censos2017.inei.gob.pe/redatam/|url-status=dead}}</ref>); 3,500,000 to 4,400,000 (Adelaar 2000)

Additionally, there is an unknown number of speakers in emigrant communities.<ref>{{Cite news
| last = Claudio Torrens
| title = Some NY immigrants cite lack of Spanish as barrier
| newspaper = San Diego Union-Tribune
| date = 2011-05-28
| url = https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-some-ny-immigrants-cite-lack-of-spanish-as-barrier-2011may28-story.html
| access-date = 2022-08-20
| archive-date = 2015-02-01
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150201040607/http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/may/28/some-ny-immigrants-cite-lack-of-spanish-as-barrier/
| url-status = live
}}</ref>