Languages of Latin America
The Latin American Studies Language Program provides elementary, intermediate, advanced intermediate and advanced courses each year in Spanish, Portuguese, Quichua, Kaqchikel and Haitian Creole coordinated by a team of language pedagogists. KU graduate student Emily Tummons teaches Kaqchikel and native speaker Nina Kinti-Moss teaches Quichua. Bryant Freeman, one of the world's foremost authorities on Haiti, teaches Haitian Creole. Classes in all of the Latin American languages are open to both graduate and undergraduate students. Additional information on these and other less-commonly taught languages at KU is also available.
Kaqchikel Maya
Kaqchikel is one of roughly 30 Mayan languages spoken in southern Mexico and Central America, and is the first language of approximately 500,000 people of highland Guatemala.
Pictured: Kaqchikel Maya instructor Emily Tummons
Andean Quichua
Quichua (a.k.a. Kechwa, Quechua, Kechua, Ketchua, Kichwa, Khetchua, or Runa Ximi) is an indigenous language spoken widely in Ecuador and is closely related to the Quichua spoken in Peru and Bolivia. There are as many as 20 million speakers of Quichua, making it the most widely spoken indigenous language of the Americas. Because of its many dialects, a national effort in Ecuador to establish a commonly accepted form of the language has resulted in the recognition of Unified Quichua. For more information on the language, see the KU Kechwa Resource Center.
Pictured: Andean Quichua instructor Nina Kinti-Moss, a native of Ecuador.
Haitian Creole
Haitian Creole is the language spoken in Haiti, the Caribbean nation that occupies the western half of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haitian Creole is a French-based creole spoken by roughly 5.7 million people in Haiti, and approximately 300,000 Haitians living in the Dominican Republic, the US, and Canada. For more information, please see the website for KU Haitian Creole Resources.
Pictured: Haitian Creole instructor Bryant Freeman.
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