Why Access to Interpreters in Indigenous Languages Matters
While commonly spoken languages like Spanish, Arabic, or Mandarin often dominate conversations about multilingual access in the U.S., people who speak indigenous languages are frequently overlooked. For these communities, the lack of interpreters can mean exclusion from essential services, healthcare, education, and even justice.
So What, Exactly, Is an Indigenous Language?
An indigenous language is a language that’s native to a region and spoken by its indigenous peoples. Interestingly, a country’s official or national language isn’t necessarily indigenous to that country. For example, one of the official languages of Mexico is Spanish, but Spanish isn’t indigenous to Mexico.
CLI has been closely monitoring the growing demand for interpreters in indigenous languages, which is typically driven by world events that shift immigration patterns. Behind the scenes, our interpreter recruiters work tirelessly to vet and contract with more interpreters in those languages.
Below we explore 8 such languages our interpreter recruiters have focused on recently, all indigenous to Latin America: Akateko, Kʼicheʼ, Mam, Mixteco Alto, Mixteco Bajo, Navajo, Quechua, and Q’anjob’al.
A Quick Note: While researching this blog, we found that credible sources on some indigenous languages are limited. Similarly, current data for the number of speakers is difficult (if not impossible) to find, since this information is often under-collected and not uniformly tracked. We’ve done our best to compile accurate information from available resources in English, but we recognize that there may be gaps in our understanding and knowledge.
Language List Profile: 8 Languages Indigenous to Latin America
Akateko
Akateko (also spelled Akatec, Akateco, and Akatek) is a Mayan language spoken by the Akateko people.
Number of speakers & geographic distribution: Akateko has approximately 65,000 native speakers in northwestern Guatemala and around 2,900 native speakers in southern Mexico. In the U.S., Akateko has smaller but notable populations of speakers in Los Angeles, Houston, Phoenix, and Washington, DC.
Fun fact: Agriculture — particularly of maize (or corn), which is considered sacred — has played such a pivotal role in the Akateko people’s culture that their language has distinct words for maize when it’s planted, when it’s ready for harvest, and when it’s prepared to eat.
Kʼicheʼ
Kʼicheʼ (the newer, preferred spelling of what was formerly spelled Quiche) is a Mayan language spoken by the Kʼicheʼ people. It’s also one of the most widely spoken indigenous languages in Mesoamerica.
Number of speakers & geographic distribution: Although Kʼicheʼ has around 2.3 million speakers worldwide, it’s mainly spoken in the central highlands in Guatemala and Mexico. With over a million speakers in Guatemala — approximately 7% of that country’s population — Kʼicheʼ is the second most widely-spoken language in Guatemala after Spanish.
Fun fact: K’iche’ and Q’eqchi’ (also spelled Kekchi, Kʼekchiʼ, or Kekchí) are not the same language. Qʼeqchiʼ is one of the Mayan languages from the Quichean branch, spoken within Qʼeqchiʼ communities in Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. Unlike Kʼicheʼ, Q’eqchiʼ is still in the process of becoming a written language and only has around 700,000 speakers.
Mam
Mam is the second most widely spoken Mayan language of the 20+ Mayan languages currently spoken in Guatemala (Kʼicheʼ being the most widely spoken Mayan language in Guatemala). The Mam language also includes distinct regional dialects.
Number of speakers & geographic distribution: Mam is spoken by about 500,000 Mam people throughout Guatemala and in southern Mexico. Thousands more Mam speakers live in the U.S.; two of the largest communities of Mam speakers in the country are in Oakland, California, and Washington, D.C.
Fun fact: The Mam language is unique in that it doesn’t use independent pronouns. Instead, pronouns in Mam only appear in relation to other words (this is called “bound morphemes” for fellow linguist nerds).
See also: CLI’s Language & Immigration Trends
Mixteco Alto and Mixteco Bajo
Mixteco Alto and Mixteco Bajo are under the linguistic umbrella of Mixtec, a broad term for a cluster of over 50 closely related language varieties. Not all varieties of Mixtec are mutually intelligible, and there’s debate about whether Mixtec varieties are all distinct languages or whether some are dialects of a language group.
Number of speakers & geographic distribution: The Mixtec language group is estimated to include about 500,000 speakers, making it the 3rd most widely spoken indigenous language group in Mexico. It’s mainly spoken in the region of Mexico known as “La Mixteca,” spanning parts of Oaxaca, Puebla, and Guerrero.
Fun fact: Since the arrival of Cortés 500+ years ago (which brought about the Spanish colonization of Mexico), Mixtec has adopted or adapted Spanish words for which there are no Mixtec equivalents.
Navajo
Navajo is an Athabaskan language and is most closely related to Western Apache and Chiricahua-Mescalero Apache. The Navajo refer to themselves as the Diné (which translates to “People”), with their language known as Diné bizaad (“People’s language”) or Naabeehó bizaad.
Number of speakers & geographic distribution: With nearly 170,000 speakers, Navajo is one of the most widely spoken indigenous languages north of the Mexico–United States border. Its largest concentration of speakers is in the Navajo Nation, which spans parts of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah.
Fun fact: During World War II, Navajo Code Talkers used their language to create a secret code for transmitting, receiving, and decoding messages. The Code Talkers eventually received national recognition for their critical — and brave — contributions, which were credited with saving many lives.
Quechua
The language of the Inca Empire, Quechua is now the most widely spoken indigenous language in the Americas. Although Quechua is referred to as a language by common usage, it’s actually a macrolanguage — a dialect continuum consisting of widely varying varieties that may be considered distinct languages.
Number of speakers & geographic distribution: The number of Quechua speakers varies significantly according to different sources, ranging from 7 to 13 million speakers. Speakers primarily live in 7 Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Fun fact: To help address the trend of declining speakership and ensure the language thrives, some organizations like The Quechua Collective of New York are working to teach, preserve, and diffuse Quechua.
Q’anjob’al
Qʼanjobʼal (also spelled Kanjobal) is a Mayan language from the Qʼanjobalan branch, which also encompasses Akateko and Chuj.
Number of speakers & geographic distribution: This indigenous language is spoken primarily in Guatemala (with approximately 170,000 native speakers) and parts of Mexico (with approximately 10,000 native speakers).
Fun fact: Qʼanjobʼal is taught in public schools through Guatemala’s intercultural bilingual education programs. These programs are intended to promote the country’s rich cultural diversity, merging Mayan language and culture with Spanish language and Ladino culture.
Related: Learn More about Chuj, Another Addition to CLI’s Language List
The Hidden Key to Inclusion: Interpreters for All
Imagine navigating a hospital emergency room, a courtroom, or a government office where no one speaks the language you rely on to express yourself fully. For speakers of indigenous languages living in the U.S., this is not just a frustrating inconvenience — it can be a matter of life-changing or even life-threatening significance.
Access to interpreters in these languages isn’t just about communication; it’s about dignity, equity, and ensuring no voice goes unheard. That’s why it’s so important to us that when our clients call in needing an interpreter so they can interact with a customer or patient who isn’t fluent in English, we can connect them to one without delay.
CLI welcomes our clients to approach us at any time with a need for interpreting services in a language that we don’t currently offer. Our interpreter recruiters will immediately jump into action, using all resources available. In fact, our sweet spot is supporting rare and indigenous languages.
You can see the full list of languages CLI currently supports as well as a list of the most commonly spoken languages in each country. Have any questions or new language needs? Please contact us — we’re here to help!
