The Quechua language is one of the most common South American Indian languages that is spoken in not only Peru, but Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Colombia, etc. The Quechua language has been around since 2600 BC (Thompson, I.). In present times, Spanish is the official language in Peru but schools still try to incorporate Quechua in their studies and so far it has not been able to stick. The Quechua language has been lost and mixed with spanish over time (Maps of world). Some Spanish words are incorporated in the Quechua language and the pronunciation also differs from Spanish. In the Quechua language, the nouns are universal and does not distinguish between male or female. Quechua had no written alphabet before the Spaniards arrived, The Quechua used Khipu (Cotton or Alpaca wool) and tied the strings into knots to create numbers. Although the Quechua did not have an alphabet system, they made it work and were very creative (Thompson, I.).
Reference Cited:
Thompson, I.
May 16, 2013. Quechua. http://aboutworldlanguages.com/quechua
accessed March 24, 2015
Maps of World
2012 http://www.mapsofworld.com/pages/tongues-of-world/languages/quechua/
accessed April 7, 2015
This was very interesting since long ago in ancient times, some cultures used pictographs to tell a story since there was no written language. I think it is quite clever to use Khipu to establish numbers and to keep track of things. Every culture is different and in ancient times every culture had their own ways of expressing and showing their cultures. For Example, The pyramids of Mexico, which I had the pleasure of visiting this past summer have all kinds of Aztec designs on them. In the Pyramids of Xochicalco, there is a pyramid where it shows the Aztec calendar in all kinds of figures and designs. I also can relate to how the Quechua language was getting lost throughout the years because I was never really taught Spanish very much as a child since my parents would try to perfect their English. My parents used me to practice their English. I picked up the English perfect but I struggled with speaking in Spanish. I did understand Spanish and could write it just fine. It wasn't until High School when I realized that I needed to perfect my Spanish. I thought I spoke good Spanish but when I went to Mexico this past summer, I realized that I was wrong. It was my first time actually visiting Mexico since I was a child.
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