Demographics of Mexico - Languages

Languages

The most important and de facto official language in Mexico is Spanish. Mexican Spanish is spoken in a variety of dialects, accents and variations in different regions across the country.

The Law of Linguistic Rights, published in 2001, declared the 62 indigenous languages spoken in Mexico as "national languages" with the "same validity" in all territories and contexts where they are spoken. The indigenous language with the greatest number of speakers is Nahuatl (1.5% of the nation's population), followed by Yucatec Maya (0.8%) spoken Yucatán Peninsula. In Mexico City and other major cities after half a century of rural-to-urban migration, large districts and sections have Amerindian languages written and heard.

During the first half of the 20th century the government promoted a policy of castellanización, that is, promoting the use of Spanish as a way to integrate indigenous peoples into the Mexican society. Later, this policy changed, and since the 1980s the government sponsors bilingual and intercultural education in all indigenous communities. This policy has mainly been successful in large communities with a significant amount of speakers; while some languages, with less than 1,000 speakers, are still facing extinction.

The second most spoken language in Mexico, however, is English used extensively at the border areas, tourist centers and large metropolitan areas, a phenomenon arguably caused by the economic integration of North American under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the immigration phenomenon and the return of workers and their families form the United States. In border cities, American TV and radio waves in English (and Spanish) are received as much Spanish-speaking radio and TV stations from Mexico on the US side of the border, thus a bilingual cross-cultural exchange is at work.

Among the languages brought by immigrants are the Venetian of Chipilo, and Mennonite Low German spoken in Durango and Chihuahua. Other languages spoken in Mexico include French, German, Russian, Arabic, Occitan, Catalan, Basque, Galician, Asturian, Chinese, Hebrew, Korean, Ladino, Plautdietsch, Armenian, Italian, etc. Even though some of these may have a greater number of speakers than the national languages, they are not recognized by the government.