Quechua Language Program at CU Boulder
Starting in Spring 2021, the Latin American and Latinx Studies Center has been able to offer a Quechua language program available to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at CU-Boulder. This is the first time a Latin American Indigenous language will fulfill the Foreign Languages MAPS and CORE Requirement at our University. Students must complete the third semester of Quechua (Intermediate Level) in order to satisfy the MAPS and CORE Requirements. Our Quechua Language Program is funded through a U.S. Department of Education Title VI Grant.
Why study Quechua?
- Quechua is one of the most vibrant and important languages of the Americas. With around 7-8 million speakers in the Americas, most of them concentrated in the Andean region in South America, the Quechua language and culture holds important information about how non-Western cultures are organized;
- Although it is widely spoken, Quechua is considered an endangered language. Students who study it can be part of language preservation, or the effort to save languages that are in danger of being lost;
- Learning Quechua can improve students' career prospects in fields such as art, engineering, international development and more;
- Learning an Indigenous language can give you an alternate perspective for viewing the world;
- Quechua is a living language, with many speakers in the United States and opportunities for community engagement. Alumni of Quechua programs at other U.S.-based institutions have gone on to start Quechua language podcasts, consult for the United Nations and collaborate on film productions.