Our Top 12 Most Requested Indigenous American Languages

What do Northern East Cree, Cherokee, and the Quechua language have in common? They’re languages indigenous to the Americas, spanning from Canada to Peru. Before Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World in 1492, the Americas were populated by hundreds of these indigenous communities and their languages - a percentage of which exist today.

Small or large, speakers of indigenous languages have a need for translated content. In fact, every year Lionbridge receives requests to translate content into everything from North East Cree (320 speakers) to Quechua (7 million speakers).

Here is 2019’s* list of our most requested Indigenous American languages:

 

#1 Quechua

Primary Location: Peru

Number of Native Speakers: 7,735,620

 

#2 Inuktitut          

Primary Location(s): Nunavut and Quebec, Canada

Number of Native Speakers: 39,770

 

#3 Ojibway                  

Main Location(s): Ontario and Manitoba, Canada

Number of Native Speakers: 28,130

 

#4 Micmac

Primary Location(s): Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Canada

Number of Native Speakers: 8,870

 

#5 Blackfoot 

Primary Location: Alberta, Canada

Number of Native Speakers: 5,565

 

#6 Oji-Cree    

Primary Location(s): Manitoba and Ontario, Canada

Number of Native Speakers: 15,585

 

#7 Plains Cree  

Primary Location(s): Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia, Canada

Number of Native Speakers: 3,070

 

#8 K’iche’

Primary Location: Quiché, Guatemala

Number of Native Speakers: 891,000

 

#9 Cherokee  

Primary Location(s): Oklahoma and North Carolina, United States

Number of Native Speakers: 1,520

 

#10 Northern East Cree

Primary Location: West Central Quebec, Canada

Number of Native Speakers: 320

 

#11 Attikamek   

Primary Location: Quebec, Canada

Number of Native Speakers: 6,600

 

#12 Navajo

Primary Location(s): Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, United States

Number of Native Speakers: 167,000

 

Looking to translate your content? We speak 350+ languages. Learn more here.

*Data captured through October, 2019