Some of the most critical languages to interpret for are those that are indigenous, especially given how rare native speakers of these languages are. In today’s post, we will be listing several of Mexican Indigenous languages and where they are from and where they are most commonly spoken in the US.

1. Triqui
There are about 25,000 speakers of Triqui, with most of the speakers being indigenous people of the western part of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. The language is also spoken in Baja California; native speakers are typically ethnically Trique. Somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 Triqui speakers have immigrated to the US, with communities in California, New York, and Washington state. There are four major varieties for Triqui: Triqui Bajo, Triqui Alto, Triqui Media, and Triqui de Copala with Triqui de Copala having the most speakers. There are also Triqui-language radio programs based in San Quintin, Baja California, and XETLA (an indigenous community radio station).

2. Mixteco
This is another Oto-Manguean set of languages, and is spoken by about 530,000 people from Oaxaca, Peubla, and Geurrero, Mexico. Immigrants from these areas can typically be found in New York, Arizona, and throughout California such as Baja, San Diego. Though people might think of Mixteco as a single language, some estimate that there are thirty or fifty variations of the language. Typically when they speak to each other though, they use Spanish, so even if they do not speak the same variation, they can communicate with each other.

3. Zapotec
Zapotec has about 490,000 native speakers with the majority of speakers in the United States based in California and New Jersey. The Mexican government officially recognizes sixty Zapotec dialects, and since there can be so much variance between them, it can be difficult for different dialect speakers to understand each other. However, most Zapotec speakers know Spanish as well, so they are still able to communicate with each other.

4. Purepecha/Tarasco
This is an indigenous language that is centered in the northwestern region of Michoacan, Mexico with a total population of about 141,177. In the United States, you can find most speakers in California, Oregon, and Washington. Purepecha is considered an endangered language due to the rate of speakers becoming bilingual rising with less than 10% of speakers being monolingual. Tarasco is another name for Purepecha, which comes from the fact that Tarasca is an exonym for Purepecha culture.

5. Nahuatl
This is a language where most of the speakers are in Central Mexico, but there are speakers of the language in the United States as well, primarily in California where it is the fourth indigenous language of Mexico, trailing Mixteco, Zapotec, and Triqui. The communities that speak the languages are mostly scattered and in rural areas, but there are over a million speakers, most of whom are Mexican immigrants from indigenous communities and Chicanos. Overall though, the exact number of speakers is unknown.

6. Chatino
Similarly, Chatino is another subset within Oto-Manguean languages, and it also originates from Oaxaca, Mexico. Chatino is at a high risk of disappearance, with between 30,000 and 45,000 native speakers. There are three languages that are a part of Chatino: Zenzontepec, Tataltepec, and Easter Chatino. Overall, the Chatinos have cultural and linguistic ties with Zapotec and is recognized as a national language in Mexico.