Basic Kichwa

Pronounced Keech-Wah. Every town meeting is conducted in Kichwa. Little kids lie in my hammock and laugh at my pronunciation. I am unable to communicate with some older people by language barrier. I miss many jokes when socializing.

For these reasons, I have been attending a tri-weekly basic level Kichwa class. I am here to help these people the best I can. After three months here, I see that to truly connect with them, I will have to speak their language.

Kichwa is indigenous to the Andean mountain people. It is spoken in Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador. There are two main ways of writing it (reflected as Kichwa and Quichua) but the permutations go far beyond those two. It is now spoken with intermittent Spanish words picked up upon the arrival of the conquistadores. Hacienda, basura, plastico. It does not contain the vowels E and O. When speaking, the accent is on the second to last syllable of the word.

As previously reported, it neither sounds nor is constructed like Spanish or English. For example, English: One, Two, Three. Spanish: Uno, Dos, Tres. Kichwa: Shuk, Ishkay, Kimsa.

While it is very different than any language I had previously encountered, it breaks down pretty simply. Many concepts are explained by connecting two basic ideas. Good: ali. Bad(or Not Good): mana ali. The key will be in the vocab.

Ali shamuksha. Ali chishi. Ñuka shutimi kan Jacobo. Ñukaka Ecuadorpi kawsani. Payka kaypi kawsaymi ali kan. Payka autobusmi kimsata shamunurka. Ñukanchik runakuna kanchik. Payka shuti mamami kan Sarah Jane. Payka shuti taytami Don Eduardo. Hataripay. Tiaripay. Kankuna blogta killkakatinkichik, mashikuna.

Welcome. Good afternoon. My name is Jacobo. I live in Ecuador. Life here is good. The bus came at three. We are human beings. My mom´s name is Sarah Jane. My dad´s name is Don Eduardo. Stand up! Sit down! You are reading my blog, amigos.