Here at ALTA, we don’t get very many inquiries for translation services or language testing in Quechua. That’s not to say that the language of the Incas, which today is spoken by over 5 million Peruvians, Bolivians, and Ecuadorians, is not important. While Quechua may not be a top language of commerce, it is certainly an interesting, important, and resilient tongue. And since, on this blistering Bloomsday, I’m feeling a bit nostalgic for my more literary days, I thought I’d share the news that esteemed Peruvian scholar, Demetrio Tupac Yupanqui, has published the first Quechua translation of Cervante’s Don Quixote.

Yupanqui’s translation of the seminal work of Spanish literature is the most recent attempt by proponents of Quechua to increase the social and political cache of Latin America’s most widely spoken indiginous language. A great way to broaden any language’s sphere of influence is to introduce great works of literature in translation, and thereby help to involve speakers in a broader cultural conversation.

There are other indicators that Quechua may be making a comeback after centuries of decline. As reported in the NY Times article, both Microsoft and Google have recently made their services available in Quechua translations, and laws have been passed in Peru that prohibit discrimination based on language.

While I don’t speak Quechua, I’ll take Yupanqui’s word for it when he says, “If Latin is said to be the language of the angels, then Quechua is the language for expressing the subtleties of existence on Earth. That is why it is still alive.”