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Languages surrounding Chile

Chilean Spanish is the style of Spanish most spoken around the country today. It is a dialect of Spanish that is significantly different from the Castilian variant of Spanish, but it is similar in pronunciation to the Andalusian style of Spanish. 14 million Chileans speak this form of Spanish. Indigenous and immigrant languages also span throughout the Chilean landscape. One of these indigenous languages being called Mapudungun. This language is spoken in the southern central part of Chile. Approximately 114,000 of the 700,000 Mapuche people living in Chile speak the language. Another native language known as Quechua, holds about 8,200 Chileans who speak the language living in the country's northeastern plains speak Chilean Quechua, which is closely related to South Bolivian Quechua. Third of the native languages spoken is called Rapa Nui. About 3,200 Chileans living on Easter Island and approximately 200 living on the mainland speak this Polynesian language. Huilliche, also known as Chesungun is a fourth native language also spoken in Chile. Speakers of this language live Los Lagos and the Los Rios regions of Chile. Only about 2000 speakers of this language, mostly elderly, lived in the country around 1982. The language is possibly extinct now in today's time. Along with the language of Huilliche several other languages are extinct today, from Selk'nam, Kakauhua, Kunza, and Diaguita. Central Aymarca is spoken by the Aymarca people living in parts of northern Chile. The language is spoken by about 935 speakers in the Chilean provinces of Arica and Putre. The last native language known in Chile is Kawesqar. This language is literally on the brink of extinction today. Only 7 speakers of the language are living today. The language existed around the the southern part of Chile whenever it was plentiful. In today's time those 7 speakers that hold on to that language live on the Chilean Island of Wellington Island. Chile is predominately a country of Spanish and native languages but 2 foreign languages do hold some form of weight in their society today. One of those languages being German. There are about 150,000 to 200,000 Chileans are of some of degree German descent. However since World War II ended, the population of German speaking Chileans has drastically fallen. In today's time, currently 20,000 Chileans speak German as a first language. Most of them inhabit the Los Lagos and Los Rios regions of Chile. The second foreign language existing in Chile's society today is English. Spoken by a large section English is flourishing and those belonging to the higher socioeconomic strata really utilize it especially due to the fact that there are a handful of English schools operating in Chile today. Now in every country there are those who can speak a language or two, but there are those who cannot speak at all and sign language comes into play. In Chile today there are about 16,000 people using sign as a language.