Latin American Languages

Wall with Rarámuri words against a sunset

Berkeley offers multiple ways to study Latin American languages, on and off campus. 

Mam

Members of the Mayan community in Oakland, the Laney Latinx Cultural Center, and the UC Berkeley Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies are collaborating to offer an in-person Mam Language Course in Spring 2024.

More on Spring Mam Language Course here

If you are not able to take the in-person course, Mam in Oakland is an excellent resource to study Mam langauge.

More information on Mam in Oakland here

Nahuatl

The Berkeley Department of Spanish and Portuguese is offering Nahuatl to Berkeley students for credit during the academic year as a real-time distance-learning course taught by native-language instructors from the University of Utah and IDIEZ (the Institute for Teaching and Research in Ethnology) in Zacatecas, Mexico. The course focuses on Nahua culture, history, and modern life. This course is organized by the University of Utah and supported by CLACS.

More information on Nahuatl at UC Berkeley here

There are two other ways to study Nahuatl, not for credit: 

  1. Laney College offers Nahuatl courses for non-Berkeley students can enroll in Nahuatl courses at Laney College. For more information, with Professor Arturo Davila-Sanchez, Coordinator of the Latinx Cultural center at Laney College. More information is available here, or please contact Prof. Davila-Sanchez at (adavila@peralta.edu).
  2. Salt Lake Community College allows students and non-students to audit Nahuatl courses (shared with UC Berkeley and the University of Utah) by registering for the continuing education section of the course. Seats are limited, participants would have to pay for continuing education enrollment, and no credit is offered. More information is available here (search for "nahuatl").

Portuguese

Portuguese courses are available through the Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Quechua

CLACS is a partner of the Quechua Alliance

Spanish

Spanish courses are available through the Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Other Resources