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The major languages spoken in Belize include English, Spanish and Kriol, all three spoken by more than 40% of the population. Mayan languages are also spoken in certain areas, as well as German. [1] English is the official language and the primary language of public education, though spoken natively by a minority of people as a first language.
While it is difficult to estimate the exact number of Belizean Creole speakers, it is estimated that there are more than 70,000 in Belize who speak the language. The 2010 Belize Census recorded that 25.9% of the people within Belize claimed Creole ethnicity and 44.6% claimed to speak Belizean Creole and put the number of speakers at over ...
Afrikaans; Anarâškielâ; العربية; Aragonés; Azərbaycanca; تۆرکجه; বাংলা; Башҡортса; Беларуская; Català; Čeština; Dansk
Although English is the official language, Spanish is spoken by the majority of Belize's population. [14] Also, according to the 2000 census, about 50% of the Belizean population declared themselves Catholics. [13] Hispanics in Belize are mainly concentrated in the central and western parts of the country.
Spanish language came to Belize when the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed in 1494, claiming the entire western New World for Spain, including what is now Belize. Then in the mid-16th century Spanish conquistadors explored this territory, declaring it a Spanish colony [2] incorporated into the Captaincy General of Guatemala on December 27, 1527, when it was founded. [3]
A creole language is a stable natural language developed from a mixture of different languages. Unlike a pidgin , a simplified form that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups, a creole language is a complete language, used in a community and acquired by children as their native language .
The country has a diverse society composed of many cultures and languages. It is the only Central American country where English is the official language, while Spanish is the most widely spoken language. Belizean Creole is the second-most-commonly-spoken dialect, followed by the Mayan languages, Garifuna, and the German dialects.
The largest proportion of the lexicon unique to Belizean English is thought to name local flora, fauna, and cuisine. [7] Notably, the most significant donor language to this portion of Belizean English lexicon is thought to be the Miskito language, not Mayan languages, 'as might be expected.' [9] Other donor languages include Mayan languages, African languages (via Jamaican English), and ...