i am very new to learning quechua and am having trouble finding resources to learn, do you know any? i also need some pointers on how to learn a new language from scratch since i dont really know where to start
I have a few resources, although the vast majority of them are from Spanish (I see an Argentine flag in your bio, so I'm hoping that isn't a problem).
This website has extremely basic survival Quechua and audio in English, along with the romanization of words and phrases to pronounce them.
Here is extremely basic vocab for Bolivian Quechua; words only.
This wonderful source has a basic internet course for Quechua and if you explore it a bit includes a ton of information about the language along with places and people to contact that can help teach you.
Here is a very famous movie in Quechua with English subtitles that you can watch for free.
The movie Retablo is free on Tubi. It's about a Runa boy in Peru discovering his father isn't actually heterosexual and the repercussions he faces in the community and his own family because of it. Subtitles in English.
The Quechua Collective of New York periodically offers Quechua classes on Zoom, if you're willing to spend $90 for a 12-week course.
If you are extremely serious about learning Quechua, there are multiple universities that offer online courses with 101/201 usually in the Fall and 102/202 in the Spring. Purdue University, Oberlin College, Indiana University, UChicago, UPenn, University of Michigan, Northwestern University, East Carolina University, and the Ohio State University all offer courses, with all of them for sure offering online options except for UPenn and UMichigan--those I'm not sure. Expect to pay no less than $1500 for each course.
This podcast series is on Apple Podcasts and can help if you have a basic level already.
Here is an app from the Ministry of Tourism in Peru that can help with basics.
Here is a free online course for Quechua Chanka.
This is an extremely tedious but helpful guide pdf from Spanish.
Online games making the learning process a little less painful.
If you really want a resource for the Collao dialect and don't mind dropping some coin, this course is about $15 and will give you a certificate at the end.
This is made by the same people right above in the Collao dialect, but free.
Here's a super rare audio course for Kichwa Inga made by Indiana University.
Here's an online translator that can theoretically translate from English too but works best in Spanish.
These Spanish Youtube channels teach some Quechua.
This monstrosity of a pdf that is half grammar/pronunciation and half vocab, in the Sureño dialect but the Peruvian one rather than Bolivian.
Here's a ginormous pdf of a Quechua-Spanish dictionary.
This pdf on Scribd. Scribd makes you do a free trial, but you can download as much material to your pc as your heart desires. I highly recommend that you do a trial, find and download as many relevant resources as you can, and then end the trial before the 30 days is up.
This wonderful human being's Instagram. T'ikita hasn't posted her usual reels and tiktoks lately but if you scroll back a little she has a ton of helpful videos in her Quechua Chic series with Bolivian Quechua. I also paid $25 a month to have Zoom lessons with her which we did using a mix of English and Spanish. She was amazing, but I feel like she would definitely prefer to teach in Spanish is why I'm putting her in this section. I think she may still do group classes but I'm not sure.
Wilfredo also teaches Bolivian Quechua from Spanish and has his WA number in his bio. My boyfriend took classes with him and seemed to enjoy it.
Qhalincha makes helpful instagram reels and offers group classes at an affordable price; I think she speaks Bolivian Quechua but I'm not 100% sure.
This is a general instagram account that teaches different dialects of Quechua.
This is like the above, but this Instagram has organized group courses seemingly at an affordable rate.
Peru's Catholic University has an online Quechua class (courses ranging from 1-2 months) that meets daily. The 2 month class is about $75.
Again, if you are EXTREMELY serious about learning Quechua, then the Centro Tinku program takes place in Cusco where you live with a Runa family and have the language taught to you in Spanish. If you're not attending a partner University with the organization, you may email [email protected] to enroll directly with Centro Tinku. The cost is a whopping $4100, but Centro Tinku also offers 50% scholarships on tuition costs to Latin American students not eligible for other funding. UMich has more info about it here.
This nifty lil page has a basic course.
This one is also like the above.
This SUPER beyond helpful Discord channel where you have speakers to actually talk to.
Here is an entire Google Spreadsheet of affordable online Quechua teachers.
Listen to Renata Flores. She doesn't have many songs on here at the moment and isn't a native speaker, but I love her rap. She's super popular in Peru.
Italki has super cheap Quechua tutors. While most of the tutors teach in only Spanish and Peruvian/Cusco dialects, there is at least one who can teach from English a range of dialects such Boliviano, Cusco, and even Ecuadorian Kichwa.
I also have pdfs for Quechua resources including the insanely rare and critically endangered Cajamarca dialect, but considering the source has been taken down every time I see it pop up on the internet probably due to copyright violations, I 100% don't feel comfortable posting it here. If you trust me enough, I can email it to you or whomever seriously wants their hands on it.
Now, as for learning a new language, I would say don't even try to start until you've organized yourself a bit and set up goals for what you want to achieve. Sure, you want to learn Quechua, but there's always more learning to do with language acquisition. Where do you want to be in 3 months? Do you want to be able to introduce yourself and count and know colors? Start small, and build from there.
I think ChatGPT may be useful here too with creating outlines for achieving language learning goals if you prompt it with something along the lines of "I want to learn Quechua. I will spent 2 hours a day, 5 days a week studying. Set me up an outline and schedule I should follow in order to be conversational." (Yes, I used that exact prompt and it generated me a pretty solid learning schedule).
I will also always swear by flashcards and physically writing down new vocabulary and concepts. Practice speaking out loud to yourself even if it feels ridiculous. The Hellotalk app is also helpful as long as you are confident you can avoid random people insistently messaging you on it, and instead use it for native speaker interactions and corrections.
