What Languages Are Spoken In El Salvador? (Answered!)

Spanish is the primary language of El Salvador and spoken by the vast majority of the population. However, there are also a number of other indigenous languages spoken, including Nawat, Cacaopera, and others. There are also many European languages routinely spoken in El Salvador other than Spanish, like English, French, German and Italian.

In a country of around 6 million people, then, there are a proportionately rather large number of languages spoken.

Culturally and historically, there are many reasons for this, not the least of which is its status as a former Spanish colony.

It’s a fascinating topic, so let’s find out more.

In This Article

How many languages are spoken in El Salvador?

A great many languages are spoken to some degree in El Salvador.

Spanish, naturally, is the largest and most widely spoken language in El Salvador.

The vast majority of people in Ecuador will speak Spanish at least as their second language if not their first.

It is spoken throughout the country.

Other indigenous languages do cling on, though, and some of them are still spoken in El Salvador.

Many of these languages are grouped into the Nahua classification, which by some definitions is a family although some simply categorize the languages contained in the family as being dialects of the same or very distinct languages of their own.

The Nahua people are spread far and wide across Central America, being found in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

They are descended from what are called Aztecs or Mexica of the pre-conquest era.

These languages include what is called either Nahuatl, Aztec or Mexicano, though by some definitions the languages in this family are simply all one language.

The vast majority of the 1.7 million Nahua speakers live in central Mexico, though of course there are also many in El Salvador.

It gets a bit confusing because some would call the Nahuatl language of El Salvador Nawat, and this is more commonly recognized in El Salvador.

Some, however, would classify these languages as being the same or at least dialectal variations of the same language.

In any case, all of these languages are ultimately derived from the same Proto-Nahuan language.

Other than these indigenous languages, you have a large number of English speakers in El Salvador, and indeed purely based on the number of people who speak it, whether as a first or second language, English is one of the most common languages in El Salvador.

So, which are the most common languages of El Salvador?

What are the top three languages spoken in El Salvador?

By far the most common language in El Salvador is Spanish.

This is spoken by around 99% of the population, and most of those who speak another language as their first language will likely understand Spanish fluently.

It is distributed widely across the whole country, and tends to be the language of any and all official proceedings—courts, government, and so on.

TV news and entertainment is usually in Spanish, and it is the language used at most levels of schooling.

It is also known as Castilian in El Salvador, as it is precisely the same as Spanish you would hear in Spain.

English is the next most common language.

It is spoken by close to 200,000 people in El Salvador, though generally as a second language.

It is often used as the language of business and trade, international relations and politics.

It is frequently taught in schools and some academic institutions even carry out lessons in English.

Despite the survival of the indigenous languages, they only make up a very small proportion of the languages spoken.

Around 0.23% of the population are fully indigenous, and most have been more or less fully assimilated into the dominant culture.

Nonetheless, Nawat does still remain as a living language.

Can I speak English in El Salvador?

While there are large numbers of English speakers in El Salvador, it is not wise to assume anyone will speak English.

The average person is very unlikely to be fluent in English, and so your best bet is learning a bit of Spanish to get you by.

Indeed, it’s simply the polite thing to do in any case.

At major tourist centres, there will be many English speakers as El Salvador is a popular destination.

Once you leave these areas, though, you’ll need something else to get you by.

Do Salvadorans and Mexicans speak the same language?

People in El Salvador and Mexico, broadly speaking, speak the same language.

They all speak Spanish primarily, though Castilian Spanish.

This is the primary language and though there are, as always, regional dialectal variations, a Mexican and a Salvadoran will be able to understand each other perfectly fine.

The indigenous languages, as mentioned, are often shared too.

There is disagreement, though, about whether the languages are the same or constitute a family of related languages.

For the most part there certainly would be some mutual intelligibility there, but again, regional variations will make it harder to understand one another.

But in terms of the Spanish, they definitely speak the same language.

El Salvador’s linguistic history, like so many of countries in Central and South America, was catastrophically disrupted by Spanish colonizers.

What remains is no doubt a tiny fraction of the diverse languages that would at one time have been spoken in this region of the world, and yet it is still an impressively varied linguistic landscape.

El Salvador is a small country but it contains multitudes.

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Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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