Most Popular Guarani Language Product Types

Dictionary

Language Information

Guarani, with the stress on the final syllable, is the native language of Paraguay. While Spanish is the official language of the country, and spoken by the majority of the population, it is estimated that as many as 2½ million people, or 70 percent of the population, speak Guarani as well. No other Indian language is so widely used by all classes of society in a given country. There are also some speakers of Guarani in southern Brazil and Bolivia. The name Paraguay is a Guarani word meaning "place of great water."

Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay.

Family: Central South American Indian
Subgroup: Andean Equatorial

Writing Sample

Translation

Let me relate to you
The sorrow that oppresses me,
And sprinkle the night with my tears
For my beloved Asunción.

I recall the women selling produce
With bare feet and blue eyes,
My bosom is burdened with anguish
And is choked with my crying.

Only the music can relieve
With its sweet notes my sadness,
And under a full moon will I declare
The love that I feel for you, Asunción.

MANUEL ORTIZ GUERRERO, Asunción