The Amazon is one of the most linguistically diverse places on Earth. Spread across nine countries and home to more than 400 Indigenous peoples — some still living in voluntary isolation — the rainforest holds hundreds of languages, woven alongside the Portuguese and Spanish of the nations that share it.
Brazil holds about 60% of the Amazon and speaks Portuguese; the rest of the basin — Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia and beyond — speaks Spanish. Threaded through both are the Indigenous languages of the forest’s many peoples, grouped into great families such as Tupian, Macro-Jê, Cariban, Arawakan, Panoan and Tucanoan. Many communities are multilingual, speaking their own language plus Portuguese or Spanish, and sometimes a neighbor’s tongue too.
You don’t need to learn an Indigenous language to visit — but a few words of Portuguese or Spanish, depending on which country you enter the Amazon from, will go a long way with the locals. English is spoken in many lodges and aboard the tour boats, and all of our guides are English-speaking, with other languages available on request.
Heading into the Amazon through a particular country? Brush up with our regional language guides:
Ready to explore the world’s greatest rainforest? Browse our Amazon tours — with expert English-speaking guides at your side.
