Pin It

Join almost 1/2 million
monthly
readers!

Contact Me

Coaching and Consultation

Current mission

Secret project in
Berlin! Subscribe to
email list to find out
about it first!

Previous post:

Next post:

Mission to hike Machu Picchu… in Quechua!

| 31 comments | Category: mission

***********************

Enter your email in the top right of the site to subscribe to the Language Hacking League e-mail list for way more tips sent directly to your inbox!

If you enjoyed this post, you will love my TEDx talk! You can get much better details of how I recommend learning a language if you watch it here.

This article was written by

Comments: If you liked this post or have anything to say, please leave a comment! I love reading them :)
Just keep in mind that I’ll delete any rude, trolling, spammy, irrelevant or way off-topic comments. If you have a general language learning question, please ask it in the forums. Otherwise please use the search tool on the right for any other question not related to this post.

———————————–

  • http://vocabat.com/ Katie

    Very cool. How fascinating for you to take on an indigenous language. I hope that it will be a very enriching experience for you, and I would definitely enjoy seeing a video of you speaking it with someone. Cheers.

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

      I’m looking forward to it! Especially after such a long stretch in English speaking America!

  • Martín Raúl Villalba

    I visited Machu Picchu as a child myself. Beautiful place, no doubt.

    I don’t know if you’ve been to Perú in the past, but in case you haven’t: careful with the customs and migrations people when entering the country. In my own experience and that of some acquaintances, they can be quite a corrupted bunch; in some cases going as far as denying entry unless you pay a “fine”.

    Have a good time,
    Martín.

  • Martín Raúl Villalba

    I visited Machu Picchu as a child myself. Beautiful place, no doubt.

    I don’t know if you’ve been to Perú in the past, but in case you haven’t: careful with the customs and migrations people when entering the country. In my own experience and that of some acquaintances, they can be quite a corrupted bunch; in some cases going as far as denying entry unless you pay a “fine”.

    Have a good time,
    Martín.

  • Martín Raúl Villalba

    I visited Machu Picchu as a child myself. Beautiful place, no doubt.

    I don’t know if you’ve been to Perú in the past, but in case you haven’t: careful with the customs and migrations people when entering the country. In my own experience and that of some acquaintances, they can be quite a corrupted bunch; in some cases going as far as denying entry unless you pay a “fine”.

    Have a good time,
    Martín.

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

      Got through security fine. They didn’t even ask me how long I was planning to stay, just looked at my passport and stamped it – if anything I’d say it was a breeze compared to most immigration, apart from a long line.

      • maki

        Check what your passport stamp says and keep the little paper they gave you! You can get up to 6months visa if you ask for it when coming in. Some people who don’t ask end up with 1 or 3m. They usually write the number of days onto the stamp from memory.

        • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

          My stamp is for 3 months which is more than enough as I only need 5 weeks.

  • Huomenna

    This is excellent. As it happens, I’ve been having my own Quechua-learning process and a trip to those mystic lands “in the works” (parentheses being the operative words here) for a long time, but this will give me some extra boost! It’s a beautiful language for sure. Well I guess the only thing for me to say here is: ¡VAMOS!

  • Huomenna

    This is excellent. As it happens, I’ve been having my own Quechua-learning process and a trip to those mystic lands “in the works” (parentheses being the operative words here) for a long time, but this will give me some extra boost! It’s a beautiful language for sure. Well I guess the only thing for me to say here is: ¡VAMOS!

  • Huomenna

    This is excellent. As it happens, I’ve been having my own Quechua-learning process and a trip to those mystic lands “in the works” (parentheses being the operative words here) for a long time, but this will give me some extra boost! It’s a beautiful language for sure. Well I guess the only thing for me to say here is: ¡VAMOS!

  • Bruce Thomas

    Benny,

    Here’s link to YouTube of very popular song with subtitles.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp5qRtoy-jo

    thank you

  • Bruce Thomas

    Benny,

    Here’s link to YouTube of very popular song with subtitles.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp5qRtoy-jo

    thank you

  • Bruce Thomas

    Benny,

    Here’s link to YouTube of very popular song with subtitles.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp5qRtoy-jo

    thank you

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

      Cheers!

  • Carlos Silva

    nice… But.. what resources you are using to learn Quechua?  any book to recommend? :)

  • Carlos Silva

    nice… But.. what resources you are using to learn Quechua?  any book to recommend? :)

  • Carlos Silva

    nice… But.. what resources you are using to learn Quechua?  any book to recommend? :)

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

      I’ve got the Lonely Planet guide and a more in depth guide that I bought on the Amazon Kindle store. I’ll mention both in the final summary if they turn out to be useful!

  • NKellyEmerald

    I’m truly envious, Benny. It will be an amazing trip for you, looking forward to your updates! :)

  • Ulo

    Mojose, legenda ideo kaj mi certas ke vi plenumos ĝin sendube! Antaŭĝojas prilegi viajn rakontojn!

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

    Sounds like fun!

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

    Not sure – I’ve been moving around too much this year. I’d really like to stay put in one city for a month apart from the Machu Pichu visit!

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

    As always, will share the story here!

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

    Sure, click the mail icon on the right and send me a message with info! Appreciate it! :)

  • http://twitter.com/AlexanderGentry Alexander Gentry

    Benny, I found a few other resources for learning Quechua if you want to continue your learning of this language after Peru in the long term. These books I’ve heard are excellent quality books and are also used in universities in the United States, but here are the links for which you can get them if you desire. Here they are!
    These three are from Los Amigos del Libro, a Bolivian online bookstore that sells Bolivian books. The website is obviously in Spanish, but that should be no problem for you. The variety here is Bolivian Quechua, which is nearly identical to Cuzco Quechua, as both are dialects of what linguists call Cuzco-Collao Quechua (the southernmost variety of Quechua). http://www.librosbolivia.com/nuevo/BookDetail.php?item_id=139&author=&category_id=&name=Curso+Elemental&pricemax=&pricemin=& -Quechua Boliviano-Curso Elemental (in Quechua and Spanish) by Luis Morató Peñahttp://www.librosbolivia.com/nuevo/BookDetail.php?item_id=573&author=Morat%F3+Pe%F1a%2C+Lu%EDs+&category_id=&name=Quechua+Boliviano+Tr&pricemax=&pricemin=& -Quechua Boliviano Trilingüe- Curso Intermedio )in Quechua, Spanish, and English) by Luis Morató Peña and Luis Morató Larahttp://www.librosbolivia.com/nuevo/BookDetail.php?item_id=575&author=Morat%F3+Pe%F1a%2C+Lu%EDs+&category_id=&name=Quechua+Boliviano+Tr&pricemax=&pricemin=& -Quechua Boliviano Trilingüe- Curso Avanzado (in Quechua, Spanish, and English) by Luis Morató Peña and Luis Morató LaraLuis Morató Peña also wrote two other books for learning Quechua which take you from the beginner through the upper intermediate level and they can only be purchased (the first one anyway. Unfortunately the second book is out of print and now only a PDF for the book is available. I don’t know where to find the PDF) at Cornell University. I just ordered the first of the books two weeks ago and it should be arriving this week. Here’s the link for those. The order form is on the website. http://latinamerica.einaudi.cornell.edu/publications/language.aspHappy learning Benny!

  • Anonymous

    That’s awesome! My buddy and I are going to MP in April. I’m looking forward to your posts regarding your trip! Good luck!

  • http://brianonhealth.com Brian Greco

    Awesome! I love Quechua and Peru. Went there in 07. Eye opening. Quechua has a lovely grammar but unfortunately a lack of resources largely, at least in English. A couple though:
    * http://www.andes.org/q_grammar.html* http://www.zompist.com/quechua.html* http://www.amazon.com/Quechua-Lonely-Phrasebooks-Serafin-Coronel-Molina/dp/1740597702/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321321771&sr=8-1* http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Quechua-Language-Andes-2nd/dp/1608441547/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1321321771&sr=8-2All good ones I’ve used. Enjoy! Brian

  • http://twitter.com/donogameel Donovan Nagel

    Quechua sounds exciting.

    All the best.

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

    Agreed. His advice is very much out of date.

  • http://twitter.com/ITSergioFelix Sergio Felix

    Hey Benny,

    Well I’m mexican and speak Spanish (doh) but Quechua? holy molly… good luck with that!

    I know you have an amazing ear and such amazing dedication to put yourself up to a challenge, so I’m really keen to see what the outcome of this new adventure is.

    All the best and I’m pretty sure you’re going to crush it my friend, enjoy Machu Picchu!