I am a native speaker of Huanca Quechua, the variety of Quechua spoken in the Mantaro Valley region of central Peru. I also speak several other varieties, including the Cuzco and Ayacucho dialects. I have taught Quechua in both Peru and the United States. Of course I also speak Spanish with native fluency, and English with near-native fluency. One of the major goals of my life is to preserve and perhaps even to help spread the Quechua and Aymara languages, in as many of its varieties as possible, which is the prime impetus behind the creation of this website.
I studied translation and modern languages (French, English, Italian, as well as Cuzco Quechua) in my undergraduate work in Peru, and then came to the United States to pursue my advanced degrees. I obtained my M.A. in Hispanic Linguistics from The Ohio State University Department of Spanish and Portuguese, and received my Ph.D. in Educational Linguistics (Sociolinguistics) from the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. I have taught Spanish language and culture at both of these institutions, as well as at the University of Michigan, Canisius College in Buffalo, NY, and Princeton University. I also taught Quechua language and culture at the University of Michigan.
My research interests include sociolinguistics from multiple perspectives, linguistic anthropology of the Andes, language policy and planning, language revitalization, endangered languages and language contact phenomena. I recently co-edited a book with Linda Grabner related to Andean linguistic and cultural identities, called Lenguas e identidades en los Andes: perspectivas ideológicas y culturales. I am also the author of the second edition of Lonely Planet's Quechua Phrasebook. I have a number of other publications, a listing of which can be found in my CV.
