AUDAZ REVISTA
Half the Oaxaca menu is not Spanish
The verbs are Spanish. The nouns are borrowed. And a second language runs underneath the whole market.
27.3%
Oaxaca leads Mexico
27.3 percent of Oaxacans aged 3 and over speak an indigenous language. Yucatán is second at 26.1 percent, Chiapas third at 23.4.
Source: INEGI, ENADID 2023, press release 472/24, August 2024.
1,193,229
Speakers in the 2020 census
That is 28.8 percent of the state. 1,061,150 of them also speak Spanish. 125,925 do not.
Source: INEGI Census 2020, as reported by Quadratín Oaxaca.
THE POINT
The vendor is bilingual. You are not.
Your Spanish is a bridge to the 1,061,150 who switch languages all day. It is not a key to the whole state. Plan for that.
Zapotec and Mixtec are the most spoken, then Mazatec and Mixe.
NAHUATL
Chapulines
Toasted grasshoppers, by the scoop. The RAE dictionary entry reads: Del náhuatl chapolin. Not a Spanish word. Not an Oaxacan one either.
Mole is Nahuatl too, from molli, sauce.
TWO NAMES
Tejate, or cu'uhb
A cold drink of toasted maize, fermented cacao, mamey seed and cacao flower. The Spanish name is thought to be Nahuatl, texatl, floury water. The Zapotec name is cu'uhb.
Hear the second name and you know who is running the stall.
DISPUTED
Tlayuda may not be Nahuatl
The menu says it comes from tlao-li, shelled corn. One food writer argues shelled corn in Nahuatl is tlayolsiuali, and that the word comes from the Spanish adjective talludo.
Source: María Meléndez, Mexico News Daily, August 2025. The origin is not settled.
12 FRAMES
Learn the sentence, not the noun
¿Qué lleva? ¿De cuál me recomienda? ¿Me da a probar? ¿A cómo? ¿Pica mucho? ¿Para llevar? Say the food word the way the stall says it.
Never translate a food noun.
SUNDAY
Go to Tlacolula and listen
About 30 km east of Oaxaca city. A trading hub for Zapotec and Mixtec communities for centuries. Count how many exchanges around you are not in Spanish.
Then order in Spanish. Always.
THE RULE
Notice Zapotec. Speak Spanish.
Nobody in Oaxaca expects a visitor to speak Zapotec. They do expect buenos días, a clear question, and muy amable on the way out.
Tap for the full guide, with every source.