Peace Corps Guarani Basic Course - Workbook

COURSE OVERVIEW
This workbook is designed for the Guarani language training of Peace Corps volunteers in Paraguay, and the content focuses on daily communication needs in that context. The workbook contains nine thematic instructional units based on performance objectives. A brief introduction gives an overview of Guarani's origins, distribution, and phonology. The instructional units specify objectives and contain vocabulary and phrase lists, notes on grammar and usage, and exercises to reinforce learning. Unit topics include: greetings, introductions, and personal identification; Family; describing daily work and activities; social activities; describing people; expressing time; giving and getting directions; food; and housing. The text is entirely in Spanish and Guarani, with only occasional notations in English.

PROGRAMS THAT USED THIS LANGUAGE
Paraguay: 1966 - present
Bolivia: 1962 - 1971, 1990 - 2008; Currently Not Active

PROGRAM SECTORS
Paraguay: Agriculture, Community Development, Education, Youth Development, Environment, Health
Bolivia: Not Active

Guaraní, specifically the primary variety known as Paraguayan Guaraní, is an indigenous language of South America that belongs to the Tup'Guaraní subfamily of the Tupian languages. It is one of the official languages of Paraguay (along with Spanish), where it is spoken by the majority of the population, and where half of the rural population is monolingual. It is spoken by communities in neighboring countries, including parts of northeastern Argentina, southeastern Bolivia and southwestern Brazil, and is a second official language of the Argentine province of Corrientes since 2004; it is also an official language of Mercosur. Guaraní is the only indigenous language of the Americas whose speakers include a large proportion of non-indigenous people. This is an anomaly in the Americas where language shift towards European colonial languages (in this case, the other official language of Spanish) has otherwise been a nearly universal cultural and identity marker of mestizos (people of mixed Spanish and Amerindian ancestry), and also of culturally assimilated, upwardly mobile Amerindian people.

Guarani is spoken in: Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia

Guarani is also called: Chabanco, Chaguanco, Chawuncu, Chiriguano, Eastern Bolivian Guaran?, Guaran?, Eastern Bolivian, Guaran?, Western Argentine, Guarayo, Guasurango, Western Argentine Guaran?