English, of course, but a considerable number of other languages are spoken in the area. Many residents speak Spanish at home and sometimes at school and work, and dialects of Tewa, Tiwa and Keresan are spoken at the American Indian pueblos of the region. Visitors for whom English is a second language may have problems with the indigenous version of English, which is often spoken with a rapid, "machine gun" accent, particularly in some of the rural communities where Spanish is dominant. It doesn't take long to get used to the accent, however. Visitors who speak no English or Spanish at all face some challenges, but a surprising number of residents of Los Alamos and, to a lesser extent, Taos and Santa Fe are fluent in the major European and Asian languages.
One recommendation: If you encounter a place name that appears to be Spanish in origin, it's a good idea to pronounce it as Spanish. A majority of place names in this region are Spanish, some of them with diacriticals to prove it ( Española, Peñasco, etc.), and persistently avoiding Spanish pronunciations will be interpreted by some residents, many of whom speak Spanish at home, as rude. Pronunciation tips in the WikiTravel Spanish phrasebook are useful here; the most common things to watch for are words with "ñ" as in the Española example, double "l" (e.g. the very common Gallegos surname), and double "r" (e.g. Rio Arriba County, which incidentally is a particularly good place in which to have your Spanish pronunciations in shape).
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about North Central New Mexico
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in North Central New Mexico - updated May 2024
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North Central New Mexico Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
