Languages of Chile that derive from English migrants in the 19th century. According to the World Federation of the Deaf 2008 survey report for South America, Chile's official number of deaf citizens is 66,500. The number who master Chilean Sign Language is uncertain, but if it follows the general norm of one in four deaf persons having learnt sign language, the number of sign language users in Chile should be around 16,000. Languages of Chile The Republic of Chile is an overwhelmingly Spanish-speaking country, with the exceptions of isolated native and immigrant communities. According to Ethnologue, Chile has nine living languages and seven
Chile groups, regardless of whether or not they maintained their culture, traditions and language, and 4.6 percent of the population (692,192 people) fitted that description of indigenous peoples in Chile. Of that number, 87.3% declared themselves Mapuche. Most of the indigenous population shows varying degrees of mixed ancestry. Chile is one of 22 countries to have signed and ratified the only binding international law concerning indigenous peoples, the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989. It was adopted in 1989 as the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 169. Chile ratified it in 2008. A Chilean court decision in November 2009 considered to