Some tech workers in Latin America advocate for Spanish-language training and a Spanish programming language, even as the best IT jobs still require English
Non-English speaking devs are getting more coding jobs than ever — but Spanish can only get them so far. — • MEXICO CITY, MEXICO Tweets: @anupkaphle , @leomschwartz , @restofworld , @leomschwartz , @restofworld , @leomschwartz , and @alexgonzor Tweets: Anup Kaphle / @anupkaphle : Most prominent programming languages are based on English vocabulary and syntax, making them much more difficult to learn for non-native speakers. The tech community in Latin America wants to change that. https://restofworld.org/... — by @leomschwartz Leo Schwartz / @leomschwartz : Programming depends on English, from the logic of coding languages to educational tools. This reliance is hurting Latin America's growth as an independent tech ecosystem, but I profiled different initiatives trying to empower Spanish. For @restofworld: https://restofworld.org/... @restofworld : Most prominent programming languages are based on English vocabulary and syntax, making them much more difficult to learn for non-native speakers. Latin American tech workers want to change things https://restofworld.org/... Leo Schwartz / @leomschwartz : These include coding bootcamps that teach programming and translate tools into Spanish, like @Laboratoriala and @pionerasdev, and even people trying to build programming languages based in Spanish, like @lenguaje_latino https://restofworld.org/... @restofworld : Coding's English-language foundation could be creating a major barrier to expanding the tech workforce: according to a recent study, 55% of companies in Latin America said finding the right talent was difficult https://restofworld.org/... Leo Schwartz / @leomschwartz : The most prominent programming languages — and all the educational tools around them — are based in English. People are working to empower Spanish-language training in the LatAm tech ecosystem, including this coding language based in Spanish: https://restofworld.org/... https://twitter.com/... @alexgonzor : As the tech labour crunch continues, orgs like @Laboratoriala & @lenguaje_latino are asking, why not open up coding to people non-English speakers? But in a U.S.-run world, it'll take more than a Spanish-based programming language to dethrone English. https://restofworld.org/...
Context & Ripple Effects
US firms have spent two years pulling Latin American developers north on paper: first through nearshoring built on cheaper costs and shared time zones, then by directly outsourcing developer jobs to Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay — a squeeze that has left regional startups short-staffed even amid layoffs. Against that backdrop, groups like Laboratoriala and PionerasDev run Spanish-language bootcamps, and Lenguaje Latino is building a programming language with Spanish at its core.
First-order effects
- Non-English-speaking developers are landing more coding jobs than before through Spanish-language training, but the highest-paying IT roles still screen for English, so the language gap now sorts workers into tiers rather than excluding them outright.
Second-order effects
- With 55% of Latin American companies already reporting difficulty finding tech talent, US nearshoring plus a wider Spanish-trained pipeline raises competition for the same bilingual developers — pushing up their price while leaving monolingual graduates funneled toward lower-value domestic work.
Third-order effects
- If chatbots stay significantly less capable outside English, the barrier compounds: the tools meant to democratize coding would reinforce the same English premium that Lenguaje Latino's Spanish-based language is trying to remove, deciding whether the region's ecosystem grows on localized tooling or keeps exporting its bilingual elite.
The trend: Latin America's developer market is stratifying into a Spanish-accessible entry tier and an English-gated premium tier, with US nearshoring accelerating the split.