Speaking Mayan

[Phydeaux]

I thought traditional Mexican music used guitars. Did they play bluegrass for you?

:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

It really helps to make a strong attempt to learn the language of the country you frequent. Locals not only take a genuine appreciation, but it broadens you as the traveler. If you really want to get the attention of the locals in Mexico, start learning and using Mayan! Many of them don't even speak it, so when gringo tourists use it, trust me, you get their attention.

One example - Last year while vacationing in Mexico, a friend we had made that lives there dropped in at our condo with his wife and infant son. I'm not fluent in Spanish, but I do my best and use as much as possible. Despite my efforts, my friend's wifes expression showed she didn't really want to be there. I approached her, and said "bah-sch kah wah-lee?" Her face lit up like a candle, and she smiled from ear to ear! "Mix ba!", she replied. She was then engaged, and her demeanor did a 180. Just a little Mayan can go a long way.

I've been traveling to Mexico and exploring the off-the-beaten-path places for many years. In 2017 we'll be visiting a number of places that we've not yet seen. My friend there will continue to teach me more Mayan, and I'll do my best to use it.

Ka mah sik Malo Kiin! Taak tu lakin!

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

I've been traveling to Mexico and exploring the off-the-beaten-path places for many years. In 2017 we'll be visiting a number of places that we've not yet seen. My friend there will continue to teach me more Mayan, and I'll do my best to use it.

Ka mah sik Malo Kiin! Taak tu lakin!

The problem is that there isn't one Mayan language. You have to know the Mayan for the area where you are!!!

It makes things interesting. When I was in Guatemala the group needed one person to translate from English to Spanish, then another person to translate from Spanish to the local Mayan tongue.

A couple of months ago we were at a fund-raising dinner, in which the speaker was a young woman from the northern mountains in Guatemala. She was relaying her story in Spanish, and it was being translated to English. DW, who speaks only a smattering of Spanish, commented that she could figure much of what the speaker was saying without the translator. I was able to understand every word of it, which is difficult for me in conversation with native speakers.

I noted to DW that we could understand her because like us she was speaking Spanish as a second language. Also, because she learned Spanish during her education, the Spanish that she was taught was middle class Spanish, not the street Spanish we hear most often in the US.

 

[Phydeaux]

Mayan is no different than any other language on earth. Yes, there are various dialects. Thanks Captain!

 

[am1]

Even in Florida, I surprise people by speaking spanish to people who do not speak english. Yesterday it was the lady sweeping the floor at Walmart. I asked in english, she said no english so I asked in spanish and my question was answered. Or other times when speaking in spanish and the person only speaks a few words of spanish. For me that is awkward but I do not know how they feel.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Mayan is no different than any other language on earth. Yes, there are various dialects. Thanks Captain!

Not just dialects. More like the differences between Spanish and Portugese or between Swedish and German. In the mountains of Guate it is not uncommon for people from different villages to have great difficulties communicating unless they both speak Spanish.

As Spanish literacy increases - since Spanish is taught in the grade schools - Spanish often becomes the linking language instead of Mayan. Often, however, education is thought of as being primarily for boys. Historically girls have either been pulled from school early by their families, or if they did stay in school they didn't receive the same instruction that boys did.

So it is common to go into villages where the men and boys speak Spanish, but the adult women and a significant number of the young girls speak only the native Mayan tongue.

Some people I have spoken with indicate the language problem is a big issue in providing health care and support services and education for women in the small villages. The information needs to be provided woman-to-woman, which means that you need a woman who speaks both Spanish and the local Mayan language to be the go between. It can be very hard to find that person.

 

[Phydeaux]

Not just dialects. More like the differences between Spanish and Portugese or between Swedish and German. In the mountains of Guate it is not uncommon for people from different villages to have great difficulties communicating unless they both speak Spanish.

As Spanish literacy increases - since Spanish is taught in the grade schools - Spanish often becomes the linking language instead of Mayan. Often, however, education is thought of as being primarily for boys. Historically girls have either been pulled from school early by their families, or if they did stay in school they didn't receive the same instruction that boys did.

So it is common to go into villages where the men and boys speak Spanish, but the adult women and a significant number of the young girls speak only the native Mayan tongue.

Some people I have spoken with indicate the language problem is a big issue in providing health care and support services and education for women in the small villages. The information needs to be provided woman-to-woman, which means that you need a woman who speaks both Spanish and the local Mayan language to be the go between. It can be very hard to find that person.

Wow! You appear to be very experienced in the Mayan language! Perhaps you can help me...

I'd love to learn more Mayan before I return in 2017, but won't trouble you to tutor me, of course. However, if you would, could you please help me with just a one phrase? If you could tell me how to say:

Hello again my dear friend! I've missed you and am happy to see you again!

Now, if you could also share how this would be written for the dialect in the Yucatan as well as the Pacific West (Guaymas region, or as close to that area as you can).

Meent' uts!!

Addendum - meant to add, my friend in Mexico that is teaching me Mayan explained that his children are taught Mayan and English in their school.

Ka mah sik Malo Kiin!

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Wow! You appear to be very experienced in the Mayan language! Perhaps you can help me...

I'd love to learn more Mayan before I return in 2017, but won't trouble you to tutor me, of course. However, if you would, could you please help me with just a one phrase? If you could tell me how to say:

Hello again my dear friend! I've missed you and am happy to see you again!

Now, if you could also share how this would be written for the dialect in the Yucatan as well as the Pacific West (Guaymas region, or as close to that area as you can).

Meent' uts!!

Addendum - meant to add, my friend in Mexico that is teaching me Mayan explained that his children are taught Mayan and English in their school.

Ka mah sik Malo Kiin!

Sorry. I speak no Mayan. I've picked up a few phrases for trips, but I've forgotten those little bits. But I have close friends who have been involved in northern Guate for over 20 years, and we have talked about the challenges that they have faced.

I can say with certainty that the phrase you are looking at will have combinations of letters that are totally unpronounceable in English.

 

[Phydeaux]

Sorry. I speak no Mayan. I've picked up a few phrases for trips, but I've forgotten those little bits. But I have close friends who have been involved in northern Guate for over 20 years, and we have talked about the challenges that they have faced.

I can say with certainty that the phrase you are looking at will have combinations of letters that are totally unpronounceable in English.

I checked with one of my Mayan buddies, resident in Mexico. He seems to disagree with you and your friends.

Here's his reply: "El maya solo canbia un poco y no creo tener problema para hablarlo"

Ka manseche' ma'lob kiin.

 

[bobpark56]

Even Spanish has its dialects

Even Spanish has its dialects. I have been told that villagers in the Costa del Sol hill towns experience some difficulties when talking with people from Madrid. And don't forget the Spain-Mexico disparities. There are many.

 

[Phydeaux]

Even Spanish has its dialects. I have been told that villagers in the Costa del Sol hill towns experience some difficulties when talking with people from Madrid. And don't forget the Spain-Mexico disparities. There are many.

There are differences in Spanish in Spain! For example, Catalan is different than Madrid Spanish. When traveling throughout Spain and Portugal with my rep, a resident of Barcelona, German heritage fluent in 7 languages, she schooled me on some of the differences in language throughout Spain. Although I couldn't tell, she explained she was speaking a different language when we left Barcelona and landed in Madrid. (She could jump from German, to English, to Portuguese, to Spanish, to French without missing a beat! Impressed the hell out of me).

As mentioned earlier, every language on earth has various dialects. The topic then became whether or not the variances in Mayan dialect would contribute to a difficulty in their communications. My Mayan friend settled it - his response was essentially, no it wouldn't.

 

[buceo]

... The topic then became whether or not the variances in Mayan dialect would contribute to a difficulty in their communications. My Mayan friend settled it - his response was essentially, no it wouldn't.

Quoting "a friend" does not settle anything. I took a quick look on my-friend -the-internet. Wikipedia goes into a lot of detail, they also include the chart linked to in the summary below by a purported native speaker.

Wikipedia posts: Mayan languages are spoken by more than 6 million people. Most of them live in Guatemala where depending on estimates 40%-60% of the population speaks a Mayan language. In Mexico the Mayan speaking population was estimated at 2,5 million people

Can one mayan understand another - Yahoo Answers Results

Best Answer: No, they are not. I natively speak a Mayan language. Although some words are similar, especially for animals, numbers, colors, and even some phrases, from other Mayan regions/languages/branches (I cannot understand most of it).

Some Mayan languages are more related to others, and belong to a specific branch, where people can sort of understand each other but will sometime have difficulty. While some are further apart, different branches, where speakers will not understand each other. Yucatec and K'iche are from different branches, so Yucatec speakers will not understand K'iche speakers.

If you look at this pic, it shows which Mayan languages are more related to the other. If they're a different color that means they will not understand each other.

Besides my specific language, I can understand 3 others Mayan languages that are closely related. But if you know one language you can probably pick up another one from other branches faster than say someone who only speaks European languages, since pronunciations and some words are similar.

 

[Karen G]

this thread is closed

Gee, every time I think "it's kind of quiet on the Mexico forum" something happens to prove me wrong.

This thread has certainly gone off the rails so we're done with this discussion.