I spent 4 weeks in Guatemala to learn THIS Mayan language

I thought I was just learning a language, but I got so much more.. thanks to Gáspar, Imelda, Axuwaan, Jasy, Carol, Aracely, and everyone else that made this experience possible 🤲 I'll be back next year!

The Tz'utujil language is a Mayan language spoken by some 70,000 people in southwest Guatemala, specifically around Lake Atitlán and its surrounding areas. The Academia de Lenguas Mayas is a Guatemalan organization founded in 1990 that regulates the use and teaching of Guatemala's 22 Mayan languages. I'm so honored to have gotten private classes and learn so much about the Tz'utujil language, culture, and cosmology.

*some disclaimers: I'm not an expert on Indigenous languages or history, I'm simply a person that wanted to get to know a side of Guatemala that was suppressed for so many years. If you try to learn an Indigenous language, make sure it's alongside actual Indigenous people and benefits their communities, not taking away from it. :)

00:00 what is Tz'utujil?
2:40 The Guatemalan Civil War (Conflicto Armado)
3:58 How I got started in Tz'utujil
4:30 Learning letters I can't pronounce (yet)
8:32 practicing Tz'utujil at the market (k'ayibal)
10:37 Learning place names and new verbs!
15:55 I GOT INVITED TO A BABY SHOWER IN TZ'UTUJIL
17:45 Tz'utujil word order is crazy!
20:26 Hanging out with Axuwaan (Johan)
22:07 How they create new words in Tz'utujil
23:21 Wise words from Axuwaan
23:40 She learned to write it after 20+ years of speaking
24:14 Jasy explains the expressiveness of Tz'utujil
26:22 My last class and closing thoughts...

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💌 about me: my name is Elysse, I'm 22 years old from the southern U.S. I've been learning languages for about 8 years, and I speak English (native), Spanish (C2), German (B2/C1), Portuguese (B2), French (B1/B2), American Sign Language (advanced), and Turkish (A1). I'm interested in learning Hebrew, Chinese, Georgian, and maybe Náhuatl as well :)

#polyglot #guatemala #indigenouslanguages

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