Re:Náhuatl and Mayan Language Renaissance Occurring in Mexico
by stmichel on Friday May 16, 2025 @01:24PM
(#44007886)
I couldn't have written a better response than this, absolutely fantastic.
Re:Náhuatl and Mayan Language Renaissance Occurring in Mexico
by myth_drannon on Friday May 16, 2025 @02:49PM
(#44008678)
I was not suggesting "going back" to some sort of medieval past.
Aboriginal languages and cultures do exist and they are oppressed. They are not fictional. Oddly, your arguments sound like Putin's points on Ukraine and "fictional" Ukrainian culture. 40 years ago, they all spoke Russian, and the moment they tried to unite around an indigenous, a more deeply connected culture for them, they got attacked by a colonial power.
Re:Náhuatl and Mayan Language Renaissance Occurring in Mexico
by sarchertech on Friday May 16, 2025 @03:41PM
(#44009102)
40 years ago about 2/3 of Ukraine were native speakers of Ukrainian and primarily spoke Ukrainian at home (close to the same number as today).
A little over 1% of Mexicans speak Náhuatl (the most common indigenous language).
There is no comparison here.
If by decolonize you just mean stop oppressing minority cultures and languages then that sounds great. But decolonization is the wrong word for that.
The idea of "going back" to some kind of pre-Spanish Mexico is nonsensical, and it would entail the very negation of Mexican identity and the invention of a fictional identity. Such "decolonization" movements are ahistorical. And frankly, I doubt most Mexicans would want a "return", whatever that even means.
Of course, this is different from learning Náhuatl. And it's worth noting that the Jesuits worked to preserve the native languages of the New World. You see this with Náhuatl. You see this in Paraguay where the Jesuits immediately began codifying and preserving Guarani in their missions, and where it is still widely spoken today.