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dragonlady7via http://ift.tt/1O83yfL:Wanted: Speakers Of Mayan Languages, Many Of Them:
magickedteacup:
Jayro Ivan Velazquez is 9 years old. I meet him and his mother Hilda on a sunny day in a dark living room of a shelter for migrant women and children. She apologizes for his bowl-shaped haircut, but it’s as cute as he is.
They’ve lived in Texas for a year, but Jayro been trying to forget his native language, Mam, for much longer than that. The bullying started, he says, when he began elementary school in Guatemala City. Hilda would pick him up and speak to him in Mam — the only language she knew back then.
“They said that language is made-up” Jayro says. They’d tell him: “‘Your mother speaks an ugly language.’ ”
was poking around on the google; @bomberqueen17 : relevant to mutual interests? /o/
Yes, I noticed at one point a mention that one of the largest collections of Guatemalans is in the US– and in fact, the money they send home is one of the driving forces of the Guatemalan economy– and of those, more than half are Mayan-speakers. It’s fascinating!
magickedteacup:
Jayro Ivan Velazquez is 9 years old. I meet him and his mother Hilda on a sunny day in a dark living room of a shelter for migrant women and children. She apologizes for his bowl-shaped haircut, but it’s as cute as he is.
They’ve lived in Texas for a year, but Jayro been trying to forget his native language, Mam, for much longer than that. The bullying started, he says, when he began elementary school in Guatemala City. Hilda would pick him up and speak to him in Mam — the only language she knew back then.
“They said that language is made-up” Jayro says. They’d tell him: “‘Your mother speaks an ugly language.’ ”
was poking around on the google; @bomberqueen17 : relevant to mutual interests? /o/
Yes, I noticed at one point a mention that one of the largest collections of Guatemalans is in the US– and in fact, the money they send home is one of the driving forces of the Guatemalan economy– and of those, more than half are Mayan-speakers. It’s fascinating!
