Why don't mexicans re-learn native Amerindian languages rather than speaking spanish? (life, country)
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right before the mexican revolution.... most mexicans spoke indigenous languages and the spanish language was rather a language for the criollo or spanish upper/middle classes sort of like it happened in the Philippines.
after the mexican revolution the indigenous languages plummeted due to the oppression of the government and mexico became a "hispanic country", apparently one of the great ideas of the revolution was to europeanize the country so that it could prosper. you can clearly see 100 years later how well shoving the spanish language down everyone's throats has worked!!!
25% of the population in mexico in 1910 spoke nahuatl, that is without counting the other many languages people spoke!!!
I think it difficult after the language died. For example in Paraguay the people are bilingual Spanish and Guarani but Guarani was always passed through generations even before they started also learn at school.
Besides what would Spaniards brag about? They are so proud they brought civilization to the new world. "the language of Cervantes"
I spent a lot of time in Spain and never heard any one say this
21st century Spaniards are so self absorbed like most other western europeans, most can hardly tell you anything about mexico.
let's not even talk about salvador, honduras etc.... most spaniards know nothing of those places!!! Many probably couldn't tell u if they speak spanish there or not!!!
right before the mexican revolution.... most mexicans spoke indigenous languages and the spanish language was rather a language for the criollo or spanish upper/middle classes sort of like it happened in the Philippines.
after the mexican revolution the indigenous languages plummeted due to the oppression of the government and mexico became a "hispanic country", apparently one of the great ideas of the revolution was to europeanize the country so that it could prosper. you can clearly see 100 years later how well shoving the spanish language down everyone's throats has worked!!!
25% of the population in mexico in 1910 spoke nahuatl, that is without counting the other many languages people spoke!!!
"Except for the Second Mexican Empire, led by the HabsburgMaximilian I, no Mexican government tried to prevent the loss of indigenous languages during the 19th century.[2]
"In 1889, Antonio GarcÃa Cubasestimated that 38% of Mexicans spoke an indigenous language, down from 60% in 1820. By the end of the 20th century, this figure had fallen to 6%.
"For most of the 20th century successive governments denied native tongues the status of valid languages. Indigenous students were forbidden to speak their native languages in school and were often punished for doing so.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
"In 2002, Mexico's constitution was amended to reinforce the nation's pluricultural nature by giving the State the obligation to protect and nurture the expressions of this diversity. On June 14, 1999, the Council of Writers in Indigenous Languages presented Congress with a document entitled "Suggested legal initiatives towards linguistic rights of indigenous peoples and communities", with the goal of beginning to protect the linguistic rights of indigenous communities. The Ley General de Derechos LingüÃsticos de los Pueblos IndÃgenas was passed in December 2002, establishing a framework for the conservation, nurturing and development of indigenous languages. Critics claim that the law's complexity makes enforcement difficult.[8][9][10][11][12]"
(My emphasis - See the URL for detail)
Yah, Spain & Mexico went back & forth on the question of native languages in Mexico. Initially, Nahuatl was the official language throughout New Spain - for 125 years (see the URL). That changed.
Mexico is mestizo, but national identity (languages, cultures, religions) is still up in the air.
I spent a lot of time in Spain and never heard any one say this
21st century Spaniards are so self absorbed like most other western europeans, most can hardly tell you anything about mexico.
let's not even talk about salvador, honduras etc.... most spaniards know nothing of those places!!! Many probably couldn't tell u if they speak spanish there or not!!!
Well it was nice meeting you. See you in your next City Data life
I have heard some Spaniards say that. It's usually those who still think Franco was a great leader. Like here in the US, Spaniards also have their alt-right idiots who think their nation is exceptional.
Mexico would dissappear as we know it. What keeps Mexico united is, in fact, its Spanish heritage.
There's probably a map somewhere in the web that shows what the land currently under Mexican control would had politically looked like if the thousands of indigenous ethnicities and societies would had maintained their languages/culture/political control.
Then there is the issue of practicality. Spanish is one of the top 5 languages in the world. That comes in handy for business and international commercial exchange. Countries with very unique languages is great from a folkloric point of view, but not so practical in the greater scheme of things.
Mexico also has a tremendous influence in many areas of Spanish America (Mexican novelas are seen everywhere and when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere; many popular shows from Mexico City are also well known through out the Spanish-speaking world. For example, go to any group of Spanish speaking people, regardless from what country they are from, and if you ask them who El Chavo del Ocho was, everyone will know). Mexico's influence is so strong, that in many parts of the world when people think of Latin America they actually are thinking of Mexico, but they think the whole region is like Mexico and everyone is Mexican. That has been possible because of Mexico's Spanish heritage and would had been impossible with the indigenous and whatever other cultures that might exist or has influenced Mexican society. The reason is very simple, the territory currently united under one Mexican government came under one government thanks to the Spaniards. Before they arrived, the land currently Mexican was never under one government and the cultural/linguistic differences among the indigenous people was so great that even today geneticists are finding that there is greater genetic diversity among Mexican indigenous groups than among Europeans. That right there is a testament to how divided what is now Mexico was for centuries and how little contact the different indigenous societies had with each other, to the point that they hardly intermarried and everyone kept to themselves.
Lastly, the vast majority of Mexicans are real mestizos (mixed people) with more than a few drops of Spanish blood in them. This means that when the vast majority of Mexicans speak Spanish, they are actually speaking their language (not just due to being taught the language, but because the language was passed down to them from the very first Spanish people in their bloodlines). Mexico isn't like the Phillipines, because unlike in the Phillipines in Mexico most people do have Spanish heritage in their blood too. Filipinos are text book colonized people (a group of people imposed a culture that has nothing to do with them) and probably explains why it was so easy for them to almost forget the Spanish language (although not the Catholic faith and other Spanish influences). While most Filipinos think they have some Spanish in them, in reality most don't. Now Mexicans, the vast majority do.
I glanced at the two links in the OP and I have yet to see any of the statistics he/she wrote in the OP. For example, he/she claims that in 1910 25% of Mexico's population spoke an indigenous language and the majority of those spoke an Aztec language. The problem is that in the links he/she provided claims that only 13% of Mexicans spoke an indigenous language in 1910 and the majority of those spoke either náhuatl, otomi, maya, mixteco or zapoteco languages. What is up with that?
The OP is not interested in facts. The OP is interested in shoving the same ol' theories down people throats on here all the time.
Quote:
Mexico's influence is so strong, that in many parts of the world when people think of Latin America they actually are thinking of Mexico, but they think the whole region is like Mexico and everyone is Mexican.
LOL I think that is the OP's problem. While I understand people being proud of their nationality. The OP (Irene) goes overboard on here trying to prove how different she is to Mexicans, to the point where she seems desperate.
Mexico would dissappear as we know it. What keeps Mexico united is, in fact, its Spanish heritage.
There's probably a map somewhere in the web that shows what the land currently under Mexican control would had politically looked like if the thousands of indigenous ethnicities and societies would had maintained their languages/culture/political control.
Then there is the issue of practicality. Spanish is one of the top 5 languages in the world. That comes in handy for business and international commercial exchange. Countries with very unique languages is great from a folkloric point of view, but not so practical in the greater scheme of things.
Mexico also has a tremendous influence in many areas of Spanish America (Mexican novelas are seen everywhere and when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere; many popular shows from Mexico City are also well known through out the Spanish-speaking world. For example, go to any group of Spanish speaking people, regardless from what country they are from, and if you ask them who El Chavo del Ocho was, everyone will know). Mexico's influence is so strong, that in many parts of the world when people think of Latin America they actually are thinking of Mexico, but they think the whole region is like Mexico and everyone is Mexican. That has been possible because of Mexico's Spanish heritage and would had been impossible with the indigenous and whatever other cultures that might exist or has influenced Mexican society. The reason is very simple, the territory currently united under one Mexican government came under one government thanks to the Spaniards. Before they arrived, the land currently Mexican was never under one government and the cultural/linguistic differences among the indigenous people was so great that even today geneticists are finding that there is greater genetic diversity among Mexican indigenous groups than among Europeans. That right there is a testament to how divided what is now Mexico was for centuries and how little contact the different indigenous societies had with each other, to the point that they hardly intermarried and everyone kept to themselves.
Lastly, the vast majority of Mexicans are real mestizos (mixed people) with more than a few drops of Spanish blood in them. This means that when the vast majority of Mexicans speak Spanish, they are actually speaking their language (not just due to being taught the language, but because the language was passed down to them from the very first Spanish people in their bloodlines). Mexico isn't like the Phillipines, because unlike in the Phillipines in Mexico most people do have Spanish heritage in their blood too. Filipinos are text book colonized people (a group of people imposed a culture that has nothing to do with them) and probably explains why it was so easy for them to almost forget the Spanish language (although not the Catholic faith and other Spanish influences). While most Filipinos think they have some Spanish in them, in reality most don't. Now Mexicans, the vast majority do.
I glanced at the two links in the OP and I have yet to see any of the statistics he/she wrote in the OP. For example, he/she claims that in 1910 25% of Mexico's population spoke an indigenous language and the majority of those spoke an Aztec language. The problem is that in the links he/she provided claims that only 13% of Mexicans spoke an indigenous language in 1910 and the majority of those spoke either náhuatl, otomi, maya, mixteco or zapoteco languages. What is up with that?
Excellent post.
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Some history
