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Thank you for that. I would really like to look more into the take archaeologists and anthropologists have regarding the Anasazi/Ancient Puebloans. As a teenager of the 60's and young adult of the 70's the Anasazi had legendary status via books and white man charlatans.
It is something that people forget, if you want to learn a native language you also have to learn their way of thinking. It is why so many things translated into English are wrong, misunderstood...
I am relearning Spanish for a trip to Spain this fall. I had four semesters in college and was good at it. But I didn't use it for fifty-plus years except on very rare occasions. I am surprised at how it comes back. But at my 75 years, and with some hearing loss, it is still very difficult to converse. I am a much better reader.
I think the concepts of the native languages are usually unrecognized by non-native speakers. Most of us are so far into modern or urban life, and so far removed from our one-time tribal roots that we can't grasp some of the concepts. We all came from some indigenous group somewhere very close the natural world, but we lost the notion of a natural soul and took on the cloak of possession and capital leverage.
How exciting, SunGrins. Be sure to report back to us some experiences and thoughts on your trip.
When we think about how nuanced the English language is and how difficult it must be for people to learn English and understand nuance and colloquialisms, it's amazing that many people are quadrilingual or even higher. I've always been interested in languages. When I lived in San Francisco for many years, I had quite a few friends from foreign countries. I was amazed at how well they spoke and understood English.
I've been very interested in Southwest Indians from an early age. People might think I'm nuts but I think it's at least partially related to a past life. I have dreams about it and I feel completely at home in the desert and the surrounding mountains of the 5 states involved in the SW Indian nations. In fact now that I'm far away from that area, I have pined for it. I don't think I'd ever be able to understand Navajo but I'm starting to pick up a few words and/or sounds from listening to Wally Brown.
By the way, in last night's video (7/25/23) that came out I noticed that Wally seemed a bit... I'm not sure what the right word is. Perhaps tense. He and his son took a lot of heat within the past 2 weeks about what he's said about the Anasazi. It's fascinating to listen to Wally explain how the words Anasazi and Navajo and many other words developed over time, and what the root words/sounds were.
I am relearning Spanish for a trip to Spain this fall. I had four semesters in college and was good at it. But I didn't use it for fifty-plus years except on very rare occasions. I am surprised at how it comes back. But at my 75 years, and with some hearing loss, it is still very difficult to converse. I am a much better reader.
I think the concepts of the native languages are usually unrecognized by non-native speakers. Most of us are so far into modern or urban life, and so far removed from our one-time tribal roots that we can't grasp some of the concepts. We all came from some indigenous group somewhere very close the natural world, but we lost the notion of a natural soul and took on the cloak of possession and capital leverage.
Yes, I understand. I hadn't used my spanish after I got out of the army 45 years ago until my grandson started in a language intensive international school that taught in spanish. He spent 4 years in that school and is now in a performing arts school so I probably won't use my spanish much again. And it does come back, for me it is also easier to read and write than to speak it. I have watched the news on Telemundo and one guy I dataed when I was in my 40's liked to watch soccer games on television so he wanted me to translate the narraters. LOL
I was at a rodeo on the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico back in the early 70's. Things were getting quite rowdy in the crowd and behind the bucking chutes as the locals were arguing and egging each other on to make their 8 seconds in the up-coming events when it was time for the Star-Spangled-Banner. Everyone was getting louder and louder as the announcer was beseeching them in English to show respect. Finally, someone came on the loud-speaker and said about 3 sentences in Apache and after that you could have heard a pin drop.
In that part of the Tularosa basin Spanish speaking Americans whose ancestors had lived there hundreds of years had some local words that I talked to other Mexican-Americans from other parts of the country about and the definitions were definitely not the same. It is sad to see people's identities as defined by their local languages fade away. Hopefully youngsters will step in and pick up the torch. I really miss that part of New Mexico.
"For more than 400 years, the mountains of northern New Mexico have cradled a dialect of Spanish that exists nowhere else on earth. Now, the sound of the language is fading from the towns where it once flourished. The New York Times's Simon Romero reported on this recently and spoke to KUNM about the language he grew up with and what future he sees for it."
Having lived in Spain AND Mexico as well as in northern New Mexico, and speaking the language fluently, I can tell you that the pronunciation and inflection of the 16th century Spanish one hears in northern New Mexico is much closer to the Castilian Spanish one hears in Spain than to anything one hears in Mexico. The sound of it is different, as well as the delivery, the emphasis on certain parts of a sentence, etc. The Castilian Spanish one hears in Madrid, for example, is harsh sounding and Madrileños almost sound rude and disapproving, tones and inflections more like what one hears in northern New Mexico. Mexican Spanish is more musical and friendly-sounding, given to slang-y words and corruptions of the language.
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