“A lot of Spanish speaking indigenous people of Mexico always tend to say to me, “I see you writing & speaking Nahuatl. I wish I spoke, Nahuatl, too!”
But what they don’t know is that MOST of us, more so us that were raised in pueblos, ejidos, little villages, we already speak Nahuatl, at least a large list of words we use daily are actually Nahuatl words.
What happened is that when the Spaniards forced our ancestors to speak Spanish (or Castellano/Castilian), and prohibited us from speaking Zapotec, Mixtli, Nahuatl, Maya, etc., our people had no choice, as captives, but to speak Spanish, but in secret they still spoke their indigenous tongue among each other.
Our ancestors believed that it was very important to speak our tongue (regardless what tongue it is, as long as it’s indigenous to you) and that is why they continued speaking it, even if with time it watered down some, the fact remains that our ancestors passed it on.
A lot of us that were born, and raised in, or by parents raised in villages, pueblitos, ejidos, we are speaking Nahuatl meanwhile we speak Spanish.
Don’t believe me? I’m going to write down a few words for you in Nahuatl, and you’ll be shocked as to how you thought you were speaking Spanish, but in reality you were speaking Nahuatl:
Spanish/Nahuatl:
Aguacate - Ahuacatl
Camote - Camotli
Chayote - Chayotli
Chapopote - Chapopotli
Chipotli - Xipotli
Coyote - Coyotl
Atole - Atolli
Cacahuate - Tlacucahuatl
Elote -Elotl
Huarache - Kwarachi
Jicama - Xicamatl
Mescal - Mexcalli
Guajolote - Wuehxolotl
Comal - Comalli
Chiquito - Tzitz Quit (pronounced Chiqui)
Mecate - Mecatl
Popote - Popotl
Pozole - Potzolli
Papalote - Papalotl
Mole - Molli
Milpa - Milpa
Mezquite - Mizquitl
Jitomate - Xictomatl
Chocolate - Xocolatl
These are just a few that we use on a daily basis, but most of what we say is really Nahuatl, at times Zapotec, Mixtli, and other Native tongues, and that’s why when you go to Spain, or even attend a school in Mexico, you might even fail a Spanish class because, We speak Nahuatl mixed with some Spanish, and we owe all thanks to our ancestors that were so dedicated in passing down our tongue.
I hope that empowered you, and gave you pride as well!” - credit to (Ricardo Ignacio)
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