First crack at Kaqchikel

Most students who study Spanish here in Guate average four hours a day of one-on-one instruction. Kaqchikel lessons, though, max out at two-hour increments. Yesterday, I discovered why.

Kaqchikel is one of some 22 or 23 distinct Mayan languages spoken by indigenous people here in Guatemala. It sounds like some combination of Spanish, Hebrew, French, popping, clicking, swallowing, clearing your throat and speaking with a candy in your mouth. (To clarify, this is indeed a pleasant sound). It's common to the areas in which we are travelling, and I thought it would be nice to know some basic greetings when visiting Friendship Bridge clients or chatting with the people around me. Many people in the cities speak Spanish plus an indigenous language.

I love learning new languages (or "collecting" them, as a friend once said) and usually pick things up pretty quick. I thought that I had a pretty good ear for subtleties in languages, perhaps even a head start thanks to my many Jewish friends who have taught me to "hhhuch" -- until yesterday, when I spent about 10 minutes trying to correctly pronounce "good afternoon."

I just couldn’t get it out and couldn't hear what I was doing wrong. We went back and forth:

Gregorio: Good afternoon
Cara: Good afternoon.
Gregorio: No. Good afternooooon.
Cara: Good afternoooooon.
Gregorio: Good. Af-ter-noooooon.
Cara: Good. Af-ter-nooooon.
Gregorio: No.
Cara: Good afternoon.
Gregorio: Si!
Cara: Good afternoon.
Gregorio: No...

In my defense, though, I wasn't just talking jibberish: with the slight adjustments I was apparently making, my teacher Gregorio told me my pronunciation of, "I'm going to hit the table" was perfect.

He also got a big kick out of my attempt at "good morning," or as I like to say, "You have big horns."

After the first hour, we had to take a break. We both needed a glass of water for our sore throats. I did have some success, however, and it is fun to practice. People are really tickled when you try to speak Kaqchikel (probably because I am talking all kinds of nonsense).

My new nickname is "Palaj" which means "face" (just like "cara" does in Spanish).

Here's a video I found on the world wide web for you to hear how it's really done.

http://youtu.be/kTByrFmp1IM

I will keep you all posted on my progress.