Learn A Little Bit Of Nahuatl With These Informative TikTok Language Lessons
Nahuatl is an indigenous language that has been spoken in Central Mexico since the seventh century. The language comes from the Aztec people who called southern Mexico and part of Central America home. Xochitl Hernandez is here to break down the indigenous language one TikTok video at a time.
Xochitl Hernandez is here to teach you a little bit of the Nahuatl language, starting with her name.
In the first post about the Nahuatl language, Xochitl breaks down her name, which means flower. As Xochitl explains, xochi is the word for flower and the -tl added to the end makes it a noun. It is probably best to watch the TikTok in full to get the full lesson.
Indigenous languages are having a moment as people are trying to bring back parts of their ancestral heritage. DuoLingo, the language-learning app, includes two indigenous languages in its arsenal. On the app, you can now study native Hawaiian, also known as ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, and Navajo, also known as Diné bizaad.
Of course, she teaches you how to say mom and dad.
These are two very important words in anyone’s vocabulary. The Latino family unit is one of the most important things in Latino culture. We all have family members we see regularly and talk to even if we don’t like them. Why? Because that’s just how it is because Latino families stick together.
Don’t worry. She made sure to include a lesson on possessive prefixes.
Possessive prefixes are very important. It is a way to say if something is yours, theirs, ours, etc. For the Nahuatl language, the possessive prefixes are attached to the front of the word to differentiate. It is very similar to the Spanish and English languages in how they are used and presented.
The prefixes are “no-“: my, “mo-“: your (singular), “i-“: his/hers/its, “to-“: our, “amo-“: your (plural), and “im/in-“: their.
Xochitl even broke down terminology for Día de los Muertos.
Día de los Muertos is a very popular holiday throughout Mexico and some parts of Latin America. Xochitl breaks down the most important term from Día de los Muertos, the marigold flower. The flower is commonly known as calendulas in Spanish but are called zempoalxochitl. Zempoal means 20 and xochitl means flower. So, literally is means 20 flower but Xochitl explains that it means more like flower of many petals.
Make sure you keep checking the FIERCE by mitú TikTok to keep learning some Nahuatl on your downtime.
