“Untranslatable” indigenous words help Mexico promote multilingualism

Words cannot always be translated from one language to another. On many occasions they carry a deep meaning that has to do with the worldview and ancestral wealth of a culture.

This is the case of the word Ch’ulel, which comes from the Tzeltal* language and refers to the set of knowledge and beliefs that inhabit people and traditional objects. Chiulel is not something innate, but is given over time to experiences.

This is how the project called “untranslatable”, which with a book and a graphic exhibition brings together 68 everyday words from 33 languages ​​of the original peoples of Mexico that do not have a translation into Spanish. To understand them, you have to describe them.

“We did this with the aim of promoting interest and respect for the cultural and linguistic wealth of Mexico, so that people know that, in this country, in addition to Spanish, 364 linguistic variants are spoken, 68 languages ​​and that each word This exhibition reflects a whole worldview and a way of thinking,” said the Zapotec poet Irma Pineda, a forerunner of this project, in an interview with UN Mexico.

Pineda, who was also the representative of indigenous peoples for Latin America and the Caribbean before the UN, assured that the words were chosen through a call in which people whose mother tongue is an indigenous language were invited to send their proposals. .

These words are part of everyday life and they are the means of communication for millions of people who speak indigenous languages ​​in Mexico.

Words that are a gift

The work “Intraducibles” has the participation of the Mexican Institute of Culture in Houston, the Santillana publishing house, the Office of the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) in Mexico and the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico, through the National Institute of Indigenous Languages ​​(INALI).

“The people who sent in untranslatable words in their native languages ​​are giving us a great gift. It is worth reviewing this work because it is an inter-institutional and cultural collaboration that promotes multilingualism and helps preserve Mexico’s linguistic heritage”, assured in an interview with the United Nations Office in Mexico, Iván León Javier, Nahuatl poet and director of language policies at INALI.

The United Nations commemorates International Mother Language Day on February 21 and this 2023 the theme is: “Multilingual education, the need to transform education”.

According to León Javier, this day is extremely important because it puts on the table the discussion of creating and implementing public policies that guarantee the linguistic rights of Mexicans.

According to official figures, in Mexico there are almost seven million speakers of some indigenous language and more than 25 million Mexicans recognize themselves as indigenous.

A project that promotes inclusion

The “Untranslatable” project describes and explains 68 words that are written for people of any age, with quality and warmth.

The Office of the Unesco In Mexico, he made calls to dozens of universities in the country to make the illustrations of each word.

The UN agency considers that multilingual education based on the mother tongue facilitates access and inclusion in learning for population groups that speak non-dominant languages, languages ​​of minority groups and indigenous languages.

The exhibition “Untraducibles” will travel throughout Mexico and the book is accessible to anyone. It can be downloaded free of charge from the INALI website, which in turn has printed 4,000 copies of this first edition to be distributed free of charge.

International Mother Language Day

Education based on the mother tongue is essential to contribute to the full development of the individual and transmit the linguistic heritage. Despite this, the 40 % of the world’s students do not have access to education in the language they speak or understand best.

This situation constitutes a serious obstacle to learning, cultural expression and the construction of social ties, and profoundly weakens the linguistic heritage of humanity, according to the director of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO).

“The most important thing is to achieve a more general awareness of the value, as irreplaceable as it is fragile, of the world’s linguistic and cultural diversity. Each of the more than 7,000 languages ​​that Humanity speaks contains a unique conception of the world, of things and of beings, a way of thinking and feeling, to the point that each disappearance of a language constitutes an irreparable loss”, says Audrey Azouley.

According to the UN agency, children who learn in the language they speak at home are 30% more likely to understand what they read when they finish primary school than those who do not speak the language of instruction. In addition, teaching in the mother tongue improves their social skills.

In this context, Azouley points out, the International Decade of Indigenous Languages ​​(2022-2032) provides an important opportunity for the international community to mobilize in order to safeguard a considerable part of the world’s cultural diversity.

That is also the objective of this International Day: to celebrate these ways of expressing the world in its multiplicity, to commit to the preservation of the diversity of languages ​​as a common heritage and to work for universal education in the mother tongue.

*The name Tzeltal, historically used by the Mexican population, designates an indigenous group and a set of closely related indigenous languages. Said name is the Spanish form of tseltal, which in the language itself means person who walks sideways. The speakers of Tzeltal languages ​​call their language bats’il k’op, which means true word. This group calls itself bats’il win (source Tzeltal : Indigenous languages ​​Mexico : Cultural Information System-Secretary of Culture (sic.gob.mx) )