Speaking Nahuatl, part #6 of a video recording

English: Ariel Neptali is our youngest son
Spanish: Arkiel Nepatli es nuestra hijo menor
Nahuatl: Oriel es san mas pilentain

Speaking Nahuatl, part #5 of a video recording

English: Fabiola is our daughter
Spanish: Fabiola es nuestra hija
Nahuatl: yen huan tocone sihuatl

Speaking Nahuatl, part #4 of a video recording

English: Victor is our oldest son
Spanish: Victor es nuestra hijo mayor
Nahuatl: Victor yenhuan tocone yecoyotl

Speaking Nahuatl, part #3 of a video recording

English: Octavia is the mother of this family
Spanish: Octavia es madre del familia
Nahuatl: Octavia yehua nantli de chanecacame

Speaking Nahuatl, part #2 of a video recording

English: I am the father of this family.
Spanish: Soy padre del familia.
Nahuatl: nahuan nitlati de chanecacahuan

Speaking Nahuatl, part #8 of a video recording

c

English: See you later
Spanish: hasta luego
Nahuatl: totasque

Introduction of Nahuatl speaking famiy, part 1 of 8

English: This is the family of Tomas Jimenez.
Spanish: Es La Familia de Tomas Jimenez;
Nahuatl: ichanecahuan

Speaking Nahuatl #1

Un Tonalli, El Sol, the Sun, once malinalli for those using ritual calendar.

Painting, Nahuatl text, Spanish text by Tomas Jimenez from Guerrero who
has many happy memories of life in the countryside.

Nahuatl: Se telpacatzin kinhuican iborregos xtlahuacan yehuan itekiyo nochi Tonaltii xpacame llehuen itempa atl kitequi xochitl un llehuanmen oquitlatiquen aman cuican ipan incha. Unsequime coconen tlapilohuan.

Spanish: Un nino llevan al campo los borregos. Este es su trabajo todos las dias, hay senoritas que van a la orilla de rio a cortar flores lo que ellas plantaron para llevar a casa y otros ninos pescando con el anzuelo.

English: A child takes sheep to the fields. This is his work every day, there are girls who go to the edge of the river to cut flowers that they planted for taking to the house. Other boys are fishing with fishing hooks.

Un macehualti de un calpa

Painting, Nahuatl text, Spanish text by Tomas Jimenez from Guerrero who
has many happy memories of life in the countryside.

Nahuatl: Un masehualti de un calpa llehue campa atl para concuisque un tlin conisique ipan incha, inima ica tlatequisque xtla quipiya tliinca ritlilanasque un atl pura campa incha. Un tlacame comantica untlama oinqui conkui tlicontli.

Spanish: La gente del pueblo van al rio para traer agua tanto para tomar y regar las plantas que ellos tiene porque no hay agua potable en este lugar. Los hombres ellos aveces van a pescar o ir a la lena.

Englsh: The people of the town go to the river to take water for drinking and watering the plants that they have because there is no potable water at this place. The men themselves sometimes go fishing or to the wood.

Time of harvest, painted from memories of October.

Painting, Nahuatl text, Spanish text by Tomas Jimenez from Guerrero who
has many happy memories of life in the countryside.

Nahuatl: aman tlacuilos un tin otlan

tacome niman sihuame pehua tlacui, tequiti tepec mestli octubre icuac un masehualme pehua kitequi ajonli, nopahuehuiya imihuan ichanecanhua ipan un tequitl.

Spanish: Es tiempo de la sega

Ahora hombres y mujeres empieza a recojer la cosecha, trabajando en el campo. Es el mes de octubre cuando la gente empieza a cortar el ajojonli. Se apoyan todo la familia para el trabajo.

English: The time of harvest

At this time men and women begin to collect the harvest, working in the field. It is the month of October when people start to cut the sesame. All the family helps in the work.

Xihuitl 9 Tecpatl, Trecena 1 Ehecatl, Tonalli 7 tochtli, 5 March 2008 Two pigs, one turtle

Nahuatl: Ome pitzi, Cem ayotzi
Spanish: Dos cerdos, Uno tortuga
English Two pigs, one turtle

This is the first three animals that I intended to offer for sale on E-Bay. They are made in guerrero by native wood carvers and then decorated by artisan Tomas Jimenez from Oapan, Guerrero.

Well, Maybe they will be offered. They cost me $10.00 US dollars each. I bought them because this hard working artist-father is providing resources for three children to have an education in the public schools in San Miguel de Allende. The public schools mandate uniforms and books before the free education is provided. His children speak Nahuatl at home and Spanish at school.

I once had an account on E-Bay. Time has passed and memories have faded. I may just keep these animals! You can place a comment on the blog if you want them.

1 Ehecatl, 28 feb 2008, Manzanita in Bloom

Nahuatl:
English: Flowers of Manzanita
Spanish: Flores de Manzanita

This tree is in the inner patio of Callejon Valle de Maiz #5A San Miguel de Allende, Gto.

The observation of natural events; toltec wisdom.

The pictures on this blog demonstrate careful observation of natural events which are at the root of Toltec wisdom. the pictures also provide a starting place for learning the Nahuatl language. The pictures and definitions can be used as a picture dictionary, a 'pictionary'.

Nimili in ocachi niquitzinin de nochten

In Spanish: La milpa mia es la mas chica de todo.
In English: My field is the smallest of all.

This complicated caption was assisted by one of my dictionaries which had an example on page 180 of a complete expression. I have only changed 'nehua' to 'nimili'. This dictionary has been very useful because of the numerous phrases that demonstrate use of the words. The key word providing this phrase was 'quitzinin' which I found in the spanish-to-nahuatl section of the book under the word 'pequeno'. This illustrates the geat utility of this dictionary which has no English but can be used with an English-to-Spanish list of key words.

This is also a picture of my rooftop photographic laboratory that provides the model seeds sprouting at the end of February 2008.

13 Cipactli, 27 Feb 2008, Bean sprouting

The day is 13 Cipactli, 27 Feb. 2008 and the bean is sprouting. It was planted with the corn
and today was its first appearance.

13 Cipactli, 27 Feb 2008, Cherry tree blossom is beginning.

The Cherry tree blossom is beginning. Click on the picture and the entire image will appear. You can scroll to see a larger view of the flower bud and baby leaves.

AMATEUR LINGUISTICS IN MEXICO

I visited Mexico for many years and then purchased a home in Rosarito Beach, Baja California after a marriage with Nancy, the third major love of my life. The home in La Jolla had been sold and Mexico offered a comfortable residence that I could purchase without a mortgage. Nancy loved Mexico and we decided that love for Mexico would be a complement to our marriage so we both admitted that we have a three part love.

It became important to improve our language skills in order to understand the words used by residents who share the country of our joint love. I soon learned that I think without words. It was difficult to find words in Spanish that would express my thoughts that were easily discussed in English. My thoughts remained trapped without words to express them. We are still practicing for more and better ability in the Spanish language.

I was retired but Nancy was still minister of a church so she retained her townhouse in San Diego. We started to live on both sides of the border and learned to cope with the legal border as well as the linguistics barrier. I was in love, an amateur, helpless in the grip of linguistics as well as border guards. I learned to tolerate border guards but I still am engaged with the science of linguistics. I resist any feeling of helplessness by ra-assigning the energy provided by my retirement from the workforce.

I have a healthy curiosity, along with Nancy. We sometimes try to explain our love for Mexico. At other times we just enjoy it especially since she sold her townhouse and bought a home in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. We now live in central colonial Mexico. Easy living was the hook and a fine view was the line that drew us here where we now live.

My curiosity brought me into the study of Mexican culture and then study of the words recorded by the early explorers of Mexico. Cortez and his military expedition in search of gold were first. They were soon accompanied by a group of Catholic scholars that recorded the fluent Nahuatl teachings in Spanish letters for King Carlos of Spain who wanted to know the thoughts of his new subjects. Some of the words written in Spanish letters survived the perilous voyages to Spain but many of the surviving manuscripts were captured. I thought that the surviving words would be the key that would unlock the ancient secrets that fuel my love for Mexico.

My library has expaned as I read travel stories, archaeological descriptions, admired the work of ancient artists. etc.,eyc. A bibliography in the appendix shows the variety of books which I have accumulated and attempted to understand.

Surviving copies of sixteenth century manuscripts became the resources for many scholars of linguistics. My education did not include linguistics and I have become an amateur student of an extensive school of academic linguistics. This explans my dual meanings of amateur, as a lover, and as a student with no academic qualifications.

I did not admire the rules grammar when in college. I thought they were extra impediments when I already knew how to express myself in writing. The Spanish scholars of sixteenth century used their understanding of Latin grammar as they developed grammar to organize the fluent speech of Nahuatl scholars. I attempted to understand Carocci's sixteenth century Spanish book in an English translation. It is well written but it did not teach me to read the recorded Nahuatl speakers with any great facility. Then I attempted to understand the "Grammar of Classical Nahuatl by Andrews. I developed an admiration for the difficulty of understanding Nahuatl but still did not learn how to read.

I started to study " " by Lockhart and started to study " " by Sullivan. The maze became more difficult as I continued to be frustrated before reaching my goal. I discovered the " " mailing list and began e-mail communication with Anderson. He was extremely gracious with my amateur leanings and mailed a CD with many helpful sentence parts he had gleaned from many years as a professor of Linguistics. Then another friend in San Miguel made me a zerox copy of an illustrated book for self teaching of young Spanish students of Nahuatl. I can read and repeat the 300+ snippets of conversation in that book which is in a modern dialect of the still living language.

An example of my studies is included in another google document. "CUICAPEUHCAYOTL" which I found on my hard drive with creation date 07/26/2007. It was created while we were in Rosarito last year! I remembered that study while reviewing the online file of documents in Project Gutenberg. My studies continue. Another example is in anoher google document: TLAMAUIZ MAHMANI TLACECELHTIAedited on December 3, 2007 9:51 AM by Oenthomas.

Another reference
http://www.sil.org/mexico/nahuatl/guerrero/L003-PuedeHablar-nah.htm

28 Jan 2008 I went to the Ignacio Ramirez market and located the area where merchants from Guerrero have their booths. I took a copy of lesson 30 from the above referenced book in order to show the resources available for self study. There I was able to contact a speaker of Nahuatl, Florencio,who wants to consider trading his knowledge for my translations and help in speaking English. It that San Miguel de Allende has suffieient resources for study of the document referenced above by www.sil.org

Elotl in toctli, corn sprouting, el Maiz brotando

Today the new corn plant emerged in the planter on our roof at Callejon Valle de Maiz, 5A, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.

The date on my computer calendar is 25 Feb, 20o8. This corresponds to Tonalli 11 Quiahuitl in trecena 1 Atl which you can locate on the sacred calendar which I have posted at
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d7b4c3p_68f4jp6qz9

This corn kernel was placed into the ground on a Saturday 16 Feb, 20o7 which corresponds to the tonalli 2 Itzcuintli in the same trecena as you can see on the Sacred calender referenced in the link above.

There is an interesting website about sprouting http://www.fotosearch.es/photovivid/brotando/UNP116/

Iqualoca in metzli, Eclipse of the moon, Eclipse de la luna.

Nahuatl, Moon being eaten,
as predicted by those who keep calendars.

Literal translations;
Spanish, mordida Luna,
English, bitten Moon.

The Calendar data for this day 20 February 2008 or 9 ollin, was copied from the website:
http://www.azteccalendar.com/calendar-calculator.html

Calendar day 20 February 2008 is correlated with 9 ollin by use of the correlation established by Francisco Rodriguez Cortes.

Francisco is a current day keeper calendar keeper, who lives in Chiapas, Mexico.

The days were counted by more than one method. the day 9 ollin is from the count of days known as the tonalpohualli, the sacred calendar.


I will soon publish a demonstration of the calendar of the entire sacred year. It becomes complicated when the details are described.