Workforce Language Services

Having lived in my husband’s village in southern Mexico, I’ve seen firsthand how the Yucatec Maya are losing their collective ability to speak Yucatec Maya, their indigenous dialect, with each passing generation.  A startling number of youth consistently answer in Spanish when their parents and grandparents address them in Maya. 

As we discuss having children in the U.S., I take for granted that my offspring will grow up speaking both Spanish and English, and perhaps Maya that they will learn from their extended family.  I expected it to be seamless and natural for my husband to speak Spanish to our children and I will speak English to them.  Until coming across this post in which one woman details the resistance her children have put up at learning and speaking Spanish, I operated under the illusion that any child would naturally feel comfortable speaking the languages that their parents chose to teach them.

I wish the best to Carmen Juri, the post author, as she attempts to instill language as a marker of cultural heritage in her young children.  And perhaps when they are older, they will recognize bilingualism as a gift that their mother gave.