<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">Greetings,<BR>
<BR>
I'm sorry to bring back a topic that may have been answered already, but did anybody ever come up with some kind of reasoning for this phenomenon that almost no Nahuatl speakers come to the United States? I was a bilingual teacher in California for 33 years, and I found the same situation in the schools as k_salmon@ipinc.net observed. Many of my students were Zapotec, Mixtec, Tarasco, Mayan, Huichol, and other language speakers, but never Nahuatl. I visit open air markets in California and find the same groups among the vendors and shoppers. So far there I have never come across a Nahuatl speaker. Are they hiding in some specific areas maybe?<BR>
Some teacher friends in Coachella, CA tell me of a trailer park in the community of Thermal where there are hundreds of Pur</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">épeches (Tarascos). Could there be any such communities of Nahuas in California or other states?</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
<BR>
Tlazo'camati,<BR>
Henry Vasquez<BR>
<BR>
In a message dated 8/28/07 9:11:02 AM, k_salmon@ipinc.net writes:<BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE CITE STYLE="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px" TYPE="CITE"></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">On Aug 28, 2007, at 8:05 AM, John F. Schwaller wrote:<BR>
> The top ten indigenous groups were:<BR>
> Náhuatl 2,563,000<BR>
> Maya 1,490,000<BR>
> Zapoteco 785,000<BR>
> Mixteco 764,000<BR>
> Otomí 566,000<BR>
> Tzetzal 547,000<BR>
> Tzotzil 514,000<BR>
> Totonaca 410,000<BR>
> Mazateco 339,000<BR>
> Chol 274,000<BR>
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">Looking at this strikes a question that has been in my mind.<BR>
I work as a spanish english medical and legal interpreter. In the <BR>
course of the last 18 months I have run into many people speaking one <BR>
of the mayan dialects, Yucatec and Quiche being the most common, <BR>
Zapotec and Mixtec as well as a few who speak Cora and Tarascan (or <BR>
was it Tarahumara or was it Huichol *NW mountain range*?). But never <BR>
have I found people who are bilingual spanish nahuatl. I wondered if <BR>
it was because most nahuatl speakers ARE bilingual and thus I don't <BR>
know about it. But people chat with me and I find out from names and <BR>
in general conversation about where they've come from. The other <BR>
explanation that comes to mind is that the nahua don't want to come <BR>
to the USA... but then, why would the maya come in such numbers?<BR>
This is the rankest curiosity; since I am interested in learning to <BR>
speak nahuatl, I've been paying attention and asking questions. Does <BR>
anybody have a hypothesis?<BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
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