Trying out indigenous languages (fwd link)

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Trying out indigenous languages

At UCLA and other schools, some students are forgoing French, Spanish
and Chinese to try indigenous Latin American languages such as
Zapotec, Mixtec and Quechua. Some leap in for the adventure. Others
want to get closer to their roots.

Esmeralda Bermudez, Los Angeles Times
October 11, 2010

The words come out in abrupt breaths, as if Felipe Lopez were
whispering to the chalkboard.

"Rseidy. Rseidy," he asks his students to repeat. "Learns."

"And Dizh. Dizh, say it with me, is 'language.' "

In unison, the students in the UCLA classroom follow, training their
tongues to the rhythm of Zapotec, an ancient language that few people
in Los Angeles have ever spoken or even heard. It comes from Oaxaca,
on the southern tip of Mexico, a state known for its elaborate,
historic traditions.

Access full article below:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-indigenous-20101011,0,1180730.story