At some point when I started learning Huasteca Nahuatl, I realized resources were very difficult to find. Basically they are scattered all over the internet and have not been vetted. It was a huge headache to find appropriate materials as a beginner because I had no idea what my appropriate level was. Many of the materials I found I could not read but I did not know if it was due to my learning level or because orthographies and pronunciations vary widely. I soon realized it was both and I thus went on a mission organizing all of my resources into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. On this page I present to you all of the essential beginner learning resources you should have access to if you want to start learning Huasteca Nahuatl. Although there are additional resources in the intermediate and advanced sections of the website, I highly recommend you stay here until you can completely understand the text at the bottom of the page in the exit exam section.
For these materials you will need to learn two different orthography systems:
INALI:
and the Neo-Classical Nahuatl orthography developed by linguists beginning in the 1970s for the purpose of writing Classical Nahuatl texts in a standardized form.
(Source: Nahuatl-English/English-Nahuatl (Aztec) by Fermin Herrera, pages 3-4)
I know, it is not ideal that you need to learn two orthographies but unfortunately the best introductory materials fluctuate between these two orthographies. A short summary explaining why they fluctuate is that the IDIEZ program began by utilizing the Neo-Classical Nahuatl orthography then native speakers worked together with the Mexican federal public agency, INALI ( National Indigenous Languages Institute) in the early 2000s to develop a new orthography that more accurately reflects Nahuatl pronunciation. Shortly thereafter, several of the Nahuatl speakers within the IDIEZ program shifted to the INALI spelling.
A. Purchase Learn Nahuatl by Yan Garcia
(Note: this resource utilizes the INALI orthography)
Why do you need this book?
1. Yan writes in a very reader-friendly way that is virtually impossible to find elsewhere because most Nahuatl resources are written for linguists which means they are full of jargon (imperative, optative, vocative, imperfect, pluperfect, vetitive) that the general reader would have to learn first which is no easy task.
2. I find myself constantly impressed by how exhaustive this book is; literally everything you need to know about the Huasteca Nahuatl variant can be found in this book.
3. Although this book is focused on the Huasteca Nahuatl variant, Yan does an excellent job of explaining how words, phrases, and rules change when dealing with classical Nahuatl and central variants.
4. Yan provides plenty of practice so that you can internalize each lesson.
5. Lastly, Yan learned Nahuatl through immersion directly from Nahuatl speakers living in Indigenous communities therefore the information he provides is extremely accurate.
B. Learn the 100 Most Frequent Huasteca Nahuatl Words
(Note: this resource utilizes the INALI orthography)
In this video I teach you 100 Huasteca Nahuatl sight words. These words are absolutely essential because they appear very frequently in Huasteca Nahuatl text and speech. Think about how powerful it would be for someone learning English to memorize words like the, and, but, then, they, us, me, I, for, of, etc.. before actually learning the language. By learning these 100 words, you will get a huge head start in learning Huasteca Nahuatl.
C. Complete Yan Garcia’s Youtube companion courses at the following links:
(Note: this resource utilizes the INALI orthography)
These courses are absolutely crucial because this is how you will be able to hear the words from the Learn Nahuatl book pronounced. Yan does an incredible job of balancing vocabulary acquisition with comprehensible input and grammar which is essential if you want to become a well-rounded Nahuatl speaker. It is important to understand that there are some programs that focus solely on comprehensible input and vocabulary acquisition while ignoring the grammar component. Yes, you can learn Nahuatl much faster using this strategy however as Dr. Taylor Jones from the LanguageJones podcast explains it, “without grammar you won’t be able to improvise, you’ll be at the level of a tourist with a phrasebook or a smart bird.” The ability to improvise and understand differences in pronunciation and orthographies is key to applying your understanding to other variants. Without this crucial skill you are likely to be very confused whenever someone’s speech varies from what you have learned. In fact, since most native Nahuatl speakers do not learn the grammar of their language since its not taught in schools, they typically have considerable trouble communicating to Nahuatl speakers outside of their communities which reinforces the myth that Nahuatl variants represent completely different languages.
D. Get Huasteca Nahuatl dictionaries
(Note: these resources utilize the Neo-Classical Nahuatl orthography)
While there are a several Nahuatl dictionaries available, none of them capture the breadth and depth of the language unfortunately. This poses a problem for Nahuatl learners. The best dictionary available by a large margin is An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl by Frances Kartunnen. It is a good idea to have this dictionary but you should know that its largely based on Classical Nahuatl. While Classical Nahuatl and Huasteca Nahuatl are the same language there are many differences between them that can be very confusing for the beginner. However, once you become more proficient in the language, you will be able to reconcile these differences very easily. For now, I recommend the following dictionaries that are Huasteca Nahuatl specific:
The Personal Lexicon Huasteca Nahuatl Dictionary
To access this dictionary, you will need to download the Personal Lexicon application then download and import the dictionary file. This is a decent dictionary for the beginner.
Download and Install Personal Lexicon
Download the Huasteca Nahuatl Dictionary
Open the Personal Lexicon app on your computer
Select import a lexicon, then open the Huasteca Nahuatl dictionary from your download destination
The Nahuatl Wire Humanities Online Dictionary
While the main page of this online dictionary mixes Classical and Huasteca Nahuatl, the above link will take you to the Huasteca Nahuatl only side of the website (whenever you see IDIEZ this signifies that you are in the Huasteca Nahuatl side of the website). You can search for words in English or Huasteca Nahuatl. This is a very good dictionary that includes many examples that will greatly assist you as you work your way through the beginner stage. Many of the entries also contain audio of native speakers pronouncing the words. here is an example of the entry for amatl:
E. Take My Huasteca Nahuatl Memrise Course
(Note: this resource utilizes the INALI orthography)
Vocabulary acquisition will be an important component of the beginner stage. The best way to acquire vocabulary is when you can see it, hear it, and write it. My Huasteca Nahuatl Memrise course currently has 1,000 words. Once you pass the course, you will have an impressive number of words loaded into your long term memory that will help move you to the intermediate stage.
F. Take Additional Huasteca Nahuatl Courses
(Note: these resources utilize the Neo-Classical Nahuatl orthography)
These two short courses were designed by Huasteca Nahuatl speakers and include audio for many words.
Nahuatlahtolli at the University of Texas
Curso de Nahuatl. De nivel básico a avanzado (This course is in Spanish but you can easily use google translate to see the course in English)
E. Take the Exit Test
Take a look at these memes and see if you can understand them. If you are able to understand them, you are likely ready to transition to the intermediate stage.
