Huitzilopochtli

[Melios]

For one thing, you probably couldn't even pronounce Huitzilopochtli

I saw this on the Aztec Civ of the week edition and I was wondering: How DO you pronounce that name?

[Skanky Burns]

Its true!! I dont think anyone knows

[Solver]

I can! I'm good at Aztec history, and can pronounce those things. The toughest to me seems Quetzalcoatl (how is it spelled in English?) and Popokatepetl. However, Aztec names aren't wild, they're quite normal. For instance, Tenochtitlan isn't that hard to say/remember.

Go Aztecs! Go Anauak!

[berXpert]

It's not as hard as you were thinking. I live were they were those days, so it's names result familiar with me.

All the aztec names are written in Spanish, and at cause of this many change the real sound, but are quite exacts.

Huitzilopochtli

Hui sounds like "we" or like "wi" in wisdom

tzi - the spanish "i" sounds like "ee" in see, the "z" like the "s", so the final sound is not so hard: try to said "tsee"

lo - the "o" is like the "ou" in though, the "l" is the same

poch - I think it's easy, how do you pronounce "boch"? it's the same but with "p" and remember the "o" is "ou" not "a"

tli - remember the "i" = "ee" like in "lee", add the "t" and said "tlee"

The final sound:

We-tsee-lou-pouch-tlee

----
Quetzalcoatl
Ket-sal-cou-ath-l
___


Tips:

a sound like the a in "car" or u in "buy"
e sound like the e in Edmonton
i sound like the ee in see, or i in "in"
o sound like the ou in sound
u sound like the oo in foot, floor

And never change, I think it's easier than english to remember how to said the voyels




I'm going to buy a microfone and save a .wav file, it could be easier.

[jdd2007]

pronounce it like spanish ...

[Wernazuma III]

Originally posted by berXpert
We-tsee-lou-pouch-tlee

I always laugh at transcribing foreign words to english. it makes no sense, but I think this transcription comes pretty close. but the best rule is: pronounce as if it were a spanish word.

quinocceppa, Wernazuma Nahuixtelotzin.

[jdd2007]

Wernazuma II

pronounce as if it were a spanish word.

... just like i said ....

[JellyDonut]

People also have trouble with Teotihuacan, which is roughly tay-oh-tee-WAH-kahn.

[shade]

these things really are fun to read.All those transcriptions how you have to read it in English,geez,I just have to read them as Dutch and it sounds that way(most of the time).this really is fun

For one thing, you probably couldn't even pronounce Huitzilopochtli

just had to read the thing and use some latin-influences(eg the u)
hehe

Shade

[Gangerolf]

Is the Aztec language still spoken, or did the Spaniards kill'em all?

[shade]

I think the answer to both questions is no(but I could be wrong.

Shade

[JellyDonut]

The Aztec language is still spoken....by scholars of Aztec history and linguistics.

And Aztecs still exist...well not *pure* Aztecs. There are people, mostly in Mexico, who are Aztec/Spanish (there's some term for them but it escapes me, I think it begins with an "m").

So yes to both questions.

[Gangerolf]

thanks.

(there's some term for them but it escapes me, I think it begins with an "m

I think the word you are looking for is "mestisos" (sp?).

[ranskaldan]

Encarta says that the Aztecs spoke Nahuatl, which is still the most important Native language in Mexico, spoken by more than a million people today. Encarta also mentions Maya as the second largest Native language in Mexico.

Of course modern Nahuatl should be quite different from ancient Nahuatl, just like Old English is different from English today. But it's still the language of the Aztecs.

[Sarxis]

Huitzilopochtli

Bless you!

[Wernazuma III]

Originally posted by Gangerolf
Is the Aztec language still spoken, or did the Spaniards kill'em all?

The aztec language Nahuatl is still spoken in a variety of dialects in several parts of Mexico and in parts of guatemala.
As I started to learn that language, if you got any questions, ask ahead.

[berXpert]

Yes the word is: "mestizos" with "z"

It means "mixed", the first sons of spniards and native americans where called that way, the sons of "mestizos" and black people were called "mulatos".

In general, here in Mexico, there is not a "pure" race, maybe only the "menonitas" (deutchs I think) and the tarahumaras (check their page at http://tarahumara.com.mx/ and buy an artesany)

And about the Nahuatl, there was a time when antropologists belive it was a death language. Even a lot of people knew it, when they ask them all said they didn't knew, 'cos the high margination and discrimination against the native americans (also bad called "indians")

Here if you said to some one "you are an indian" is really bad, and the discrimination for the color of the skin is also high. While you are more "white" you are more "spaniard", but more dark you are more "indian".

But today at the comunities of native americans whom speak nahuatl the primary education is bilingual. I think there are 20 or 30 diferent dialects still spoken here that match this criteria of bilingual education.

----
Hey Wernazuma what is: "Ipan Ixtli Meztli"

I know it means "In the navel of the moon" but in the context of the Nahuatl

[Wernazuma III]

Originally posted by berXpert
----
Hey Wernazuma what is: "Ipan Ixtli Meztli"

I know it means "In the navel of the moon" but in the context of the Nahuatl

Hm, it's difficult if you don't tell me about the context you read it in. Nahuatl is so full of symbolic and metaphorical language, that's the hardest part about it...

ipan means "in, on, in the presence of s/one or s/thing"
ixtli means "face", sometimes it's also used for "eye"
meztli Pl.: meztin means "moon" or "month". 20 meztin of 18 days plus 5 unassigned days form the aztec solar year.

So your phrase would be "in the face of the moon" if you ask me. But without the context it's difficult to tell something about the meaning...

[Wernazuma III]

many apologies: of course it's 18 meztin à 20 days.