Customer Reviews

¿La ütz awäch?: Introduction to Kaqchikel Maya Language

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
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Kaqchikel is one of the main languages in the Mayan family, and although it doesn't have as high a profile as Yukatek (Yucatec) or K'iche' (Quiche), it is one of the most widely known languages in the family. This textbook provides a superb, practical introduction to the language, and one of the best introductions available for any of the indigenous languages of the Americas.

The first half of the book consists of a series of well-illustrated lessons covering the basics of the language. There are plenty of exercises, but unfortunately no tapes. (However, there are some short online video files at ekaq.stonecenter.tulane.edu.) These are followed by a large grammatical section, and finally a sizeable glossary. The book uses a modern orthography, and also includes much valuable cultural information.

There are relatively few good resources on Mayan languages in English, and high-quality educational materials on Mayan languages, or any Native American languages are, sadly, quite rare. I would recommend this course to anyone interested in the Mayan language family.

I studied several chapters of this book before traveling to Guatemala. As expected, my visit to Antigua afforded me an opportunity to speak some Kaqchikel with the vendors there. It definitely made for a richer experience, and I could tell my efforts were appreciated!

The book covers quite a bit of material for an introduction, and does so in a manner that is accessible to anyone who has studied a couple other languages.

One nice addition would have been an audio CD. Nevertheless, the explanation of pronunciation and some videos one can find online made this a very useful text for someone who just wants to be able to attempt basic conversation in Kaqchikel.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn the basics of one of the more commonly spoken Mayan languages in Guatemala.

Perhaps one day there will be an expanded and corrected second edition.

I have read this book and it is a very didatical method to learn a not common language from mesoamerica. The book offers a very good condition to understand and to learn this mayan language, with good vocabulary and basic grammar well employed and well adaptated to colloquial situations.

It's a sad fact that there are few Mayan language textbooks (unless you know Spanish). But luckily for the English speaking world we have this textbook. Unlike the other easily accessible book, Maya for Travelers and Students, this book is set-up like any actual language textbook, rather then a grammar/phrasebook.

Each chapter has at least one (but usually more) small dialogue and vocabulary to go with it. There are several exercises, and grammar points as well. And one of the best things is that at the end of the book there is an answer key. The book also contains a large glossary at the end and a grammar scketch, so over all, I think this is a great book to get you started in this Mayan dialect and get you started taking it further.

The only downside is there is no audio to go with the book. There is a website the book points you too, but it's not complete, and it hasn't been updated (that I can tell) since 2004-2005. But at least there are a few videos up that follow a few dialogues in the book.

All-in-all it's a rare gem in the field of Maya linguistics (in English).