I'm learning Mayan for work, specifically Kaqchikel. Anyone

>>68498850
No but I would like to. What sort of work?

>>68498955
I'm a service consultant at a dealership. We've been getting a bunch of Guatemalans and Southern Mexicans who barely speak Spanish in and it's been hard for the Mexican techs and salesmen to speak with them so the owners offered to pay 1.5x pay for learning Maya. I'm already part Maya and look Indio so jumped on it.

No. Apart from any academic field, I don't see why anyone would bother learning such the language.

>>68499079
Wow. Your manager is god tier.

Good luck bro.

>>68499079
I .

>>68499088
There are a bunch of Indios in California, Texas and Washington. Enough to make learning an Indigenous language financially viable to pursue.

What kind of work has you speaking fucking maya?

>>68498850
No, but in Rafael Landivar university they teach it. One good friend of mine is indigenous and his mom knows the language. Would be cool to learn, might be practical to use in some western parts of Guatemala.

>>68499172
I manage mechanics who service work vans and entry level luxury cars. A lot of the people who buy those here are migrants from Mexico and Guatemala.

>>68499182
I'm hoping it becomes more prolific here. Guatemalans are 10/10 migrants. They have all the positives of other LATAM immigrants but none of the negatives. Are Indigenous languages widespread in Guatemala or is Spanish totally dominant?

>>68499079
Best of lucks man, that you have it narrowed down to a specific dialect makes me think it isn't just something half baked your boss came up with.

Wouldn't your best call be to try and learn from your prospective customers? Even if it might require a small investment it would be a good way for you to network in their community, this might also help you make a better use of it as there may be other niches you may be able to fill (from odd jobs to maybe starting your own business catering to them) which would allow you to have something to fall back on in case you lose your job in the future and not allow your effort to go to waste on the financial side.

As for online resources my starting point would be
http://www.inali.gob.mx/
although I'm not sure if it will help, there's bilingual textbooks for basic/primary education so you might be able to download some of those.

>>68499352
Thanks. Yeah, most of the people we get here in Los Angeles are Kaqchikel Maya or Maam Maya speakers.During the Guatemalan civil war a lot of Kaqchichel and Maam whom were skilled or had trades from the central/north west of the country came to LA on asylum conditions and started small businesses.

>Wouldn't your best call be to try and learn from your prospective customers? Even if it might require a small investment it would be a good way for you to network in their community, this might also help you make a better use of it as there may be other niches you may be able to fill (from odd jobs to maybe starting your own business catering to them) which would allow you to have something to fall back on in case you lose your job in the future and not allow your effort to go to waste on the financial side.

Exactly this. German luxury vehicles are seen as aspirational vehicles by a lot of the Guatemalan and Mexican market here, but as most Americans are used to seeing all brown people as "lower class", luxury firms don't cater to them. I want to be at the forefront of marketing and servicing premium cars and work vehicles to the Indio-Mestizo migrant demographic. A lot of Southern Mexicans and Guatmelans are lower-mid level small business owners, right now, but they work hard and are tightwads, so 10-25 years from now they'll be in the upper-middle class nouveau-riche income bracket and I want to capitalize on it.

I'm planning on starting a small business after I get my masters degree making after market parts for BMW and Mercedes and I'm expecting that in a decade or two a lot of Mexicans and Guatemalans will remember that someone in the industry actually took note of them and didn't just brush them off as undeserving of quality service. I give my personal business card out to anyone in this demographic range. I've actually been using INALI for demographics research. Thanks for the help and positive vibes and help anon, it's much appreciated.

>>68499287
Good to hear that, guatemalans are mostly known for violence. I would say spanish is by far the dominant in the capital, wich is the center of the economy and where most guatemalans live. There are places in the country where people don't speak spanish.
You should check the movie Ixcanul. It is a guatemalan movie about the indigenous and it is great.

>>68499079
OK, but to play devil's advocate, how prolonged will their presence be? Maybe it's just a few families who moved in town... learning a language for that?

>>68499638
Not a problem man, you seem to be enthused about your plan and that's one of the main things, just keep flexible and open minded and don't give up.

Here's the link to the site for Mexican text books, you might be able to find something in there or at least an email address to make an inquiry.

http://www.gob.mx/conaliteg

>>68499716
My stereotypical American view on Guatemala has been that it's half Civil War/Crime and half Maya Culture and tranquil rural environments. Thanks for the movie references, I'll definitely look it up. Texas has a large Guat Maya population and the state university system actually has textbooks on learning Maya Languages, I'm learning from University of Texas materials actually.


>>8499781
>OK, but to play devil's advocate, how prolonged will their presence be?
Probably permanent. I don't know if it's known internationally, but about 30% of the population of Los Angeles county (population of 15 million) are migrants, the majority of which are from Central America. There will be no shortage of clientele. It's not just a few families. It's several hundred thousand, likely more than one million.

>>68499815
>Not a problem man, you seem to be enthused about your plan and that's one of the main things, just keep flexible and open minded and don't give up.
Thanks, I live in an area where BMW/Mercedes are literally about 1/3rd of the cars on the road so I can easily fall back on that, but specializing on this neglected yet, strong market is something I have my goals set on. Thanks a lot. If I emailed them in English would they respond? My Spanish is mediocre.

>>68499982
They speak native languages in the movie so it might help you a bit. Link to the trailer: https://youtu.be/yMMP0Z21zqU

Good luck bro, nice thread.

>>68500156
Watched the trailer. It's a pretty much dead accurate portrayal of Guatemalan migrants in the US. Dedicated, clever, hard workers who are naive towards structural manipulation. I wish Guat migrants were more respected here. They're easily the best workers here right alongside Chinese and occasional German migrants. Unfortunately, people here often confuse them with the shittier side of the Chicano migrant population, who in their own right are unfairly stereotyped as well. It's fucked up that they don't get the societal adoration they deserve.