The videos in Tektiteko

• The state of the language
• Daily life

The state of the language

Presentation on Tektiteko by linguist Juventino de Jesus Pérez Alonzo – in Spanish

We’d like to introduce linguist Juventino de Jesus Pérez Alonzo, who was with out chief operator José Reynès. Juventino here presents Tektiteko: one of the Mayan languages among the most threatened in Guatemala. With around 2000 speakers, this language of the Mam’ branch is greatly influenced by Spanish, and transmission of the language as well as the culture of the Tektiteko aren’t really ensured anymore.

Learn more

NB: Should one of our users happen to speak Tektiteko, we would be more than happy to hear from you at contact@sorosoro.org, as we still have a significant amount of rushes in this language which have yet to be edited and published, in absence of translators…

Linguist : Juventino de Jesus Pérez Alonzo
Image and sound : José Reynès
Editing : Caroline Laurent

Daily life

The culture of corn

A villager from Tectitan tells us about the culture of corn, the right time to sow, the harvest, the celebration that follows, and the contemporary changes undergone by local methods of cultivation, especially regarding the use of fertilizers and herbicides.

Pottery

In the following video, we turn it over to a Tektiteko potter from Guatemala describing the whole production process from clay to sale! Also a way to discover the simple yet harsh lifestyle of the inhabitants of Tectitan in the light of beautiful footage by José Reynes.

Linguist: Juventino de Jesus Pérez Alonzo
Image & sound: José Reynè
Editing: Caroline Laurent