Mexico: Mixteco
The Mixteco language is known by the Mixtec people as Tu'un Sá-vi, meaning “the
word of the rain,” and is spoken in three states: Oaxaca, Guerrero and Puebla, Mexico.
There are three main language branches: Mixteco Alto (High Mixteco), Mixteco Bajo
(Low Mixteco) and Mixteco de la Costa (Mixteco of the Coast). These languages have
been spoken by native people since long before the Spanish conquered the Aztecs.
Mixteco is related to the Nahuatl and Trique languages. It continues to be one of the
main languages spoken in these regions.
Takuní is used when you greet somebody that you encounter in the road, in the mall, or
on your way home. You can say, ta-ku-ní to a man, woman and child; it’s the common
way to say “hello.”
Sa-na—k-a’aha—yó, means “talk to you later” in Mixteco. It doesn’t actually
mean that the speakers are going to talk later—but it’s just the way to say
“goodbye.”
Hello in Mixteca
Goodbye in Mixteca
Fausto Sanchez was born in San Juan Mixtepec, Oaxaca, Mexico and came to the United
States in 1988, when he was 20 years old. He finished High School in Adult school in
Bakersfield, California and enrolled in college and graduated in 2012 with an Associates
in Art in Human Services. Now he speaks 4 languages: Mixteco Alto, Mixteco Bajo,
Spanish and English. Also, he is certified as a Mixteco interpreter by the Monterey
Institute of International Studies in California and has served as an interpreter at the
local, state and federal level. Currently, he is working for California Rural Legal
Assistance, in the Indigenous Program.
Hello in Mixteca
Takuní
Goodbye in Mixteca
Sana ka’aha yó