Latin is easier to native Americans than to Spaniards

[reineke]

Those Indios were likely learning their third language. The language of instruction would have been Spanish. The idea that monolingual illiterate speakers of languages that lack cases and cognates somehow picked up Latin from priests who themselves allegedly had poor knowledge of the language is simply ridiculous.

A counter example is that in Southern Mexico a lot/some (?) of that education would have take place in Tsotsil as several priests were clearly fluent and had learned the language as a path to instruct the locals.

Just like in that Robert De Niro movie?

If you would like to figure out the learner profiles of Indios who learned Latin, I would move away from extrapolating unlikely theories based on a passing observation from a 1970s book citing unnamed sources.

This book mentions the existence, in 17th century Mexico, of seminaries and colleges that accepted Indian children:

"quotas for cacique boys in new ( creole) seminaries..."

"The idea of cultivating a vanguard of Spanish- educated Indian leaders was not new, of course, yet unlike its sixteenth-century antecedants the emphasis was more on cultural than religious transformation."

Indigenous Elites and Creole Identity in Colonial Mexico, 1500–1800
by Peter B. Villella

"Gracias a la escritura fue posible que los españoles, casi todos ellos misioneros o escribanos, los indios letrados, los mestizos y los criollos codificaran gran número de lenguas..."

Historia sociolingüística de México.: Volumen 1.
By Rebeca Barriga Villanueva, Pedro Martín Butragueño

[zenmonkey]

Those Indios were likely learning their third language. The language of instruction would have been Spanish. The idea that monolingual illiterate speakers of languages that lack cases and cognates somehow picked up Latin from priests who themselves allegedly had poor knowledge of the language is simply ridiculous.

A counter example is that in Southern Mexico a lot/some (?) of that education would have take place in Tsotsil as several priests were clearly fluent and had learned the language as a path to instruct the locals.

Just like in that Robert De Niro movie?

If you would like to figure out the learner profiles of Indios who learned Latin, I would move away from extrapolating unlikely theories based on a passing observation from a 1970s book citing unnamed sources.

I'm not sure if you are referencing me in this second statement.

My comments about the priests learning the local lingo doesn't come from a movie but from the The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of San Lorenzo Zinacantán by Robert Laughlin - where he references the notes from the el diccionario grande Tzotzil and the period writings.

It's my current historical "mystery novel".

http://alphabetsnow.zyntx.com/blog/the- ... an-part-i/