This site holds many medical Spanish material, including a comprehensive medical Spanish dictionary, complete with audio.
This website offers some free online lessons which teach basic Spanish concepts. More detailed and advanced lessons can be purchased on CDs from the website.
The goal of this project is to create awareness about less common languages. This website offers a database of less commonly taught language classes, instructional materials, and other resources for teaching these languages. There are some resources for Zapoteco, Nahuatl, and Mayan indigenous languages.
The town of Greenfield, CA has a high population of indigenous immigrants from Oaxaca, Mexico, many of whom speak little Spanish and/or English. This website is a compilation of work done by students from the UC,Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and reports on what the town of Greenfield is doing to improve communications and relations with these indigenous peoples
M E J Personal Business Services, Inc. is an interpreting, translation, and financial service based in New York City. They provide Foreign Language Interpreting, Telephone interpreting, video remote Interpreting, and Financial and Translation Services. Their website specifies that they provide document translations in Mixteco.
General information or a free quote: 866-557-5336
The MICOP is an organization of English,Spanish,and indigenous language speakers who are working to aid Oaxacan immigrants in Ventura County California.They mostly provide direct services.The“Necessities of Life” program distributes clothing, diapers, blankets, and other items to those in need.The organization also has programs which provide food, resources for medical care,education and literacy classes for adults, and weekly community meetings.Contact info:325 W. ChannelIslands Blvd. Oxnard, California 93033805) 385-8662
The CDI is an organization that was created in 2003 to ensure that indigenous communities and people in Mexico have the rights guaranteed to them by the Mexican Constitution. It collaborates with state governments and federal dependencies to evaluate current strategies and works to form new programs that will ensure equality and fight against indigenous discrimination. It also works to help indigenous peoples to improve their quality of life. Their website includes a number of resources on indigenous areas of Mexico including news stories (some of which are written in an indigenous language), music, and research information on the indigenous populations. There is also a section of basic information on the indigenous languages of Mexico.
Radio Bilingüe is a Spanish language network on public radio. Although it is mostly California based, there are affiliate stations in Carrboro, Asheville, and Greenville, North Carolina. There is also a radio program broadcast in Mixteco called La Hora Mixteca.
Contact: Filemón López, Coordinator of La Hora Mixteca
(559) 455-5784
The Oaxacan Indigenous Binational Front (FIOB) is a non-profit organization based in California. It is a coalition of indigenous organizations, communities, and individuals from Oaxaca, Baja California and in the State of California. This organization works to empower the indigenous peoples of Oaxaca and make sure that human rights are upheld for these communities in both Mexico and the United States.
The Language Materials Project works to provide a variety of materials, such as dictionaries, phrasebooks,grammars, and cultural materials.Currently, thewebsite only provides materials in one indigenous language (Nahuatl), but the project continually updates the language profiles, so additional languages may be added at a later date.
Links
Rosetta Stone is a software company which markets a variety of language learning software.This company also has an Endangered Languages Division, which creates software to preserve less prevalent languages. The company currently does not have any software available in theIndigenous Languages of Latin America but is possibly interested in developing software with ECMHSP and its parents who speak indigenous languages.Contact Marion Bittinger:mbittinger@RosettaStone.com
This faith-based organization works to document and study lesser-known languages. It has developed a number of materials, ranging from dictionaries to literature sources, in a wide variety of languages.
Links
The Native Literacy Center in Oaxaca, Mexico was founded by a group of professionals and native educators from Oaxaca to support literacy projects for indigenous peoples. This center is involved with preservation, helping indigenous peoples to write their languages, print and publish individual works, write their histories, and record their knowledge for future generations. People come from Central and South America to this Center, where they learn how to produce their own works. The center also works with education, teaching indigenous peoples how to write their languages so that they are able to produce their own works.
This digital archive features a number of recordings and texts in the indigenous languages of Latin America. Materials are available in Mixteco, Mam, Nahuatl, Otomi, Triqui, Zapoteco, and many other indigenous languages. These materials give information about the cultures of these indigenous groups. Original works of literature in indigenous languages are also published on this site. AILLA works to preserve written forms of these languages, but it also collects grammars, dictionaries, ethnographies, and research notes that can be used as teaching materials. Most of the archive is free and available to the public.
- Online dicitionary in a variety of languages available under the "Foreign Language Aides for Latin America and Iberia" section, including Mixteco, Nahuatl, and Zapoteco. http://www.oberlin.edu/faculty/svolk/latinam.htm
- Mixtec-Spanish Online Dictionary http://aulex.ohui.net/es-mix/?idioma=en
- Mixtec dictionary created by the SIL: http://www.sil.org/mexico/mixteca/00i-mixteca.htm
- Mam-Spanish Dictionary http://www.cscd.osakau.ac.jp/user/rosaldo/Mam_Esp_DICC_COM.html
This website, owned by SIL International, provides detailed background information about less common languages. Many of the indigenous languages have profiles.
Note: Wikipedia also contains a variety of sites describing the basic characteristics of each of the indigenous languages.
Western NC Workers Center: Located in Morganton, North Carolina, the Western NC Workers Center is a non-profit group of community organizers. This organization currently has a number of outreach and education projects which work to uphold the rights of immigrant and low wage employees in Western North Carolina. They also work with high levels of Guatemalan immigrants who speak indigenous languages. One of their projects designed to reach indigenous language speakers is their Promotora Education project, which uses scenario picture books without words to educate low literacy populations about health and work safety.
Contact:
Francisco Risso (828) 432-5080 fjrisso@hotmail.com
Mayan Ministries: Organized through the Diocese of Palm Beach in Florida, Maya Ministries works to address the needs of Mayan immigrants to the area. These Mayan workers speak up to 25 different dialects of Mayan indigenous languages, but most can speak Spanish as well. The organization’s main services are literacy programs for families, adult education programs, and early childhood education programs for children who have English as a second language. They also offer a variety of social services referrals and translating specifically for Mayan immigrants. They have a Literacy Program funded by the Department of Education that was written in the Mayan indigenous language Canjobal.
Contact Information:
1615 Lake Ave.
P.O. Box 209
Lake Worth, Fl 33460-0209
General information: http://www.mayaministry.com
An online library of Cultural Competency resources
Explains generally what cultural competency is.
For insight into the day-to-day life of a migrant farmworker's child, read The Barefoot Heart, by Elva Trevino Hart.