Wanted: Speakers Of Mayan Languages, Many Of Them

*Mexican immigration to the U.S is at a net negative – there are more Mexicans leaving the country than those coming here. So that changes the way we view and work with immigrants and immigration. Language is a changing concern that should be given a larger space in our discussions. VL

By Jasmine Garsd, Code Switch

On a weekday morning, in an upscale area of Arlington, Va., the suburban silence is as thick as the foliage save for the hum of a leaf blower or an occasional car. In one of the homes, Sheba Velasco is thinking of snacks for the children. She’s their nanny.

Then the phone rings.

Thousands of miles to the west, it’s very early in the morning, and a young man has been caught trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

“First of all” Velasco begins, “may I ask that he is from Nebaj? He speaks Ixil?”

The young man is indeed from her hometown: Nebaj, Guatemala. And, like Velasco, he speaks the Mayan language Ixil (pronounced ih-SHEEL).

Sheba Velasco says the number of calls she gets from detention centers and courts has increased.

Velasco works as an interpreter for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, but also for immigration courts. She’s one of the few Ixil interpreters in the United States.

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Jasmine Garsd is a reporter for National Public Radio. Host of NPR’s Alt.Latino. Yoiu can reach her at @JasGarsd.