Most of Paraguay’s male population was killed after Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay invaded the country.
“As a question of survival, the women who were left would only speak Guaraní,” Zayas said. “They passed it on to their children.”
Guaraní has long been a language of resistance.
Under the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, which lasted from the 1950s until the late 1980s, Guaraní was banned in Paraguay. It has also been stigmatized as a language of the poor.
Rita Álvarez has been selling handicrafts and homemade jewelry on the streets of Asunción for more than 40 years. She said that most of her customers in the city speak a combination of Guaraní with Spanish.Michael Fox/The World
But many Paraguayans say that Guaraní is a language of metaphor and beauty.
Rita Álvarez has been selling handicrafts and homemade jewelry on the streets of Asunción, Paraguay’s capital, for more than 40 years.
“For me, it’s the sweetest language,” she said. “Because you can say with one word in Guaraní what you would need 10 to say in Spanish.”
She said that most of her customers in the city speak a combination of Guaraní with Spanish, or jopara, which means “mixture” in Guaraní.
Paraguay is the only country in Latin America that has found a way to preserve and protect the official status of Guaraní alongside Spanish.Michael Fox/The World
Julio Benegas, a Paraguayan journalist and novelist in his 50s, said that many of those variations are generational.
“Those who are younger speak one phrase in Spanish and the next in Guaraní. They combine the words. ’Hey, how’s it going? Chill, no problem,’” he said, bouncing back and forth between the two languages.
Blanca Estela González is a retired elementary schoolteacher who now teaches Guaraní at IDIPAR Language School in Asunción.
Gonzalez said that foreigners often pick up Guaraní rather quickly, because, unlike Spanish, there are only three types of verb conjugations: past, present and future.
Blanca Estela González is a retired elementary schoolteacher who now teaches Guaraní at IDIPAR Language School in Asunción.Michael Fox/The World
And Gonzalez said the language has received a boost in recent decades.
“Now, it’s an official language,” she said. “And half of the lessons at the public schools are taught in Guaraní.”
She said that there’s still a long way to go. It needs to be embraced and promoted even more. But she is hopeful for the future.
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Publish date : 2024-10-01 09:41:00
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