Do you speak Aymara? I don't...yet. Today I had my first class on Aymara instruction focused on the alphabet and pronunciation of the letters. Aymara has 32 sounds and an alphabet developed from the Spanish pronunciation.
Most of the letters are equal to the Spanish pronunciation: a, ch, i, j, k, l, m, n, ñ, p, q, r, s, t, u,w, x, and y. Notice that there are only three vowels that are pronounced with roughly 4 sound variations.
The tricky part of Aymara is creating the breathing and skipping sounds represented by an additional "h" or " ' " respectively. It's really all about the placement of the letter on your tongue or throat. I am pleased to announce that my professor, Santiago, stated that I have perfect pronunciation! The "h" sound, as in "thantha" (old object or thing) is easy for me because it's similar to how we pronounce "the" in English. The use of the apostrophe is a bit more difficult. You kind of have to bounce between the letters as you say words, such as "p'akiña" (to break an object).
So that's what I'm working on right now. Later I get to learn words like "sarxarxapxañäni" (we are ready to leave for a trip). Oh, but you can also spell it like "sarjjarjjapjjañäni"...but the use of "x" is more linguistically economical.
On my way back from my class, I met a young British student who is teaching English in the small town of Chucuito (the picture below depicts the town's main plaza). On Thursday we are going to meet up and he is going to give me a tour of the area. He knows a lot as he has been translating tour brochures for the municipality.
Tomorrow's a holiday in Peru, but not for me! The lovely collection of decentralization legislation awaits me ever so patiently on my desk. I have to learn how to say "not so fun" in Aymara...
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