Overview:
With almost 1.4 million speakers, Nahuatl is among the most widely spoken of the 68 living languages officially recognized by the Mexican government. Nahuatl is part of the Uto Azteca language family, one of the largest linguistic families in the Americas in terms of number of speakers, number of languages, and geographic extension, spanning the Western United States and Mexico.
Berkeley is offering Nahuatl to Berkeley students during the academic year as a real-time distance-learning course taught by native-language instructors from the University of Utah and IDIEZ (the Institute for Teaching and Research in Ethnology) in Zacatecas, Mexico. This is the variety from the municipality of Chicontepec, in the Huasteca region of northern Veracruz, Mexico. Nahua culture, history, and modern life are at the center of course instruction.
Nahuatl courses:
Beginning Nahuatl I (LING 20A)
Offered Fall Semester
First-semester Nahuatl for students who have no previous experience with the language. This course develops listening and reading strategies with an emphasis on oral and written forms of communication.
LING 20A: Beginning Nahuatl I — M–W: 2:05 – 4:00 pm Pacific Time (to be confirmed for Fall 2022)
Beginning Nahuatl II (LING 21A)
Offered Spring Semester
Second semester beginning Nahuatl course for students who have completed Beginning Nahuatl I. This course continues to develops listening and reading strategies with an emphasis on oral and written forms of communication.
LING 21A: Beginning Nahuatl II — M–W: 2:05 – 4:00 pm Pacific Time
Intermediate Nahuatl I (LING 20B)
Offered Fall Semester
Third-semester Nahuatl. Continued emphasis on listening and speaking skills with an increased emphasis on reading and writing skills as the culture of people who speak Nahuatl.
LING 20B: Intermediate Nahuatl I — T–Th: 12:00 – 2:00 pm Pacific Time (to be confirmed for Fall 2022)
Intermediate Nahuatl II (LING 21B)
Offered Spring Semester
Fourth-semester Nahuatl course which follows Intermediate Nahuatl I. Continued emphasis on listening and speaking skills with an increased emphasis on reading and writing skills as the culture of people who speak Nahuatl.
LING 21B: Intermediate Nahuatl II — T–Th: 1:00 – 3:00 pm Pacific Time
For more information:
- Write to Julia Byrd (julia.byrd@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail)) for more information about Nahuatl at Berkeley.
- Once you enroll in a Nahuatl course at Berkeley, please write to Julia Byrd (julia.byrd@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail)) for more information.
- For more information about CLAS’s support of Indigenous languages, see our page on the Collaboration for Nature Cultures and Languages in the Americas.
