Learning the Yucatec Maya Through TikTok Videos

The Yucatec Maya, a 5,000-year-old Indigenous language, is one of the 29 remaining Maya languages in the world. It is one of the most endangered languages today. Disappearing at a rapid rate, teacher Santos Manuel Cruz Romero, a native speaker of the language, decided to take action and to help preserve the language when the pandemic first hit Mexico and cancelled classes.

Santos says that his young sisters’ lack of ability to speak the language reflect what is happening with newer Mayan generations. Hence, he decided to start posting on TikTok during the pandemic, trying to connect with the younger generations. Successfully, he gained 343,000 followers on the social media platform over his educational videos.

In one video, Santos teaches his young audience how to say “avocado” in the Mayan language, “oon,” ending the lesson with a cheerful “Ma’alob kanáantabaa!”

Although many criticized Santos’s content, the positive comments from all over the world overwhelmingly outnumbered the negative ones, including those of older people who regret not speaking the language of their ancestors.