By José Luis Adriano
5:00 a. m. October 10, 2022 CDT
When Spanish-speaking immigrants from Latin America arrive in Dallas, they face obstacles, but almost nothing is insurmountable: Spanish is widely used by thousands of people.
But those who speak only or basically indigenous languages suddenly find themselves lost and separated in a people that does not perceive what they say.
“When that’s the case, it’s complicated for us. Chances are, we just place a task in a kitchen or as a dishwasher,” said Yesica Solval, 28, who lives in Dallas.
Solval’s local language is Kaqchikel, one of 22 Mayan languages spoken in his local Guatemala.
Solval works as a cook at Isabel’s Guatemalan restaurant, a restaurant in North Dallas where her interactions are limited to Guatemalan chefs who speak the same language.
Solval timidly agreed to an interview in Spanish, which he learned as a momentary language in his country with Kaqchikel. But he says he continually discovers other Guatemalans who can only do so through their indigenous languages.
In Guatemalan restaurants in the Dallas area, indigenous languages create a welcoming atmosphere where consumers and waiters engage effortlessly.
Instead of “How’s it going?” consumers say “Utz’ aach” or “Utz’ katinwilo” for “You look good/Like you” while interacting in conversations on K’iche’.
It’s a contrasting scene in a county where 57. 2% of the population speaks English and 33. 9% speaks Spanish, among the dozens of languages spoken in the region, according to population estimates from the 2021 census.
Emilsa Bautista, 43, owner of La Guatemalteca Emy, a place to eat in northwest Dallas, said some of her workers face a double language barrier.
“Here, sometimes, there’s no way to do it, neither in English nor in Spanish,” said Bautista, a Guatemalan who has lived in Dallas for more than 30 years.
In his restaurant, menus are in English, Spanish and K’iche’, the most widely spoken Mayan language in Guatemala. The menu reads “Utz i petik,” which means “Welcome” in K’ichean.
Dallas County is home to about 19,000 Guatemalans, according to 2021 census population estimates. About 7,500 speakers of the Mayan language in the Dallas area.
“They have difficulty adapting to society. It’s hard for them. Most people in remote villages have no formal education. Migrating here is difficult,” said Tania Hernández Álvarez, Guatemala’s vice consul in Dallas.
Hernandez Alvarez said his diplomatic office founded in Farmers Branch serves between 70 and 80 Guatemalans a day and that about 10 percent of them speak K’iche’ or Q’eqchi’. The consulate lacks people who speak Mayan languages.
“They bring someone who can translate for them, because even if we need to assist them. . . they don’t perceive us,” Hernández Álvarez said.
Often, you have to call Mayan speakers from consulates in McAllen or Washington, D. C. , to translate over the phone.
Calixto Saquic, 32, a Guatemalan businessman who speaks K’iche, said walking and grocery shopping on Webb Chapel Road in northwest Dallas feels right at home, surrounded by others who speak his country’s local languages.
“Other people don’t like us talking to others. But we’re used to those [derogatory] comments,” he said.
The growing number of Mayan speakers in North Texas has created a support network for others who do not speak or understand English or Spanish.
“We help each other. If someone doesn’t speak Spanish and I do, I take them to paint with me,” said Jose Saquic, 27, who studied in Guatemala with a bilingual boy in Kiche and Spanish.
Being multilingual paid off. Today, Saquic and his brother Calixto Saquic own Pizza Large on Ross Avenue near downtown Dallas.
The pizza is possibly Italian food, but all the chefs and staff are from Guatemala and speak their local language at most. A recent renovation of the eating place was carried out through a K’iche-speaking team,” he said.
Networking is how those communities adapt to life in the United States, Saquic said.
“When Guatemalans are already there, for them ‘here’ is their home. ‘Where are you from? I’m from here, as long as I’m here and I’m here,'” said Calixto Saquic, who came to Dallas at age 12. .
He is from Chutzorop Tercero, a small town in the municipality of Chichicastenango in Guatemala.
Solval felt right at home when he arrived in North Texas.
He specializes in cooking classic Guatemalan dishes such as chapín breakfast (eggs, beans and bananas), pepián (spicy stew) or chorizo breakfast. After living two years in Aurora, Colorado, she moved to Dallas and discovered a Guatemalan network that helped her. Feel more comfortable.
He came to the United States from Suchitepéquez, a Guatemalan state where 38 percent of the remaining 555,000 residents are Mayan and more than 20,000 speak Kaqchikel, according to Guatemala’s National Institute of Statistics. About 7. 1% of the Guatemalan population speaks this language.
After living in Dallas for 3 years, Ricky Saquic, 20, nephew of José and Calixto, still uses K’iche’ as his language in paintings and in life.
He still does not perceive everything when others ask in English. But at the restaurant, he communicates with his uncles in K’iche’.
“I explain myself more in K’iche,’ but in other languages it’s different,” he said in Spanish.
Calixto Saquic wears a suit and presents himself as a businessman. As soon as he enters the kitchen he gives orders to his workers in k’iche’.
When consumers come to pick up their orders, Calixto Saquic speaks to them in English.
However, when he has an interview in Spanish, he speaks slowly and with an accent.
Mastering English was tricky at first, he said, but listening to audio conversations every night after painting helped him find similarities between English and K’iche.
“For example, to say ‘a hole’ in our dialect, we say ‘hole,’ like in Whole Foods. That’s why other people assimilate quickly,” said Calixto Saquic, referring to the phonetic similarities. This word in Spanish would be “hoyo. “