Despite having nearly half a million speakers, it remains a struggle to maintain and expand the presence of the Zapotec indigenous language online. Based in Oaxaca, in Mexico, Ana Alonso Ortiz is one of the zapotecas who have mobilized to create original and translated content, with the aim to keep it alive for the next generations.
Many obstacles stand in the way: the negative messaging around indigenous languages, the scarcity of content already available in platforms, the difficulties in establishing conventions to convert it into written form. Ana, who holds a Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of Massachusetts in the United States, argues:
In an effort to tackle this, her community is generating materials and translating existing resources about themselves to their own language, instead of predominant colonial ones, like English and Spanish. After over three years of community-based efforts, Ana says it’s paying off, with people’s attitude towards Zapotec slowly shifting.
