The "flavor" of the word "Indigenous"

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The "flavor" of the word "Indigenous"

by Lulu

Sep 23, 2016

Hoping a native speaker can help me with this. I'm working with a US/Mexican nonprofit to retool the website and tagline. The group supports indigenous Zapotec Indian communities. In English it is natural to use the word "indigenous" to describe such a community and it's not in any way pejorative. What I'm not sure about is whether a literal translation (indígena/indígenas) works as well in Spanish. Is there a "flavor" to the word not carried by the English word? For instance in English you could say someone was part of a native community or talk about native culture but if you were to call them a native it would carry about it a ghost of savage redskins scalping the white folk. Any thoughts or opinions?

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Jennifer On 9/23/16, Lulu wrote: > Hoping a native speaker can help me with this. I'm working > with a US/Mexican nonprofit to retool the website and > tagline. The group supports indigenous Zapotec Indian > communities. In English it is natural to use the word > "indigenous" to describe such a community and it's not in > any way...See More

Sep 23, 2016

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Lulu Thanks for the response. In doing a little research on line I did see indígena as the best of the bunch, with a lot of other terms such as "indio" as more negative. At the same time we don't want to offend the people we're trying to work with.

I'm hesitant to use a Zapotec word because the vast majority of our donor base speaks ...See MoreThanks for the response. In doing a little research on line I did see indígena as the best of the bunch, with a lot of other terms such as "indio" as more negative. At the same time we don't want to offend the people we're trying to work with.

I'm hesitant to use a Zapotec word because the vast majority of our donor base speaks either English or Spanish. The idea of using the word Zapotec has already been rejected as too specific. We're thinking of using "communidades rurales" because even though it doesn't mean exactly the same thing it gets the point across and much of the work we're doing is with schools classified officially as "rural schools".

It sound like from what you've said and other feedback we might still be able to get away with using indigenous in our English tag line. To an English ear "rural"doesn't create the same imagery as "indigenous", which feels like a richer, more evocative word.

So many opportunities to grab and pitfalls to avoid!

On 9/23/16, Jennifer wrote: > On 9/23/16, Lulu wrote: >> Hoping a native speaker can help me with this. I'm working >> with a US/Mexican nonprofit to retool the website and >> tagline. The group supports indigenous Zapotec Indian >> communities. In English it is natural to use the word >> "indigenous" to describe such a community and it's not in >> any way pejorative. What I'm not sure about is whether a >> literal translation (indígena/indígenas) works as well in >> Spanish. Is there a "flavor" to the word not carried by the >> English word? For instance in English you could say >> someone was part of a native community or talk about >> native culture but if you were to call them a native it would >> carry about it a ghost of savage redskins scalping the white >> folk. Any thoughts or opinions? > > Any of the terms that are sometimes used can be viewed as having > a negative connotation if used in certain contexts since there > is quite a lot of prejudice against indigenous communities in > many parts of Mexico. But in my experience the word indígena is > the better of the various words that are sometimes used to refer > to the indigenous communities of Mexico and is a term sometimes > used by the indigenous communities themselves. If the group you > are working with focuses exclusively on Zapotec communities, > even better would be to refer to them in Spanish as comunidades > zapotecas or to find out what they call themselves in the local > Zapotec language. I know that the native name for the Zapotec > language spoken near Tehuantepec is Didxazá, for example. But if > you are not able to get advice from the communities themselves, > I do think you are safe with indígena.

Sep 23, 2016

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mswa I'm not a native speaker, but when I took classes in Mexico about Mexican history, etc., they used the word "indígena". I agree with the previous poster that in certain contexts it could have a negative connotation, but I imagine you won't have that problem with the way you are using the word.

On 9/23/16, Lulu wrote: > Thanks...See MoreI'm not a native speaker, but when I took classes in Mexico about Mexican history, etc., they used the word "indígena". I agree with the previous poster that in certain contexts it could have a negative connotation, but I imagine you won't have that problem with the way you are using the word.

On 9/23/16, Lulu wrote: > Thanks for the response. In doing a little research on line I did > see indígena as the best of the bunch, with a lot of other terms > such as "indio" as more negative. At the same time we don't > want to offend the people we're trying to work with. > > I'm hesitant to use a Zapotec word because the vast majority > of our donor base speaks either English or Spanish. The idea of > using the word Zapotec has already been rejected as too > specific. We're thinking of using "communidades rurales" > because even though it doesn't mean exactly the same thing it > gets the point across and much of the work we're doing is with > schools classified officially as "rural schools". > > It sound like from what you've said and other feedback we > might still be able to get away with using indigenous in our > English tag line. To an English ear "rural"doesn't create the > same imagery as "indigenous", which feels like a richer, more > evocative word. > > So many opportunities to grab and pitfalls to avoid! > > On 9/23/16, Jennifer wrote: >> On 9/23/16, Lulu wrote: >>> Hoping a native speaker can help me with this. I'm working >>> with a US/Mexican nonprofit to retool the website and >>> tagline. The group supports indigenous Zapotec Indian >>> communities. In English it is natural to use the word >>> "indigenous" to describe such a community and it's not in >>> any way pejorative. What I'm not sure about is whether a >>> literal translation (indígena/indígenas) works as well in >>> Spanish. Is there a "flavor" to the word not carried by the >>> English word? For instance in English you could say >>> someone was part of a native community or talk about >>> native culture but if you were to call them a native it would >>> carry about it a ghost of savage redskins scalping the white >>> folk. Any thoughts or opinions? >> >> Any of the terms that are sometimes used can be viewed as > having >> a negative connotation if used in certain contexts since there >> is quite a lot of prejudice against indigenous communities in >> many parts of Mexico. But in my experience the word > indígena is >> the better of the various words that are sometimes used to > refer >> to the indigenous communities of Mexico and is a term > sometimes >> used by the indigenous communities themselves. If the group > you >> are working with focuses exclusively on Zapotec > communities, >> even better would be to refer to them in Spanish as > comunidades >> zapotecas or to find out what they call themselves in the > local >> Zapotec language. I know that the native name for the > Zapotec >> language spoken near Tehuantepec is Didxazá, for example. > But if >> you are not able to get advice from the communities > themselves, >> I do think you are safe with indígena.

Sep 27, 2016

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