AS Mel Gibson stirs interest in the once-repressed Mayan languages with his film Apocalypto, they are enjoying a real-life renaissance in Guatemala's mountains and jungles.A bilingual education drive in the mostly Mayan country is reviving 21 languages pushed aside since the Spanish conquest 500 years ago, some of which were close to extinction.
The club-wielding, human-sacrificing stars of Gibson's movie speak entirely in Yucatec Mayan, still used today by hundreds of thousands of people in Mexico and Belize.
It is only one of 30 Mayan languages descended from a single, 4000-year-old tongue and spoken by about five million people in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize and Honduras.
Each of Guatemala's Mayan languages is being standardised with dictionaries and school grammar books. The internet has made it easier to create and distribute.
"There has been a significant growth of young people speaking Mayan languages," Maya lawyer Amilcar Pop said.
Linguist Michael Richards said there was a major rise in areas of the country of young people three to 14 speaking Mayan languages. -REUTERS
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