Published September 1, 2025

In San Miguel de Allende, teachers and young people are trying to rescue Otomi, a language that has been losing ground and is spoken by only a few.

At approximately 10 years old, Vicente Ramírez Crisanto learned the Otomi language from his elders. Today, at 83, he is one of the few residents of the northern part of the municipality of San Miguel de Allende who still speaks this mother tongue. He recognizes that in his community, he no longer has anyone to converse with in the language he learned from his parents and spoke with his friends as a child.

Don Vicente lives with one of his daughters in the community of Rancho Nuevo de Banda, an area where he has lived since childhood and where he learned to work the land, which allowed him to support his family.

According to research conducted by historian Graciela Cruz, at the beginning of the 20th century, only between 7 and 12% of the inhabitants of the Laja River basin spoke or understood Spanish; the rest, undoubtedly the majority, communicated in their native language, Otomi.

Talking with Don Vicente is like embarking on a journey through a vast Otomi vocabulary that he is eager to share, in order to preserve his legacy.

A Quest to Instill and Preserve the Language
Maestra Beatriz Rodríguez, who teaches classes in the Peña Blanca community together with Maestro Ángel Moreno, intends to ensure that this language is not lost among the Indigenous community, which is why she encourages its use among elementary school students.

Teacher Bety and Teacher Ángel, in addition to continuing their studies, benefit from the wisdom of their elders, as they have found in Don Vicente a teacher with whom they can practice and learn the Indigenous language.

The people of Mexico do not realize the cultural richness of indigenous languages and very few care about preserving this important historical treasure.