Tonalpohualli Iamoxtli : The Book of the Count of Time

Nahuatl is a marvelous language of harmonious and
melodious sounds, composed of profound concepts and
beautifully complicated agglutinated words. The style of
communication is unique in that it is filled with an
immense amount of metaphors and a myriad of ways to
explain any one concept.
The author, Akaxe Yotzin, having been molded and
polished by those who have held onto these languages and
styles of communication, writes in a manner very similar
to the manner in which his masters, elders and family
taught him. In Spanish and in Nahuatl, there are many
words that contain concepts that when calqued and
translated into English, a language of business, often end
up losing the beautiful essence of their origin.
In my attempts at maintaining the essence of the
concepts contained in this ancient philosophy and science,
I have not only had to borrow from Nahuatl when there
was no English equivalent that would do it justice, but
have also had to paraphrase words that contain complex
concepts, and compensate lines with English expansions.
This has often resulted in extremely formal and archaic
sounding English, but that is, nonetheless, necessary to
reflect the precise and profound nature of these concepts,
of the Nahuatl language, and of the author’s writing style.
This process has been beautiful and challenging,
stimulating and thought-provoking while laden with the
heavy responsibility of presenting this ancient knowledge
with the dignity and respect it deserves.
I humbly ask for your understanding and consideration
for the extra time it has taken to create an English version
of such a majestic language and allow me the consideration
for humbly attempting to do justice to such profound
concepts and wise ancestors.