User:Chbhurst/New sandbox

, Cortés encountered a shipwrecked Spaniard named Gerónimo de Aguilar who joined the expedition and translated between Spanish and Mayan. The expedition then sailed west to Campeche, where, after a brief battle with the local army, Cortés was able to negotiate peace through his interpreter Aguilar. The King of Campeche gave Cortés a second translator, a bilingual Nahua-Maya slave woman named La Malinche (she was known also as Malinalli [maliˈnalːi], Malintzin [maˈlintsin] or Doña Marina [ˈdoɲa maˈɾina]). La Malinche was a princess before she was either taken, or willingly sold, into slavery, eventually being sold to the leader of Campeche. Because of this she could communicate with the higher nobility of both the Mayans and Aztecs. Aguilar translated from Spanish to Mayan, and La Malinche translated from Mayan to Nahuatl. Malinche became Cortés' translator for both language and culture once she learned Spanish, and she was a key figure in interactions with Nahua rulers.