Final answer:
La Malinche translated from Nahuatl to Spanish during the encounter between Cortés and Montezuma. Yuri Knorozov played a key role in deciphering the ancient Mayan writing system, which uses both logograms and syllabic glyphs.
Step-by-step explanation:
The language translated by La Malinche for Hernán Cortés during his meeting with Montezuma was Nahuatl, which was the language of the Mexica people and part of the larger Nahua language group. La Malinche served as an interpreter, conveying the words of the Aztec emperor to the Spanish conquistadors. Maya translations by the linguist Yuri Knorozov focused on deciphering the complex Mayan writing system, which was used by the Mayan civilization in Central America, and had been misunderstood for centuries by scholars until Knorozov's breakthroughs in the 20th century.
In the field of deciphering the Mayan script, Yuri Knorozov played a pivotal role by comprehending that the Mayan writing system consists of roughly 800 characters and is a mix of logograms and syllabic glyphs. This system allowed the Maya to write about diverse topics, including their history, astronomy, and mathematics. It is now understood that through this system, one can read approximately 75 percent of their texts, which tell us much about the Mayan civilization's advanced knowledge and achievements.