Today, most people in Brazil speak Portuguese as their first language. But it wasn’t always like that. For most of the history of human settlement in Brazil, the land knew nothing of the Indo–European language that dominates it today—rather, hundreds of indigenous languages were spoken across the territory. And many of those languages still persist today, even as many others have already, unfortunately, faded away. One of the stronger indigenous languages still spoken in modern-day Brazil is Xavante.
Xavante has about 9,000 native speakers, and while that’s a far cry from the more than 200 million native speakers of Portuguese in Brazil, it’s relatively large for an Amerindian language. Roughly half of all ethnic Xavante people speak their ancestral language, with an estimated 7,000 who speak only Xavante. The high rate of monolingualism gives Xavante much more stable footing than many other indigenous languages, but mainstream Brazilian culture and the Portuguese language still pose a threat. We at TranslationServices.com are here to proudly present our Xavante translation services to help support the language.
We can provide free quotes for our Xavante translation services—simply request one!
Xavante: an important and well-studied indigenous language of Brazil
The Xavante people, native to the central-western Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, have held onto their language and customs despite the pressures of Portuguese and mainstream Brazilian culture. The language is one of the best-studied indigenous languages in Brazil, in part due to its numerous unique grammatical characteristics. It comes from the Jê subgroup of the Macro–Jê language family, which spans large swaths of inland southeastern Brazil.
Perhaps the most notable characteristic of Xavante is its object-subject-verb word order, the rarest of the six basic word orders. Used by fewer than 1% of the world’s languages, the OSV word order is typically only found in the Amazon basin, a feature Xavante shares with languages like Warao and Apurinã. Xavante also strongly encodes honorifics, intimacy, and kinship status morphologically, with children required to use certain honorific forms toward their parents and grandparents. Another set of honorifics is used specifically by men and their fathers-in-law, and couples that have been arranged to be married must use another set of honorifics toward each other. It’s easy to see why a native-speaking Xavante translator is indispensable for your Xavante translation project—and we can help you with that.
Xavante translation services customized to suit your needs
The Xavante are a proud people who speak their native language vigorously, with positive attitudes toward the language permeating throughout the community. We’re proud to help clients from across South America and the world connect with Xavante speakers through tailored translation services, leveraging the expertise of the top translation talent among the Xavante people. Since we offer translation services both to and from Xavante, you can be sure to access the type of translation you need.
Would you like specialized translation services for your Xavante project? Since there aren’t a lot of Xavante speakers and most of them are monolingual, the global pool of Xavante translators is limited, but we’ll help match you to the best Xavante translator for your project within the realm of possibility. We can translate academically oriented materials, such as research surveys to disseminate to Xavante speakers or educational materials that help provide Xavante-speaking children with a well-rounded education. We can translate business documents, from business plans and reports to advertisements and marketing copy for companies that want to establish a bigger presence in the Xavante-speaking communities of Mato Grosso. We can translate stories—whether that’s the traditional stories of the Xavante or foreign stories from around the world, in the form of books, poems, apps, games, and more—carefully navigating the intricate nuances of Xavante.
We’re your number one solution for Xavante translation services. Place an order with us today to get started!