Indonesian is not the native language of all Indonesians. In fact, it’s not even the native language of most Indonesians. Yes, the majority of the population learns the language, as it’s generally necessary for education, administration, and national media—but at home and in the local community, people across the diverse archipelagic country usually speak one of the 700+ indigenous languages. And some of them—like Kutainese—are relatively sizable.
It's estimated that 300,000 to 400,000 people speak Kutainese as their native language. That may not sound like a lot compared to Indonesian, but when you consider how few people speak many of the indigenous languages of the land, it’s clear that Kutainese is one of the bigger languages in the country. Unfortunately, it faces many of the same challenges as other minority Indonesian languages, threatened by the national lingua franca. So, we at TranslationServices.com have embarked on a journey to support Kutainese by launching our own Kutainese translation services.
We can offer you a free quote for our Kutainese translation services—all you have to do is ask.
Learning a little more about Kutainese
The island of Borneo—the third-largest in the world—is situated in the center of the Indonesian archipelago and is home to a diverse smattering of ethnolinguistic groups, including the Kutai people, who make their home in the province of East Kalimantan. Kutainese speakers reside in regencies named after them: West Kutai, East Kutai, and Kutai Kartanegara. Like many other indigenous languages of Borneo, Kutainese forms a dialect continuum, and due to the geographical separation between the three main dialects, mutual intelligibility is low. These three main variants are Tenggarong, Kota Bangun, Ancalong Estuary.
Kutainese’s three main dialects may well be classified as separate languages—but they’re closely related. As a single language, Kutainese is also related to neighboring languages like Banjar and Brunei Malay. It’s part of the Malayic branch of the Austronesian language family. It shares many of the core grammatical structures as other languages in Indonesia, including Indonesian itself. One such feature is the “focus system,” where verbs are altered with prefixes that place emphasis on the subject or object of the sentence. Since English doesn’t have this feature, it can be tricky to translate—but that’s why we’ve filled our Kutainese translation team with passionate native speakers.
Let us help you with your Kutainese translation—whatever you need.
If you have a text you want to translate to or from Kutainese, we want to help you. Our translators have grown up in different parts of East Kutai, West Kutai, and Kutai Kartanegara, and they’re proud of their native language. They love helping fellow Kutainese speakers spread their messages around the world, as well as aiding foreigners in connecting with speakers of Kutainese. Indeed, our translation services are available both to and from Kutainese, for whichever dialect you prefer: Tenggarong, Kota Bangun, or Ancalong Estuary.
What if you have special requests for your translation services? Maybe you want a translator experienced with academic translation to help you with research in East Kalimantan. Perhaps you need a translator with business experience to assist with the translation of marketing materials into Kutainese. Or possibly you’re looking for a translator with a knack for literary expressions to ensure your creative work is translated faithfully to or from Kutainese, retaining your unique tone and writing style. No worries—that’s why we’ve hired a diverse array of translators with experience in different areas. Some of them are even experts in other disciplines and can navigate the complex lexical trappings of esoteric texts.
Whatever you’re looking for in Kutainese translation—even if it’s technical—you can count on us. Send us your order today!