With more than 700 languages spanning its many shores and islands, Indonesia is home to a plethora of minority languages that, unfortunately, are often overshadowed by Indonesian or regional lingua francas. But nonetheless, some of the Southeast Asian country’s minority languages are spoken by large populations, reaching into the hundreds of thousands or even millions. For example, there’s the Kendayan language, whose speaker base is in the hundreds of thousands.
To be specific, Kendayan has an estimated 330,000 native speakers, split between Indonesia and Malaysia. The language remains in vigorous use in both countries, spoken commonly both in homes and in the broader community. In fact, the Ahe dialect is even used as a local lingua franca to communicate with other indigenous tribes living in the area. But Indonesian (or Malay in Malaysia) are used in school, government, and media, which poses a threat to the proud indigenous language. We at TranslationServices.com are doing what we can to support Kendayan: launching our own Kendayan translation services.
Do you want to see a free quote for our Kendayan translation services? Why not ask for one now?
Discovering one of Indonesia’s indigenous languages: Kendayan
Kendayan speakers are divided by the Indonesian–Malaysian border. The Indonesian speakers generally reside in the province of West Kalimantan, specifically the regencies of Sambas, Bengkayang, Pontianak, Bengkawang, and Landak, while the Malaysian portion of Kendayan speakers are concentrated in the state of Sarawak. Although the language is the same, Malaysian speakers prefer the name Salako. With Kendayan (or Salako) spoken over a relatively large geographical area, especially across national borders, there are naturally many dialects of the language.
Kendayan is classified as a Land Dayak language, native to the Biduyah indigenous peoples of Sarawak and West Kalimantan. Ultimately, however, the language traces its heritage back to the Austronesian language family, which accounts for most of the languages spoken in both Indonesia and Malaysia. Over the years, Kendayan grammar has shifted due to the heavy influence of Indonesia and Malay, with the influence stronger on the Indonesian side of the border, where Indonesian has been institutionalized as the national language for longer. The language features an abundance of inflection that can be tricky for learners to master, and it’s not just prefixes and suffixes—sometimes Kendayan even features infixes, which are inserted in the middle of a word. But you don’t have to worry about the complexity, because our native-speaking Kendayan translators will handle it all for you.
A team that offers Kendayan translation services for all types of projects
You want great Kendayan translation services, and we want to provide anyone who needs Kendayan translation services with easy access to tailored services. It’s the perfect match. Our translators come from both Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province and Malaysia’s Sarawak state, and they speak various dialects of Kendayan (or Salako in Malaysia)—so if you’re looking for a particular dialect, simply request it. We’re here to help clients translate both into Kendayan and from Kendayan, whichever direction suits your needs.
Our Kendayan translation team offers services to clients from all kinds of backgrounds, whether you work in academia, business, literature, or another field. That’s thanks to our specialized academic translators, business translators, and literary translators, who can customize their translation services to fit your individual needs. Our academic translators are great for researchers working with Kendayan speakers, and our business translators are ideal for CEOs who want to engage with the local population. Our literary translators offer the perfect conduit for Kendayan writers to share their works with the world or for language activists to increase the body of literature available in the indigenous language, helping to strengthen and preserve it.
If you’re ready to get started with Kendayan translation services, how about placing an order today?