English is far from the only language spoken in British Columbia, Canada. Yes, there are also many immigrant languages spoken in the province, but that’s not all—British Columbia is also home to numerous indigenous languages that have been spoken in the territory for millennia. Unfortunately, most of these languages are under severe threat after centuries of repression—but they are still spoken by passionate ethnic communities of speakers. One such language is Gitxsan.
Gitxsan, also called Gitxsanimaax, is spoken by roughly 1,000 people, making it one of the biggest indigenous languages in British Columbia. Nonetheless, the language has been categorized as “severely endangered,” which indicates that most speakers are older and that most children aren’t learning the language. Given these circumstances, it’s no surprise that the majority of translation firms don’t have a Gitxsan translation team. But is that really fair? The Gitxsan people deserve access to translation as well. That’s why we at TranslationServices.com have set up our own dedicated Gitxsan translation team.
You can see our Gitxsan translation rates by sending a message and requesting a free quote today.
What kind of language is Gitxsan?
Gitxsan is native to northwestern British Columbia, straddling the US–Canada border on the coastal edge of the province. It is a member of the Tsimshianic languages, a small language family considered to consist of four languages: Coast Tsimshian, Southern Tsimshian, Nisga’a, and Gitxsan. Gitxsan is particularly closely related to Nisga’a, with linguists sometimes considering them the same language, but the two ethnolinguistic groups prefer to make a distinction. The Gitxsan community is proud of their language, and revitalization efforts have surfaced in recent years to teach the language to local youth.
Gitxsan uses a verb-subject-object word order, which is only found in 9% of languages worldwide. It makes heavy use of connective morphemes (i.e., morphemes attached to verbs and sometimes nouns connecting one word to another). Gitxsan tense is not always overtly marked, which can make it difficult to determine the tense of a sentence, but by default, tenseless sentences denoting state (e.g., “I am happy”) are assumed to be in the present, while tenseless sentences about activities or actions are read by default in the past. A difference between Gitxsan and most languages with minimal tense markers, however, is that an adverbial time reference, such as “tomorrow,” is not sufficient to mark the future—a dedicated future tense particle is obligatory.
We’re dedicated to high-quality Gitxsan translation services.
No matter how complicated Gitxsan grammar may seem, our team of Gitxsan translators can translate the language effortlessly, since they’re native speakers. They’re equally well versed in translating from Gitxsan to English as they are from English to Gitxsan. Thus, you can access any number of translation services from us, including translating historical documents or traditional stories from Gitxsan and publishing them for a wider audience. You can also translate surveys into Gitxsan to distribute to the local population or content such as books, poetry, websites, apps, and games into Gitxsan to encourage more youth to learn and use their ancestral language. Our translators are ready to help with all your Gitxsan translation needs.
If you want Gitxsan translation services, don’t wait—reach out today and explain the specifications of your translation project.