The north-central African nation of Chad designates French and Arabic as its native languages, but this hardly paints a representative picture of the remarkably linguistically diverse country. Many Chadians don’t speak either language, and the primary lingua franca, spoken by 40% to 60% of the population, is Chadian Arabic, not Modern Standard Arabic. You’ll find more than 120 indigenous languages across the vast land, however, and those are what most people speak at home and in their local communities. Today, we’re looking at a major Chadian language: Kanembu.
More than 880,000 people in Chad speak Kanembu as their native language, making it one of the biggest languages in the country. However, since Chad’s constitution only affords official status to Arabic and French, the language is poorly represented, and many Kanembu speakers learn Arabic and, in recent years, French, which puts pressure on this indigenous language. With minimal resources and translation services available, Kanembu is potentially under threat—so we at TranslationServices.com would like to help with our new Kanembu translation services.
Why not send us a message and ask about a quote for our Kanembu translation services? You can do so for free!
Kanembu: one of Chad’s biggest languages
Kanembu’s 880,000 or so native speakers primarily live in the regions of Bahr el Gazel and Hadjer-Lamis, found in the western part of the country. A small number of Kanembu speakers also live in the neighboring nations of Niger and Nigeria. The language is divided into three main dialects: Karkawu, Mando, and Nguri. It belongs to the Saharan side of the Nilo–Saharan language family, closely related to the much bigger Kanuri language, which some ethnic Kanembu speak instead. Historically, however, Kanembu was a language of great importance, and its classical form lives on today as a liturgical language in Nigeria called Tarjumo.
When it comes to grammar, Kanembu is dramatically different from English. To start with, its basic word order is subject-object-verb—which is actually the most common word order in the world. It’s a highly inflectional language, using suffixes to mark plurality, case, and possession on nouns, as well as tense and aspect on verbs. Kanembu’s alphabet lacks several letters present in English, although it adds the vowel ə. Historically, Kanembu was written in the Ajami script, which is a modified version of the Arabic script. To ensure that you’re getting the highest-quality Kanembu translations, it’s imperative to work with native speakers who grasp the ins and outs of this language.
Passionate, native-speaking Kanembu translators eager to help
Whether our translators hail from Bahr el Gazel, Hadjer-Lamis, elsewhere in Chad, or somewhere in Niger or Nigeria, they’re proud native speakers of Kanembu with experience translating to and from their language. So, whether you’re looking to share a message in Kanembu to the rest of the world or tailor your communications for the Kanembu-speaking people of Chad, you can count on our translators to provide top-notch translation services, in the dialect of your choice.
What if your translation project requires specialty knowledge, either in a particular translation domain or in a technical field? No problem. We have academically oriented translators who can help professors, researchers, and other scholars translate their material in whatever field they study, just as we have business-oriented translators ready to help professionals of all kinds translate corporate documents and promotional materials to or from Kanembu in any industry. We also have literary translators who can meticulously translate your book, poem, story, or other literary work to or from Kanembu, taking care to ensure that your unique writing style still shines through. If you need a translator who understands your field well, just ask—we’ll try to cater our services to best meet your needs.
If you’re ready to get started with your Kanembu translation project, why not reach out and place your first order today?