Myanmar is home to many ethnic groups—the government officially recognizes 135, 108 of which have their own language. Thus, while the Bamar people, who speak Burmese, the national lingua franca, account for the majority in Myanmar, many other sizeable ethnic groups also inhabit the land. The Mon people are the largest Austroasiatic ethnolinguistic group in Myanmar, accounting for roughly 2% of the population, and they speak their native Mon language. They primarily live in Mon State, followed by the Tanintharyi Region and Kayin State, as well as parts of Thailand.
The “Burmization” of Myanmar’s different ethnolinguistic groups has resulted in a precarious situation for the numerous languages spoken throughout the country, including Mon. Threatened by Burmese, Mon has been classified as endangered, even though it still has between 800,000 to 1 million speakers. Unfortunately, most translation agencies don’t want to work with endangered languages, since they offer limited profits. But at TranslationServices.com, we also recognize the cultural and linguistic value of languages like Mon. That’s why we proudly offer Mon translation services.
Our Mon translation services are affordable—just request a free quote today.
Discovering Mon, a Southeast Asian language with a rich history
Mon is one of the biggest languages in the Austroasiatic family after the much larger Vietnamese and Khmer. Alongside these two giants, Mon is also one of the only languages from the family with a long and rich written tradition. Mon has had significant influence on neighboring Southeast Asian cultures, historically used as a lingua franca and prestige language, with the Bamar people even adapting the Mon script for the Burmese language. Over time, Burmese took over the Mon-speaking areas, but in recent times, efforts to revitalize Mon have increased, with Mon taught in schools across the Mon state, sometimes as the language of instruction.
Unlike Burmese and Thai—which are from entirely different language families—Mon is not a tonal language. However, like many Southeast Asian languages, Mon does exhibit essentially no inflection, with no plural form for verbs. Number can be expressed explicitly, of course, in which case counter words are used depending on the type of noun being counted—a common feature in East and Southeast Asian languages. Mon statements typically end with the “realis” or “assertive” particle, with a different particle used to indicate the perfect tense (completion of an action).
Mon is an important part of Burmese history and remains a valuable cultural asset in modern-day Myanmar and Thailand. Our Mon translators are passionate about their language and eager to help with your Mon translation projects.
Translating Mon for anyone, anywhere
Our Mon translation services are available 24/7 to clients from all around the world, and we work with both translations to Mon and from Mon. Our translators are passionate about helping historians, academics, writers, and more spread Mon culture and knowledge abroad by translating historical documents, academic insights, traditional literature, and more. At the same time, our translators love increasing the amount of content available in Mon, whether that’s business materials, academic papers, books, poetry, websites, apps, or games. Increasing the domain of usage is one of the most powerful ways to revitalize Mon.
So, whether you need translation to or from Mon, reach out today and let us know the details of your translation needs.