More than 1.5 million people in Brazil identified as indigenous in the South American country’s 2022 census, spanning more than 274 languages across 304 ethnic groups. To say Brazil is diverse is an understatement. Most people in the country are united under the Portuguese language, with Brazil accounting for more than 88% of the world’s native Portuguese speakers. But for many Brazilians—especially indigenous Brazilians—Portuguese isn’t their first language. Rather, they speak languages like Terêna.
Terêna clocks in with a native speaker count of about 15,000, which is high for an Amerindian language. Its distribution is spread unevenly across Terêna communities, pervasive throughout different areas of life in some locales yet fading away in others. Thus, even though Terêna boasts more speakers than many other indigenous languages across the diverse continent of South America, UNESCO classifies it as endangered. At TranslationServices.com, we’re proud to support Terêna with our dedicated Terêna translation services.
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A detailed dive into Terêna
The primary homeland of Terêna speakers is Mato Grosso do Sul, a state in central-western Brazil, although Terêna villages also exist to the north in Mato Grosso and to the east in São Paulo. It’s split across four main dialects—Kinikinao, Guaná, Chané, and Terêna proper—although Terêna proper is easil the dominant variety. Terêna hails from the vast Arawakan family, which is spread all across South America, and thus the language is related to Wayuu, Arawak, Asháninka, and other relatively major indigenous languages.
Terêna demonstrates a basic default word order of verb-object-subject, which is only found in 3% of languages worldwide. However, a verb-subject-object order is often used when the subject is an independent personal pronoun, and a subject-verb-object order is commonly used to emphasize the subject. Possession can get tricky in Terêna, with some nouns, such as elements of nature, classified as “unpossessable.” Among possessable nouns, the language distinguishes between alienable and inalienable possession, with nouns like body parts considered inalienable. Terêna verbs are heavily inflected, with affixes to indicate the tense, aspect, mood, person, number, and evidentiality, which communicates that the information being conveyed was acquired through hearsay. Terêna packs a lot of nuance that can be difficult to translate, so hiring a native-speaking Terêna translator (like our team members) is a good idea.
We provide the Terêna translation services you want.
Not a lot of companies provide dedicated translation services for Terêna, but we’re determined to be the best in this domain. We’ve proudly put together a team of the top translators across the Terêna-speaking world, with passionate native speakers from all across Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, and São Paulo. Whether you’re looking for translation into Terêna to connect with this indigenous community or translation from Terêna to spread your message internationally, our team is ready to help, with tailored translation services in both directions.
If you want specialized translation services, we can help with that, too. For example, our academic translation services are ideal for researchers working with Terêna speakers or educators aiming to provide quality education to local children in the Terêna language. Our business translation services are a great solution for organizations with a presence in Terêna-speaking areas that want to forge deeper ties with their indigenous clientele. Our literary translation services are well suited to a variety of creative projects in either direction, whether it’s translating traditional Terêna stories into English to share with the world or translating modern media like books, poems, games, and apps into Terêna to expand the reach of this precious language. Whatever you need, our Terêna translation team is here for you.
Don’t hesitate to contact us for your Terêna translation needs! Place an order today.