Indonesian is one of the biggest languages in the world, and when you consider that Indonesia has a population of more than 270 million, it’s not hard to see why. But only around 43 million people are actually native speakers of Indonesian—most learn it as a second language. So, what gives? Indonesia is home to more than 700 languages, making it the country with the second-biggest number of languages. Many of Indonesia’s minority languages are still spoken by large, vibrant communities, as is the case for the Tae’ language.
Tae’, spoken by around 270,000 people in Indonesia, bears no relations to Thai, despite the similar name (surprisingly, it’s actually related to Malagasy in Madagascar instead). Although the language is threatened by the widespread use of Indonesian, both nationally and regionally, Tae’ remains in good standing and is even used as a local lingua franca, learned by smaller ethnolinguistic groups in the area. But that still doesn’t mean it’s easy to find translation services for Tae’. That’s why we at TranslationServices.com have gone about creating our own Tae’ translation team.
If you’re interested in our Tae’ translation services, we invite you to request a free quote today!
Discovering Tae’, a vibrant minority language in Indonesia
Tae’ is native to a particularly diverse region of Indonesia, straddling the coast of the Tana Luwu region of South Sulawesi. It’s spoken by both the Toala and Luwu ethnic groups, who live in the regencies of Luwu, North Luwu, and East Luwu, as well as the city of Palopo. While Tae’ is technically related to most languages of Indonesia, as the vast majority all belong to the Austronesian language family, it’s most closely related to nearby Toraja-Sa’dan. More distantly, Tae’ is related to Mandar, Massenrempulu, and Mamuju.
Given its status as an Austronesian language, Tae’ exhibits a number of features that differ starkly from English. For example, its basic word order is verb-subject-object, which renders Tae’ unique because although this word order is common in the Austronesian family, many of the bigger Indonesian languages use subject-verb-object, like in English. Verbs in Tae’ take a suffix that shows the person, and nouns are similarly inflected with personal suffixes to show possession. The language includes a distinction between inclusive we (“you and I”) and exclusive we (“I and other people but not you”), with the inclusive we also used as a polite second-person pronoun. Like in English, there is no second-person plural pronoun in Tae’, and unlike in English, there is no gender distinction in the third person, either. It’s difficult to translate languages that are so different from English, but you don’t have to worry if you work with native-speaking Tae’ translators like ours.
Bringing you the best in Tae’ translation services—no matter who you are
Our mission is to provide you with the best Tae’ translation services we can—for any project! Since our clients have diverse needs, that means we need to offer a diverse translation team capable of handling various types of translation projects. We’ve hired Tae’ translators who are native speakers of various dialects, hailing from different regions in Tana Luwu and beyond. Our translators are passionate and experienced, happy to help you with translation both to and from Tae’.
For clients looking for more specialized translation services—such as academic translation services, business translation services, or literary translation services—don’t worry, we have you covered. Our Tae’ translation services have experience in various types of translation, which allows them to seamlessly cater to the individualized needs of our clients from academia, business, the creative fields, and beyond. We can even translate content with esoteric language—simply let us know if you need a subject-matter expert, and we’ll try to match you with the best Tae’ translator for the job.
Our Tae’ translation team is here for you. Get started by placing your first order today!