English and French aren’t the only languages spoken in Canada—in fact, the North American country has roughly 100 indigenous languages within its borders. Many of these languages are found in the westernmost regions of the country, along the Pacific coast, which is home to numerous language families in both Canada and the United States. Unfortunately, most of these languages are severely endangered—but nonetheless, they live on. Shuswap stands as one such example.
Shuswap has only about 200 native speakers, which puts the language at serious threat of extinction. Decades of repression and the oppressive residential school system are responsible for the steep decline in Shuswap speakers, but in recent years, earnest language revitalization efforts have produced more than 1,000 new, semi-fluent speakers of the language, and immersion programs for young children provide hope for a Shuswap renaissance. At TranslationServices.com, supporting languages like Shuswap is important to us—so we’ve also put together our own Shuswap translation team.
How much do our Shuswap translation services cost? We’ll tell you for free—just request a quote!
Shuswap: the rebirth of an indigenous language
Shuswap finds its home in modern-day British Columbia, located in the Shuswap Country, or Secwepemcúl̓ecw, in the interior region of the western province. This is the indigenous territory of the Secwépemc, or Shuswap, people, although the majority of ethnic members do not speak Shuswap. The language belongs to the Salishan family, which is one of the biggest language families in the Pacific Northwest, known for its incredibly complex phonology.
Of course, it’s not just Shuswap’s phonology that’s complicated but also its morphology and syntax. Word order in Shuswap is relatively free, but generally, the verb comes first. Occasionally, the subject may come first, but this is rare. The language uses two noun cases, absolutive and relative, with the absolutive case used for the subject of an intransitive verb and both the subject and object of a transitive verb and the relative case used for all other scenarios, such as the agent of a passive verb or a noun modified by an adjective. Verbs are marked for person, with markers for both the subject and the object, and in some cases, an entire phrase or even sentence can be expressed by a single Shuswap word—that’s how morphologically complex Shuswap is. That’s also why you need experienced Shuswap translators like ours if you’re looking for quality work.
The best Shuswap translation services—find them here!
It’s not easy to provide translation services for severely endangered languages like Shuswap, but at TranslationServices.com, we believe in linguistic diversity and supporting minority languages. We’ve gone all over Secwepemcúl̓ecw to find the best Shuswap translators we could, passionate native speakers or advanced learners who are eager to use their Shuswap knowledge to help anyone looking for translation services. We work with translation projects both to and from Shuswap, covering both key dialects: Eastern Shuswap and Western Shuswap.
If you have any special requests for your Shuswap translation services, let us know. We can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to accommodate all your requests, but we’ll work with our team of Shuswap native speakers and advanced learners to find the best translator for your project. We’ve built our team to be as flexible as possible, translating things like lesson materials for young children to pick up the language, promotional materials for organizations catering to the Shuswap community, traditional Shuswap tales that deserve more widespread recognition, and contemporary media content that expands the number of resources available in Shuswap and helps foster language development in the community. Whatever you need in terms of Shuswap translation services, we’ll do our best to help.
Why not get started with your Shuswap translation project today? Contact our team to discuss your translation needs!