Brazil encompasses a huge chunk of the South American landmass. The dominant language of the country is Portuguese, with Brazil accounting for more than 200 million of the world’s 230 million native Portuguese speakers. But although Portuguese now stands as the primary language across the vast territory of Brazil, the land is also home to countless, completely unrelated indigenous languages—many of which are still spoken by thousands of people today. Today, we’d like to focus on one of these languages: Kayapo.
Kayapo, sometimes called by its native name, Mẽbêngôkre, is the first language of more than 8,600 people in Brazil, with the Kayapo and Xikrin peoples both speaking it natively. Living in Brazil, native Kayapo speakers face enormous pressure to learn Portuguese and assimilate to mainstream Brazilian culture, which serves as a threat to their language. Revitalization and documentation efforts are helping to keep the language flourishing, however, and we at TranslationServices.com are also pleased to announce that we’re launching a Kayapo translation team to support the language.
Interested in our rates for Kayapo translation services? Then reach out and ask for a free quote!
Let’s delve a bit deeper into the Kayapo language
The Kayapo and Xikrin peoples are native to the center of Brazil, with communities living in the states of Mato Grosso and Pará. Though the Kayapo and Xikrin share the same language, they’re nonetheless separate ethnic groups, giving rise to distinct Kayapo and Xikrin dialects of the language. Ultimately, the language traces its roots back to the Macro–Jê family, a medium-sized family nearly exclusive to Brazil. Given its location in Brazil, Kayapo and most other Macro–Jê languages have incorporated a number of Portuguese loanwords.
Kayapo constructs sentences using the most common word order in the world: subject-object-verb. The inflectional morphology is complex, with a strict distinction drawn between finite and nonfinite verbs. Generally, the nonfinite form is the one that’s marked, with a variety of suffixes possible to mark nonfiniteness, but for a handful of verbs, it’s the finite form that’s marked. Kayapo pronouns are differentiated between singular, plural, and paucal, denoting “a few,” and the first-person pronoun comes in multiple forms that make it clear whether the listener is included when the speaker says “we.” It’s no wonder, then, that Kayapo translation is so tricky—and that’s why you should always rely on native-speaking experts like our team members for the highest quality.
If you want great Kayapo translation services, you’ve come to the right place
It’s hard to find Kayapo translation services, since most translation agencies just gloss over minority languages like Kayapo. At TranslationServices.com, we differentiate ourselves by providing translation services for Kayapo and hundreds of other endangered, minority, or underserved languages. But we want to make sure that the services we’re providing are high quality—which is why we’ve searched far and wide all across Mato Grosso and Pará, working with both the Kayapo and Xikrin tribes, to locate the best Kayapo translators possible. Representing various dialects, our Kayapo translators are happy to translate both to and from Kayapo—whatever you need for your project.
Since our Kayapo translators have experience in various domains of translation, we’re able to offer translation services to and from Kayapo for a wide range of projects and subject matters. For example, we can translate educational materials into Kayapo to help foster a native-language education for Kayapo children, as the community has identified a scarcity of educational content available in the language. We also offer business translation, literary translation, localization, and other specializations, depending on your needs. Whatever kind of Kayapo translation services you’re looking for, our well-rounded and passionate team is ready to help.
Would you like translation services to or from Kayapo? Get started now by reaching out!