Russia is a more multilingual country than most people give it credit for. It’s true that most of the population speaks Russian, which is the lingua franca of the country, making it necessary for interethnic communication. However, all throughout Russia are speakers of minority languages, many of them indigenous to the vast territory that Russia spans, and although these languages are threatened by Russian, they are still spoken proudly. One example is Erzya.
Ascertaining the precise number of Erzya speakers is difficult because it’s sometimes classified as Mordvin, which groups together Erzya and the neighboring related language Moksha. However, as Erzya and Moksha are not mutually intelligible, linguists have begun classifying the languages separately. Thus, estimates of the number of Erzya speakers roughly range from 400,000 to 40,000. The language is considered “definitely endangered” by UNESCO, which has made it difficult to access Erzya translation services, since most translation agencies don’t work with endangered languages. TranslationServices.com does, however. In fact, we’re proud to have a dedicated Erzya translation team.
If you’re interested in Erzya translation services, contact us today and ask about a free quote.
Some basic information on Erzya
Erzya is a Uralic language, a language family originating from the Ural Mountain region in modern-day Russia. More precisely, it’s part of the Mordvinic branch, which it shares with Moksha, both of which are spoken in Russia’s Republic of Mordovia. Erzya speakers can also be found in several nearby regions, including Nizhny Novgorod, Chuvashia, Ulyanovsk, Samara, Penza, Saratov, Orenburg, Tatarstan, and Bashkortostan. As a Uralic language, Erzya also has distant ties to Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian, featuring the same agglutinative nature with an abundance of grammatical cases.
Erzya features a whopping 12 cases, all of which use suffixes to alter a noun. Unlike some other Uralic languages, like Finnish, Erzya distinguishes between indefinite and definite nouns by applying different cases suffixes depending on the definiteness. While all definite nouns have a distinct plural form, indefinite nouns only have a distinct plural form in the nominative case. Erzya verbs are similarly morphologically complex, inflecting for tense and aspect as well as the person and number of the subject and object. The language additionally features a number of verbal mood forms, including a desiderative form (denoting a desire to do the given action).
Uralic languages aren’t known for their simplicity, and Erzya certainly isn’t an exception. But that just makes our Erzya translators all the more proud to translate their unique language for you.
Our Erzya translation services are available both to and from Erzya.
What are you looking for in Erzya translation services? Maybe you need translation from Erzya to English for, say, a historical document or traditional literature that showcases the beautiful culture of the Erzya people. Our translators would be more than happy to assist. Or perhaps you’re looking for translation from English to Erzya for a questionnaire that you’re looking to distribute to Erzya speakers, or maybe for interesting content like books, games, websites, apps, and more that you’d like to make accessible to Erzya speakers. Our team is available for endeavors like this, too. Essentially, we’re here for all your Erzya translation needs.
Whether to or from Erzya, we’re ready to get started on your Erzya translation project. Get in contact today so we can discuss the details.