Nauruan is very likely the smallest national language in the world. Nauru is the world’s third-smallest country by area, with only the Vatican City and Monaco being smaller, and it has the second-smallest population, with the Vatican City once again taking the lead. Despite the small area and population, Nauru is an independent nation with its own culture and language, and indeed, the vast majority of ethnic Nauruans speak Nauruan as their first language.
With most ethnic Nauruans speaking the language, Nauru has around 6,000 native speakers, with an additional 1000 or so second-language speakers, as of 1991. However, since Nauruan is not spoken outside of the island, most Nauruans also speak English, which is used as the language of government and commerce. This means Nauruan could be threatened in the future, if Nauruans decide to abandon their ancestral language for English. The lack of translation services for Nauruan only contributes to its challenges for legitimization, so we at TranslationServices.com want to do our part to help by offering our own professional Nauruan translation services.
Reach out to us today to ask about a free quote for our Nauruan translation services!
Discovering the language of the world’s smallest republic
Nauruan comes from the Austronesian language family, as do essentially all languages native to the Pacific Island region. More specifically, it’s from the Micronesian branch of the family, but its precise position within the branch is not well understood. Nauruan has always been written in the Latin alphabet, initially with just 17 letters, but upon reforming the orthography in 1938, more letters, including special characters, were added, resulting in a 29-letter alphabet.
Like many other Polynesian languages, Nauruan features a much more complicated pronoun system than English. Pronouns in Nauruan come in four distinct numbers—singular, dual, trial, and plural—and the first-person pronouns are distinguished by clusivity (i.e., whether or not the listener is included). When directly addressing someone, Nauruans include a vocative particle that corresponds to the addressee’s gender. Instead of using a verb like “to have” in English, Nauruan speakers simply add a possessive pronoun or pronominal suffix, omitting the verb entirely. Like in many other Austronesian languages, tense and aspect are primarily expressed through particles, not inflection, although Nauruans often omit the past tense marker if the context renders it unnecessary.
Our Nauruan translators are proud of their unique language, and they’re ready to translate whatever documents you like to and from Nauruan.
Let us handle your Nauruan translation needs.
Our diverse team members boast a lot of experience, allowing them to assist clients with various Nauruan translation needs. Some of our translators specialize in Nauruan-to-English translation while others focus on English-to-Nauruan translation, so don’t hesitate to reach out regardless of what you’re looking for. Maybe you need us to translate historical documents or literature written in Nauruan into English—that’s right up our alley, as we’re passionate about helping spread Nauruan culture and history. Or maybe you’d like us to translate educational materials or books, games, websites, apps, and more into Nauruan, giving locals more opportunities to use their language in daily life. Our translators are equally passionate about broadening the scope of use of the Nauruan language.
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