It’s no secret that Canada is a highly multilingual country—it’s famously bilingual between English and French, and the high proportion of immigrants from around the world has resulted in massive communities of minority language speakers in major cities like Toronto or Vancouver. But that’s not the only reason that Canada is highly multilingual—you can’t forget about the linguistic diversity among the dozens of indigenous languages that have been spoken across the land for millennia. And yes, many of those languages—such as Babine-Witsuwitʼen—are still spoken today.
Unfortunately, with only a small number of speakers, Babine-Witsuwit’en is a severely endangered language, as are many other indigenous languages in British Columbia. The 2016 Canadian census recorded 135 native speakers of Babine-Witsuwit’en, but the First Peoples’ Cultural Council, a British Columbian Crown corporation that oversees indigenous languages in the province, counts more than 160 native speakers of Babine and more than 130 for Witsuwit’en. The exact number of speakers is difficult to ascertain, but one thing remains certain: that Babine-Witsuwit’en translation services are difficult to access. That’s why we at TranslationServices.com have launched our own Babine-Witsuwit’en translation team.
How much for our Babine-Witsuwit’en translation services? Find out in a free quote today!
Diving deeper into the Babine-Witsuwit’en language
Babine-Witsuwit’en is one of the many indigenous languages you’ll find within the borders of Canada’s western province of British Columbia. As you can probably guess from the name, the language consists of two key variants—Babine and Witsuwit’en—both spoken in the central interior region of British Columbia. More specifically, Babine is native to the areas around Babine Lake, Trembleur Lake, and Takla Lake, while Witsuwit’en is centered in the Bulkley Valley as well as around Broman Lake and Skins Lake. The primary distinction between the dialects is phonological, not grammatical, meaning that Babine and Witsuwit’en enjoy a high degree of mutual intelligibility.
Babine and Witsuwit’en come from the Athabaskan branch of the Na–Dené language family, which, believe it or not, makes them related to Navajo, spoken in the southwestern US. A much closer relative, however, is Dakelh, also called Carrier—in fact, Babine-Witsuwit’en is often called Northern Carrier or Western Carrier. Like in most other Athabaskan languages, the default word order in Babine-Witsuwit’en is subject-object-verb, and the language is highly inflectional, with markers for both the subject and object attaching to the verb. Even prepositions can be marked for person. You don’t have to worry about all the translation difficulties, though—that’s what our Babine-Witsuwit’en translators are here for.
We’ll help you with any kind of Babine-Witsuwit’en translation project.
Finding a translation company that works with highly endangered minority languages like Babine-Witsuwit’en is rare—but we’re proud to be that one-of-a-kind translation firm. We’ve collected the best, most passionate translators of both Babine and Witsuwit’en from across British Columbia, and they’re eager to offer their linguistic services to you, wherever you may be, for whatever projects you may have. With the skills to translate both to and from Babine-Witsuwit’en, our translators are flexible and can deliver quality translations for a wide range of projects.
Some examples of the sorts of Babine-Witsuwit’en translation services we can provide include translating lesson materials from English to Babine, giving local children an effective way to pick up their ancestral language, or translating promotional copy into Witsuwit’en for organizations in the area to establish a connection with the community. We’d be happy to translate traditional tales in Babine or Witsuwit’en into English to help foster more awareness and appreciation of this culture, and similarly, we can translate any sort of creative content into Babine-Witsuwit’en to boost the amount of literature available in the language. Whatever you need, just let us know!
Tell us more about your Babine-Witsuwit’en translation needs today! Simply message us to get started!