It’s no secret that the United States is a multilingual country. Although English is the de facto official language of the country, hundreds of immigrant languages are spoken across the country in large numbers. But that’s not all—hundreds of indigenous languages are also still spoken today all over the US, a relic of the continent’s ethnolinguistically rich past. Native American languages once ruled North America, but today, after centuries of repression, they are endangered, some severely.
Lakota has better name recognition than many other languages indigenous to the United States. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not endangered—only around 2100 people speak Lakota, which is only around 29% of the ethnic Lakota population. Most translation agencies won’t translate a language spoken by only 2100 people—it’s hard to generate a lot of profit from such services. But TranslationServices.com is interested in more than just monetary profit. We care about helping the Lakota people preserve their language, an integral piece of their identity, and are proud to offer our Lakota translation services to anyone who needs them.
Price estimates for our Lakota translation services are available for free upon request.
The story of Lakota
The 2100-odd speakers of Lakota today mostly reside in North and South Dakota but also parts of Nebraska, Minnesota, and Montana. Lakota, hailing from the Siouan language family, is mutually intelligible with Eastern and Western Dakota, with all three being considered to make up the Sioux language. Lakota speakers retained their language even in the face of brutal repression from the U.S. government, although the number of speakers diminished dramatically. Today, the community is undertaking numerous initiatives to teach Lakota to children.
Lakota is grammatically complicated, as are most Native American languages. The language exhibits a subject-object-verb word order and uses postpositions, which are like prepositions but come after the noun. The verb is the most important part of a Lakota sentence—in fact, a single verb can compromise a full sentence all on its own. This is possible due to the marking of the person and number of both the subject and the object on the verb, although, interestingly, the subject markers differ for verbs of action and verbs of state. Lakota also distinguishes between three numbers: singular, dual, and plural.
Lakota isn’t known for its simplicity, but don’t worry—our translators are native-speaking experts of Lakota.
We’re ready to accommodate your Lakota translation needs.
Why would you like Lakota translation services? There are a number of great applications, whether you’re looking at Lakota-to-English translation or English-to-Lakota translation. Regarding the former, our team is happy to translate any documents you might have in Lakota—from historical documents, to literature, to personal notes—into English, allowing you to share insights or Lakota culture with a broader audience. Regarding translation into Lakota, we can help you translate all sorts of English-language content—from business content, to surveys and questionnaires, to books, games, websites, and more—into Lakota. Translating content into Lakota is important for language revitalization, as it provides speakers and learners alike with more opportunities to use and enjoy the language.
Lakota is a precious language. If you’re ready to get started with Lakota translation, send our team a message today.