Indonesia is a complex country, which is evident in the sheer number of ethnolinguistic groups that populate its shores. Across Indonesia, residents speak more than 700 different languages, many of which are all from the same language family: Malayo–Polynesian. The island of Timor is just as linguistically diverse as the rest of Indonesia, but here, languages are split between Indonesia and East Timor, an independent country taking up the eastern half of the island. Such is the case with Uab Meto.
Uab Meto, which some also call Dawan, is native to western Timor, with roughly 800,000 speakers. Split between Indonesia and East Timor, the language struggles against the ubiquity and prestige of Indonesian and Tetum, respectively, placing it in danger of extinction despite the still widespread domestic use. Since Uab Meto is not used in educational settings, youth risk inadequate exposure to their ancestral language and may be tempted to shift to Indonesian or Tetum instead. At TranslationServices.com, we want to see Uab Meto thrive now and in the future, so we’ve created our own Uab Meto translation team to do our part.
Why not reach out today and inquire about a free quote for Uab Meto translation services?
Learning more about Uab Meto
The majority of Uab Meto speakers live in Indonesia, specifically in South Central Timor Regency, North Central Timor Regency, and Kupang City, but around 80,000 also live in the East Timorese enclave of Oecussi-Ambeno. The Oecussi-Ambeno variant, called Baikenu, is known for its Portuguese loanwords. Written in the Latin alphabet, like the majority of languages in Indonesia, Uab Meto comes from the Malayo–Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family and more specifically the Timoric subbranch, making it related to Tetum.
Uab Meto has a complicated pronoun system that includes a clusivity distinction—in other words, there are separate words for “we” depending on whether the listener is included. Each pronoun then comes in many different forms—subject, object, complement, possessive, and reflexive—along with proclitic and enclitic forms (essentially prefix and suffix forms). Sometimes possession can be expressed without explicit grammatical marking, however—simply positioning two nouns together can indicate possession. A unique feature of Uab Meto is that it places an article before human names, a trait found in various Austronesian languages.
Uab Meto isn’t easy for English speakers to learn—or translate—but our translators are native speakers who are passionate about their language, both in terms of translation and preservation.
Our Uab Meto translation services are highly flexible.
Our Uab Meto translation services are designed to meet your needs, no matter what they are. That means we offer both translation from Uab Meto to English and from English to Uab Meto. So, if you have historical documents, traditional literature, modern-day musings, or any other content in Uab Meto that you’d like to share with others, send it over to our team for a seamless translation into English. Likewise, if you have English-language content like business materials, educational content, books, websites, poems, apps, games, or anything else that you want in Uab Meto, let our translation team handle it. Creating new content in Uab Meto encourages speakers (and learners) to use the language more and is particularly helpful in invoking a positive attitude toward the language in youth.
It’s time for Uab Meto translation services! Get the ball rolling today by sending a message.
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