If you come from a country with a single dominant language, it’s hard to fathom the sheer linguistic diversity of the Philippines. More than 180 distinct languages stretch across the multicultural archipelago, with disparate ethnolinguistic groups practicing their own cultures and speaking their own languages. To tie the nation together, Tagalog is generally used as a lingua franca, with other major languages often acting as regional lingua francas in different parts of the country. But at home, many Filipinos speak minority languages, such as Blaan.
Blaan, alternatively known as Bilaan, is spoken by around 240,000 people in the southern Philippines. The Blaan people are the indigenous inhabitants of the region, but the incursion of other people groups into their traditional territory has led them to assimilate to dominant Filipino culture in many ways. However, the Blaan people still hold onto many of their traditional customs today, including their unique Blaan language, which is threatened by larger tongues like Cebuano, Hiligaynon, and Tagalog. But at TranslationServices.com, we’re proud to offer dedicated translation services for Blaan.
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Discovering Blaan, an indigenous tongue of the southern Philippines
Blaan speakers are native to the southwestern portion of the island of Mindanao, the southernmost major island in the Philippines. Zooming in to the provincial level, you’ll find Blaan speakers all over the province of Sarangani, with smaller numbers of speakers in Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and North Cotabato. Speakers are divided between two key dialects—Koronadal Blaan (Tagalagad) and Sarangani Blaan (Tumanao)—but our translation team covers both.
Grammatically, Blaan bears many resemblances to the other languages scattered across the Southeast Asian island nation. It’s a verb-initial language, with the verb coming first in a sentence, followed by the subject and finally the object, if applicable. Blaan relies on word order rather than inflection to indicate the broad grammatical relationships between the constituents of a sentence, making Blaan word order relatively strict. Like other Philippine languages, however, it does feature inflection for voice, wherein the verb is modified to indicate the element that’s meant to be the focus of the sentence. The word order doesn’t change, but the voice can change the way a sentence is translated. But don’t worry—our Blaan translators are native speakers who know exactly how to handle this tricky grammatical situation.
Customizing your Blaan translation services for your individual needs
With native-speaking Blaan translators from all over southern Mindanao, we’re committed to providing tailored translation services that help you achieve your specific goals. Whether you’re looking for translation services for Koronadal Blaan or Sarangani Blaan, we’re ready to help, since we’ve hired translators from all over the region. Some are specialized in translation into Blaan, while others are better versed in translation from Blaan, allowing you to easily access the type of translation you need for your specific project.
Our translators also have experience in a wide range of translation specialties, so if you need a specific type of translation, such as academic translation, business translation, or literary translation, we’re ready to assist. We’re here to help academic researchers working with native Blaan speakers, international business leaders seeking to bring their companies to southern Mindanao, local artists and writers who want to spread their art and messages around the world, and language activists looking to boost the Blaan language by translating high-quality entertainment and educational content into the indigenous language. And don’t worry if your content is filled with esoteric terminology, because we have translators specialized in a huge number of fields. All you have to do is tell us you’d like a subject-matter expert in a given area.
We’d love to help you with your Blaan translation project. Send your first order today!