When you look around Europe, you see that most countries are neatly divided into ethnolinguistic groups, with a single language comprising the majority of that country’s inhabitants. The same is seen in homogenous countries around the world, like Japan or South Korea. But the linguistic situation in most of the world’s countries is a bit more complicated than that. Many are dotted with minority languages, some remarkably large. Around the world are languages—some with millions of speakers—that transcend national borders, uniting the same ethnic minority in multiple countries. One prominent such language is Kurmanji.
Kurmanji is classified as a dialect of Kurdish, but it’s easily the biggest Kurdish dialect. Kurmanji, or Northern Kurdish, boasts around 15 million native speakers, while Sorani, or Central Kurdish, claims another 8 million, leaving the remaining 3 to 4 million speakers of Kurdish using Pehlewani, or Southern Kurdish. Kurmanji is an official language of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region, as well as Rojava, a de facto autonomous region in northern Syria. But the language faces ongoing repression in Turkish Kurdistan, and although the situation is better now than historically, Kurmanji remains threatened. It’s under these circumstances that we at TranslationServices.com are proud to support Kurmanji with our new, dedicated Kurmanji translation services.
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Kurmanji, the biggest Kurdish dialect
Kurmanji’s 15 million native speakers are spread out across a wide geographical range, with the majority found in southeastern Turkey. However, millions of Kurmanji speakers also inhabit parts of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and even Turkmenistan. Though Kurmanji is itself a dialect of Kurdish, it’s further divided into six key subdialects, those being Northwestern Kurmanji, Southwestern Kurmanji, Northern Kurmanji (or Serhed Kurmanji), Southern Kurmanji, Southeastern Kurmanji (or Badînî), and Anatolian Kurmanji. The Yazidis, a related ethnic group, also speak a form of Kurmanji, calling it Ezdîkî.
As a member of the Indo–European language family, Kurdish is related to English and Persian but not Turkish and Arabic (which are also not related to each other). More specifically, Kurdish is classified as an Iranian language but is notable for its ergative alignment, a rarity among Iranian languages. Effectively, this means that Kurmanji verbs agree with the object, not the subject, in transitive sentences. However, this only applies to the past tense, with verbs agreeing with the subject, like in Persian, in the present tense.
Let us guide you through the world of Kurmanji translation.
Especially given its ergative nature, Kurdish, and more specifically, Kurmanji, is not an easy language. But that doesn’t stop our proud, native Kurmanji-speaking translators from providing the best translation services they can to people from all over Kurdistan and the wider world. Our Kurmanji translators hold passports from Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and a variety of other countries in the region, but they’re united by their love for Kurmanji and their tireless effort to translate both from English to Kurmanji and from Kurmanji to English. This means that we can handle both translation directions in whatever Kurmanji dialect you may require.
We also work with a wide range of content types—whether you want to translate business documents, literary works, academic materials, or personal messages to or from Kurmanji, we’re here to help. We’ve hired translators who boast experience in different types of translation, so we can easily handle the different nuances that a variety of translation domains demand. And that’s not all—we’ve made sure to hire Kurmanji translators who double as experts in other realms, which ensures coverage of technical terminology in a wide range of fields. If you’re looking for a Kurmanji translator with expertise in a particular domain, simply let us know—we’ll match you to the right translator.
We care about delivering unwavering quality in our Kurmanji translation services. If you’d like to take advantage of our offer, simply get in touch with us today!