Mexico is teeming with languages—but most people wouldn’t know it. Indeed, Spanish is the predominant language in the Latin American country, used as a lingua franca to unite people across the nation’s 31 states. But Spanish colonizers sailed into a landmass already thriving with diverse indigenous cultures and languages, many of which are still around today. Indigenous languages in Mexico tend to be much more vigorous and healthy than those in the United States and Canada, with revitalization efforts underway to preserve these precious languages. One such language is Huichol.
Huichol is an Uto–Aztecan language native to the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range. With around 60,000 speakers, it’s a relatively major language, spoken by a proud people who have largely retained their traditional culture. The Mexican government has recognized Huichol and several dozen other indigenous languages as “national languages” since 2003, and learning resources to teach Huichol to non-native speakers have been ramping up over the years. Nonetheless, the language remains endangered, threatened by the overwhelming ubiquity of Spanish. At TranslationServices.com, we want to aid the Huichol-speaking community how we can—so we set up our own Huichol translation team.
Would you like to see a free quote for our Huichol translation services? Simply send us a message requesting one!
Let’s discover what kind of language Huichol is!
Huichol, called Wixárika or Wixárika Niukiyari by native speakers, is spoken mostly in central Mexico, specifically in the states of Jalisco, San Luis Potosí, Nayarit, Zacatecas, and Durango, with additional speaker communities in Orange County, California, and Houston, Texas. The language comes from the Uto–Aztecan family, a prominent language group in northern Mexico and the southern US, featuring languages like Nahuatl, Hopi, Comanche, and O’odham. Like most other indigenous languages in the Americas, it’s written in the Latin alphabet.
Huichol is a grammatically complicated language. It’s a polysynthetic language that uses a large degree of inflection to communicate grammatical information, which can result in remarkably long words, particularly verbs. In fact, a single verb can hold as many as 20 morphemes. Some of the markers that verbs take include person markers, added for both the subject and object of a sentence. In some cases, such as for the first-person singular, the subject and object markers are identical, but for other grammatical persons, they may differ. Huichol’s complex grammar may make it appear intimidating, but don’t worry—our Huichol translators are highly experienced and can easily navigate the challenges of translating between Huichol and English.
Translating to and from Huichol—for anyone
We’ve selected talented and passionate Huichol translators across all dialects to translate to and from Huichol for a diverse range of clients. Our translators leverage their experience as translators and expertise as Huichol native speakers to bring you crisp, clear, reliable translations, no matter what kind of translation services you’re eying. See below for a small sample of what we can do:
Historical documents: History is an important aspect of the culture of any people. Our translators are eager to help those with Huichol-language historical documents translate them into English to better understand and spread awareness of the Huichol language and culture.
Educational materials: As efforts to preserve Huichol for the future ramp up, Huichol-immersion education for children becomes increasingly more important. The problem is the lack of resources—but our translators can help by translating English-language pedagogical materials into Huichol. If you’d like to help preserve Huichol for the future through education, just reach out.
Creative content: Huichol stories deserve to be told all around the world—and our translators can help with that. We’re here to translate Huichol literature into smooth English to showcase Huichol culture abroad—and simultaneously, we can translate English content for the enjoyment of Huichol speakers. From books, short stories, and poems to websites, games, and apps, we’re passionate about increasing the amount of content in Huichol.
Why not get started with Huichol translation today? Our team is ready—just message us!