There are a lot of languages in Colombia. Some people may be surprised to hear this, as Colombia is generally seen as a solely Spanish-speaking country. And it’s true that Spanish is the native language of the vast majority of Colombian citizens, used as the dominant language in education, media, government, and general society. But the original inhabitants of Colombia—the disparate tribes of indigenous people—didn’t speak Spanish, and even today, many have maintained their native languages, even if they also speak Spanish.
Today we’re looking at the Coconucan language, one of Colombia’s many indigenous languages. With a speaker community of roughly 21,000 people, Coconucan stands as one of the larger indigenous languages in the country. While Coconucan speakers face significant pressures from the overwhelmingly Spanish-speaking mainstream Colombian society, their language remains in vigorous use, even growing within local communities. But, of course, Coconucan requires support to continue to thrive, and we’re proud to support it with our new Coconucan translation services.
We can provide a free quote for our Coconucan translation services—why not ask for one?
A closer inspection of the Coconucan language
To find the world’s Coconucan speakers, you’ll need to venture to southwestern Colombia, to the department of Cauca. Here, you’ll find the Guambiano people, the primary speakers of Coconucan, which may also be referred to as Guambiano or Misak, the latter being the native word for “people.” Coconucan is divided into three dialects, but Coconuca is already extinct, and Totoró is moribund, meaning that most of the Coconucan-speaking community uses the Guambiano variety. Historically, these were considered different languages, but linguists have since judged that they’re best considered dialects of a single language.
Coconucan comes from one of Colombia’s many language families: the Barbacoan family. Additional members of the family include Awa Pit, Cha’palaa, and Tsáfiki, spoken in different areas of southwestern Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. Coconucan is a case-marking language, meaning that it employs explicit grammatical forms to indicate the semantic relationships between words in a sentence, and it uses a default subject-object-verb word order. While placing the verb at the end of the sentence may sound jarring to native English (or Spanish) speakers, this is the most common word order among the world’s languages. But Coconucan’s differences from English can make it hard to translate, which is why it’s really a job for native speakers like those on our team.
A Coconucan translation team for anyone’s projects
If you want Coconucan translation services—for any reason—we’re here for you. We’ve built our team with you in mind, sourcing skilled Coconucan translators from all across Cauca Department. They boast varying skill sets, having worked on different types of projects throughout their careers, but what they share is a love for their unique Amerindian language and a desire to bridge the gap between English and Coconucan. To this end, our translators are skilled in both translation into Coconucan and from Coconucan, so simply let us know the direction you need.
To the best of our ability, we’ve tried to populate our Coconucan translation team with specialists in different areas of translation. For all the academics out there, we have translation experts ready to help you with everything from research questionnaires and interview transcripts to lesson materials for children—in just about any subject. For the business leaders looking to set up shop in Colombia’s Cauca Department, our business translators can help you connect with local Coconucan speakers through carefully translated marketing collateral. For the artists and content creators out there, our literary translators are eager to help you spread your stories and content to new audiences—whether that’s a globalized audience or a localized Coconucan-speaking audience.
Whatever your Coconucan translation project may be, we’re ready to help. Send us a message now to place your first order!