Brazil boasts the largest population in South America by far, with its massive population accounting for the vast majority of worldwide Portuguese speakers. But the territory we know today as Brazil didn’t always speak Portuguese. Historically, this region of eastern South America was populated by a diverse range of indigenous tribes, each speaking their own, vibrant language. Today, unfortunately, many of these languages have disappeared, but many still remain—such as Munduruku.
It's estimated that around 13,000 people speak Munduruku as their first language, which positions the language among the biggest indigenous languages on the continent. The majority of ethnic Munduruku people speak the language, and most women and children are monolingual, with youth only acquiring Portuguese around age 10, gradually through school. Even in the presence of non-indigenous people, the Munduruku use their native language. But, of course, Portuguese still presents a veritable threat to the Munduruku language and culture. We at TranslationServices.com proudly support the language with our new Munduruku translation services.
Check out a free quote for our Munduruku translation services by requesting one today!
Munduruku: a proud indigenous language with a strong speaker community
You can find Munduruku settlements in different states of Brazil, namely Amazonas, Mato Grosso, and Pará. Specifically, most communities are located in the Tapajós River basin, where the Munduruku language enjoys relative prosperity. It’s a member of the Tupian language family, a classification it shares with other major indigenous languages like Guaraní and Nheengatu, and like so many other Amerindian languages, it features a complex grammatical structure.
One area of complexity in Munduruku is the pronominal system, which does not differentiate gender in the third-person pronoun but instead distinguishes clusivity in the first-person plural, which means there are separate words for “we” depending on whether the listener is included. Prenominal prefixes are attached to verbs, with different sets of prefixes for transitive and intransitive verbs. Yet more tables of personal prefixes exist to denote the possession of nouns, the sets differing for alienable and inalienable possession (i.e., whether something inherently belongs to you, such as a body part). For possessive prefixes, Munduruku includes a third-person referential prefix, which would translate to something like “his/her own.” To ensure all the subtle nuances of Munduruku shine through in your translation, it’s imperative to work with Munduruku translators who are native speakers—and ours are!
Munduruku translation services the way you want
Our goal here at TranslationServices.com is to make Munduruku translation services as accessible as possible to clients from all over Brazil and the wider world. So, we set out across Amazonas, Mato Grosso, and Pará to find the top Munduruku translation talent we could, with coverage of the different varieties of the Munduruku language. We’re proud to present our team today, filled with passionate native-speaking translators eager to translate both to and from Munduruku for any type of project.
Our diverse team includes Munduruku translators who specialize in different areas of translation, so if you’re looking for a specific type of translation, just let us know, and we’ll do our best to match you with a translator who fits the bill. We have academic translators who can help translate academic papers, research questionnaires, educational content for children, and more. We have business translators who can translate both internal company documentation and external marketing materials to and from Munduruku to grow your business in and out of Brazil. We have literary translators poised to help you share stories—whether that’s traditional Munduruku tales that can enthrall audiences worldwide or foreign-language books, short stories, and games that can help enrich the body of literature in Munduruku and give speakers and learners more opportunities to enjoy their beautiful language.
Our team is ready to help you with your Munduruku translation project. All you have to do is place an order!