Scots may just be one of the most misunderstood languages in the world. Upon hearing about the Scots language, most people would think of Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic language related to Irish and not at all similar to English. But that’s not Scots. Next, most people would think of Scottish English, the dialect of English spoken in Scotland, and insist that’s a dialect, not a language. That’s true. But it’s also not Scots. Scots is an entirely separate language from Scottish Gaelic and Scottish English, closely resembling Scottish English but constituting a separate language nonetheless.
It’s hard to find translation services for Scots, considering that most people don’t even understand that it’s a language in the first place. Even if people did know that, Scots is an endangered language facing gradual erosion from Scottish English and is classified as “vulnerable” by UNESCO, so most translation agencies wouldn’t bother offering Scots translation services. That’s where TranslationServices.com is different. We’re not just concerned about profits—we also care about language diversity and the vitality of endangered languages around the world. That’s why we’re proud to offer Scots translation services.
Message us today to find out how much a Scots translation can cost.
Meet English’s close sister: Scots
English and Scots have a high degree of mutual intelligibility, so English speakers can understand Scots, both in writing and speaking, with relative ease—so much so, in fact, that many would assume Scots is simply Scottish English. Scots and Modern English both diverged from Early Middle English, spoken between 1150 and 1300 CE, and while the vocabulary is largely the same, Scots has been heavily influenced by Scottish Gaelic, resulting in some words English speakers wouldn’t understand, like bairn (child).
Scots also differs in certain ways grammatically from English. For example, Scots places the indirect object before the direct object even in pronominal sentences (e.g., Gie’s it [“Give us it”] as opposed to “Give it to us”). Scots also tends to omit verbs of motion before an adverb or preposition that implies motion, such as in A’ll intae the hoose an see him (“Everyone into the house and see him”). Another stark grammatical difference that Scots exhibits is its verbless subordinate clauses introduced by an (“and”), which express surprise or indignation. An example is He telt me tae rin an me wi ma sair leg (“He told me to run—and me with my sore leg.”)
Clearly, Scots is a separate language from English with its own idiosyncrasies, and it deserves its own professional translation services. That’s precisely why we’ve set up our Scots translation team.
Scots translation services for any type of content
Our team of passionate Scots translators work on translation projects both into and from Scots, so we can accommodate a wide array of translation needs. We can translate material in Scots into English (Scottish English or otherwise), which is particularly useful for historical documents or literature in Scots. Our team can also translate English-language materials into Scots, which is popular for creating more Scots-language material, such as stories, websites, games, and other entertainment content. No matter what your goal is, our Scots translation team is proud to help you reach it.
Let us know what you’re looking for in Scots translation by reaching out to us today.