There are more than 7,000 languages spoken around the world—although most are poorly supported minority languages with scant resources, no recognition, and small speaker communities, threatened by the ubiquity and prestige of bigger languages as the world becomes increasingly more interconnected. South and Southeast Asia in particular are hubs of linguistic diversity, with hundreds of distinct languages spoken, many vigorously, in the region. In the midst of this linguistic jungle, we find the Lai languages.
The Lai languages—alternatively known as the Pawih or Pawi languages, as some call them—are a cluster of related languages spoken by around 170,000 native speakers in South and Southeast Asia. Though this may seem like a small number compared to major languages like Hindi, Bengali, and Burmese, it’s sizable for a minority language, with the Lai languages wielding local influence and prestige in certain areas. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s easy to find translation services for the cluster. Here at TranslationServices.com, we’re eager to serve both the Lai and international communities with our new Lai translation services.
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The Lai languages: an influential cluster in Southeast Asia
The Lai languages are natively spoken in Myanmar’s northwestern Chin State, India’s far-eastern state of Mizoram, and Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts. The most prominent Lai language is Hakha Chin, alternatively called Laiholh in Myanmar and Lai Pawi or Lai Hawlh in India, which functions as a regional lingua franca in Chin State—sure enough, the language boasts many second-language speakers in addition to its 170,000-odd native speakers. The second-most prominent is Falam, also called Laiṭong. Additional Lai languages include Mi-E and Zokhua, which may be considered a dialect of Hakha Chin. The languages vary in their degrees of mutual intelligibility.
The Lai languages are a subbranch of the Kuki-Chin languages of northern Myanmar and eastern India, a branch of the Sino–Tibetan language family. Thus, the Lai languages are related to Mandarin and Tibetan, albeit distantly. They exhibit many features common across languages in Southeast Asia, including a highly isolating structure with minimal inflection—in other words, the Lai languages tend to express grammatical information through particles and word order rather than prefixes, suffixes, and other modifications to word stems. The Lai languages construct sentences in a subject-object-verb word order, unlike English but like Burmese. They can present challenges for translation to and from English, which is why you should work with native speakers for the best results—and our Lai translation team consists of native speakers.
We’re your best option for high-quality Lai translation services.
We pride ourselves on our high-quality Lai translation services, delivered by passionate native speakers of Hakha Chin, Falam, Min-E, Zokhua, and other Lai languages. Whether they grew up in Myanmar, India, or Bangladesh, our Lai translators all harbor a love for their native languages and are eager to help clients from all over the world break down language barriers—whether that means translating into Lai or translating from Lai. Just tell us what Lai language you want to work with, and we’ll match you up with the right translator!
For clients with more specific needs—say, an academic who needs a research survey translated into a Lai language to interview locals, a CEO who needs marketing materials for their company translated into a Lai language to engage a new customer base, or a creative writer who wants to win over new readers in Southeast Asia or around the world through pinpoint translation services to or from Lai—we also offer translation services in various niches. Just talk to us to discuss your needs—we’re always happy to accommodate our clients’ needs!
Our Lai translators are eagerly awaiting your project. Why not get started today by placing a translation order?