Mexico is the biggest Spanish-speaking country on the planet, and the vast majority of Mexicans speak Spanish as their first language—but despite that, Mexico is far more linguistically diverse than you probably realize. With 68 languages officially recognized by the Mexican government and more than 350 languages identified by linguists, Mexico ranks as the sixth-most linguistically diverse country, with more than 8.5 million Mexicans speaking an indigenous language natively. It’s not just the big names, like Nahuatl or the Mayan languages—there are also lesser known but equally important languages like Mazahua.
Mazahua is the native language of roughly 150,000 Mexicans, according to the 2020 Mexican census. It, along with the numerous other indigenous languages of Mexico, enjoys official status as a national language, but unfortunately, that doesn’t protect Mazahua and other Mexican languages from endangerment. Mazahua is prominent enough to receive native-language radio programming from an indigenous radio station in the region, which also broadcasts in the closely related Otomi language and Spanish, Mexico’s lingua franca. While this is promising for Mazahua’s 150,000+ native speakers, the language nonetheless lacks many translation services, and that’s where we here at TranslationServices.com step in, proud to present our new, professional Mazahua translation team.
Interested in Mazahua translation services? Contact us today to check out a free quote!
Discovering Mazahua, a unique indigenous language of Mexico
Like most widely spoken indigenous languages in Mexico, Mazahua is located in the country’s south, concentrated in the State of Mexico and more specifically in the municipality of Toluca. Mazahua is not related to Nahuatl or the Mayan languages—rather, it comes from Mexico’s other major language family, Oto–Manguean, and is related to Otomi and Matlatzinca. Mazahua is noted for its massive phonemic inventory, with more than double the number of phonemes as in English, which has resulted in some unique letters in the language’s modified Latin alphabet.
Grammatically, Mazahua is similar to its larger cousin Otomi, with subject-verb-object emerging as the most common default word order. Like English, Mazahua distinguishes definiteness in nouns, appending different prefixes to give a “the” or “a/an” nuance. In the plural, however, Mazahua speakers don’t differentiate between “a” and “the.” With no inherent plural markers, it’s sometimes unclear whether a noun is plural or not, but in verbs, Mazahua distinguishes between three numbers: singular, dual, and plural. Unlike with nouns, number is always indicated on a verb, with person also indicated and a tense prefix preceding the verb stem.
Passionate Mazahua translators ready to assist
Think Mazahua sounds complicated? It is! But our Mazahua translators have grown up speaking the language, so for them, all its complexity is second nature. With an in-depth understanding of all the intricate nuances of Mazahua grammar, our translators, who hail from all parts of the State of Mexico and beyond, have the skills to translate your text to or from Mazahua, no matter the subject matter or the type of project. That’s right: we offer both Mazahua-to-English translation and English-to-Mazahua translation.
Since all our clients have different reasons for requiring Mazahua translation services, we’ve worked to build a maximally flexible Mazahua translation team. For business owners opening a new branch in Toluca who want to engage with their new employees and clientele alike, our translators would be happy to translate your marketing collateral, as well as internal business documents such as employment contracts, into Mazahua. For Mazahua speakers who want to spread their message abroad—whether it’s a traditional Mazahua tale they want to share with the world or a contemporary message they’re looking to disseminate—we can translate it into English. And for language activists who want to increase the body of Mazahua media by translating books, websites, games, apps, poems, and more into this important Mesoamerican language, our Mazahua translators would be delighted to lend their translation skills.
Mazahua translation is what we do best—no matter what your project is. Contact us today if you’re ready to get started!