Most countries are characterized by one or two dominant languages that encompass most of the population, but even if a country looks linguistically homogeneous on the surface, there’s often some hidden diversity if you dig a bit deeper. And then there are countries that are so overflowing with linguistic diversity that the heterogeneity is obvious from a glance—countries like Myanmar. Today we’re focusing on Sizang, one of the 100-odd languages native to Myanmar.
As of 2007, Sizang (alternatively Shiyang, Siyin, or Siyin Chin) has about 35,000 native speakers, although this figure has likely changed over the last two decades. Unfortunately, it’s often not possible to obtain precise data about minority languages like Sizang, leaving linguists, translators, and other language professionals in the dark. But despite the scarce data, Sizang maintains a lively speaker base in its native area. Of course, bigger languages in Myanmar, like Burmese, or even larger minority languages, like Hakha, pose a threat to Sizang, a situation that has resulted in a dearth of translation services for the language. Here at TranslationServices.com, we’re proud to provide Sizang translation services with our new Sizang team.
Contact us today if you’d like to see a free quote for our Sizang translation services!
Here’s some more information about Sizang.
If you’re familiar with Myanmar’s geography, you may have already figured out where Sizang is spoken: Chin State. This northwestern state is named after the Chin people, a macro ethnic group spread across northern Myanmar and northeastern India that speaks dozens of separate Kuki-Chin languages. Sizang is concentrated in Tedim Township, which it shares with the larger Tedim language, to which it’s closely related. The language also bears a strong resemblance to other Chin languages, such as Hakha, Falam, Mizo, and Thadou. More distantly, it’s related to Burmese, Tibetan, and Mandarin.
Even though many languages in India and Myanmar are written in native scripts, Sizang is written in the Latin alphabet, which it adopted during British colonization. The basic word order is subject-object-verb, the world’s most common word order, which contrasts with the remarkably rare object-subject-verb word order of Mizo, the largest Kuki-Chin language. As is common in Southeast Asian languages, Sizang features minimal inflection, opting to indicate grammatical nuances through particles rather than prefixes or suffixes. Unlike most languages, Sizang also allows the adjective to come either before or after the noun. The tricky features of Sizang make it a challenge to translate to and from, but when you work with native-speaking translators, you don’t have to worry.
With us, you can customize your Sizang translation to your liking.
We’ve hired native Sizang speakers from all over Tedim Township and elsewhere in Chin State, Myanmar, which ensures you have access to Sizang translators of different dialects. If you’re looking for a particular dialectical variety, just let us know. Our Sizang translators are passionate about providing translation services for their native language, working both from English to Sizang and from Sizang to English, helping clients overcome the language barrier in either direction.
What if you have more niche needs—say, academic translation, business translation, or literary translation? While we can’t make any guarantees given the small size of the Sizang-speaking community, we’re always dedicated to accommodating our clients’ requests. If you’re a researcher looking to uncover data in Tedim Township, an organization that wants to cater to the local Sizang-speaking population, a Sizang author who wants to spread their work abroad, or a foreign creative looking to share their message with the Sizang people, our team would love to help. We’re open to helping you with any other special requests, too—feel free to ask!
If you want to take advantage of our Sizang translation services, now’s the time. Send a message to place an order now!