Africa is more linguistically diverse than most people realize. Most countries on the continent use an imported language as their official language—usually English, French, Arabic, or Portuguese—but the population speaks local indigenous languages as their first. Most African countries feature dozens or even hundreds of native languages spread across their lands, and South Sudan is no exception, boasting an impressive 70 languages spoken within its borders, most of which are indigenous. The languages are of various sizes, with one of the larger ones being Otuho.
Otuho, also known as Lotuho, Lotuko, or Lotuxo, recorded around 370,000 native speakers as of 2017, although that doesn’t account for the entirety of the Otuho ethnic group. That means some Otuho people don’t speak the language, indicating a gradual takeover of English, South Sudan’s official language. Still, Otuho is spoken by the majority of Otuho people, and it’s not considered particularly endangered as of 2024. But since it’s not a major language on the global stage, most translation companies ignore it, making Otuho translation services hard to come by. We at TranslationServices.com are eager to support this minority language with our new Otuho translation team.
Feel free to contact us and ask for a free quote for our Otuho translation services!
Examining the Otuho language more closely
Native Otuho speakers live in a mountainous region of South Sudan’s southeastern state of Eastern Equatoria, surrounded by the Lopit to the north, the Bari to the west, the Acholi and Ma’di to the southwest, and the Didinga and the Boya to the east. Several closely related ethnic groups also inhabit the same region, and it’s unclear whether their languages are distinct languages or dialects of Otuho—this includes Logir, Ifoto, and Imatong. Koriok, Lomya (Lomia), Lowudo, and Logotok are also considered Otuho dialects.
Like many other languages in South Sudan, Otuho comes from the Nilo–Saharan language family. Zooming in further reveals that it’s an Eastern Nilotic language, related to other, bigger languages like Bari or Maasai. The word order in Otuho is generally verb-subject-object, which is common in Nilo–Saharan languages, and verbs are divided into two classes depending on whether they begin with a vowel or a consonant, with prefixes and suffixes potentially changing depending on a verb’s class. Otuho also features masculine and feminine grammatical gender, in line with all other languages in the Lotuko subfamily. Given all the differences between Otuho and English, it’s no wonder that translation challenges frequently crop up—but don’t worry, because we work with native speakers.
Our team provides diverse Otuho translation services.
Whatever kind of Otuho translation services you need, we’re here to help. We’ve recruited our Otuho translators from all over Eastern Equatoria in South Sudan, so whether your translation project deals with Otuho proper, one of its many dialects (Koriok, Lomya (Lomia), Lowudo, or Logotok), or one of the varieties spoken by closely related ethnic groups (Logir, Ifoto, or Imatong), our translators are ready to assist. We help clients translate both from English to Otuho and from Otuho to English.
If you have specialized translation needs—say, for academic, corporate, or literary purposes—don’t hesitate to ask. Although we can’t necessarily make any guarantees, we have a diverse team of translators who boast various specializations, so we just may have the right Otuho translator for you. We work with professors, students, researchers, educators, business owners, CEOs, entrepreneurs, marketers, novelists, authors, poets, software developers, across a wide range of disciplines, industries, and genres, so our flexible services can accommodate various client needs. If you need an Otuho translator who’s familiar with the jargon in a particular field, just ask—we’ll do our best to match you to the best translator for you.
We’d love to help you with your Otuho translation project. Contact us today so we can get started!