When you think of the “Chinese language,” you’re probably thinking of Mandarin, by far the biggest Sinitic language. But, as you may know, Chinese is not a single language but rather a group of several related languages, including Cantonese, Taiwanese, and Hakka. Commonly called “dialects,” these mutually unintelligible languages are, linguistically speaking, separate languages—and they span all across China and Taiwan. One of these Sinitic languages is called Sichuanese.
Sichuanese—also spelled Szechwanese and alternatively called Sichuanese Mandarin—is widely spoken in Sichuan, a province in southwestern China. While Sichuanese isn’t as endangered as many other minority languages in China, it’s hard for it to flourish under the overwhelming influence of Mandarin, whose use is heavily mandated by the Chinese government. Fluency in Sichuanese among young people has dropped, and the language may cease to exist in the future if steps are not taken to safeguard its vitality. Translation services for Sichuanese are rare, but we at TranslationServices.com want to help support the language—which is why we’ve put together our own translation team dedicated to Sichuanese.
How much do our Sichuanese translation services cost? Request a free quote today and find out!
Sichuanese: the unique Sinitic language of Sichuan
The homeland of Sichuanese is, naturally, Sichuan, a highly populated province in southwestern China famous for its spicy cuisine. Sichuanese is widely spoken in Chongqing, one of China’s largest cities, found in eastern Sichuan. The language belongs to the Mandarin branch of Sinitic languages, meaning it’s more closely related to Standard Mandarin than some other Sinitic languages, but Sichuanese is unique thanks to its heavy influences from the ancient Ba-Shu Chinese language. Unlike most Sinitic languages, which evolved from Middle Chinese, Ba-Shu Chinese developed from Old Chinese, giving it certain unique features that, to some extent, have been passed on to modern-day Sichuanese.
As a Sinitic language, Sichuanese’s vocabulary and grammar are closely related to Mandarin and its other Chinese cousins, but perhaps not as much as you’d think. Sichuanese only shares roughly 58% of its vocabulary with its closest relative, Yunnanese, spoken in the neighboring province of Yunnan, and its lexical similarity with Beijing Mandarin is only around 47%. The shared vocabulary is even lower with languages like Cantonese (27%) or Taiwanese (20%). So, though Sichuanese is classified as a Mandarin language, it’s nothing like Standard Mandarin, accentuating the need for native-speaking Sichuanese translators. Luckily, that’s who we hire.
We have a diverse team that caters to your specific Sichuanese translation needs.
Whatever you want for your Sichuanese translation services, our team is eager to serve you. We’ve hired translators from all across Sichuan, including Chongqing, and they speak different dialects of Sichuanese as their native language, so if you need a specific variety of Sichuanese for your translation project, all you have to do is ask. Our translators work with translation projects both to Sichuanese and from Sichuanese, allowing them to cater to the needs of a wide range of clients from around the world.
We’ve also, to the best of our ability, hired translators who are skilled in different types of translation services, including academic translation, business translation, and literary translation. Say you’re a researcher looking to connect with native speakers of Sichuanese—we can translate your questionnaires, regardless of the field. Perhaps you run an organization and you want to cater your marketing to Sichuan speakers. Or maybe you’re a creative, and you want to share the joys of Sichuanese literature with the rest of the world—or you want to bring your creations to the people of Sichuan in their native language. Whatever your reason for seeking Sichuanese translation services, we’re dedicated to delivering quality and accuracy with every order.
How about reaching out to us today to place your first Sichuanese translation order?