English may be the dominant language in the United States and Canada today, but that certainly wasn’t always the case. Throughout history, hundreds of different, entirely unrelated languages have evolved across the territory, and you can still find speakers of these indigenous languages today—even if they’re severely endangered. For many of them, language revitalization programs are underway, helping pave the way to future flourishing for languages like Seneca.
With between 50 to 100 native speakers, Seneca is one of many North American endangered languages facing severe endangerment. Virtually all Seneca speakers are also fluent in English, which poses a major threat to the indigenous tongue. However, multiple ongoing revitalization projects are helping to pave a more secure future for Seneca, with language classes for children, a mentor program, a Seneca-language newsletter, and bilingual road signs in the Seneca capital of Jimersontown all contributing to a revival of this important indigenous language. Given Seneca’s severely endangered status, translation services for the language are few and far between, but we here at TranslationServices.com are proud to be one of the few translation companies offering dedicated Seneca translation services.
Anyone who would like to see a free quote for our Seneca translation services need only make a request!
Seneca: discovering a vibrant Native American language
Seneca is one of several languages indigenous to present-day New York and Ontario, with around 10,000 ethnic Seneca people living in western New York State, Oklahoma, and Brantford, Ontario. Most speakers of the language today live in New York, particularly on the reserves of Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Tonawanda, as well as the Grand River Six Nations Reserve in Ontario. Seneca belongs to the Iroquoian family, along with other notable indigenous languages like Cherokee and Mohawk, with its closest relative being the severely endangered Cayuga language.
Like many other indigenous languages of the US and Canada, Seneca is exceptionally complex, expressing in a single word what would require an entire sentence in English. This structure is possible thanks to heavy inflection, with various elements coming together to form long, informationally dense words. Both the subject and object are marked on Seneca verbs, with a separate morpheme for each combination—and since Seneca pronouns are distinguished not only by singular and plural but also by dual forms, this leads to a huge array of pronominal affixes. Seneca also features evidentiality markers, used to indicate the source of information, such as hearsay. Seneca packs a ton of nuance into its sentences, which can make the language tricky to translate—which is why you should work with native-speaking translators like ours.
Taking advantage of our highly customizable Seneca translation services
Though there aren’t many speakers of the Seneca language, we’re still dedicated to creating the best, most robust Seneca translation team we can. Our translators are native speakers from different areas of the Seneca-speaking world, representing varieties from both New York and Ontario. They’re proud of their language, a precious cultural asset of the Seneca people, and they’re eager to help clients from both within and outside of the community spread their messages through our Seneca translation services, available both to and from Seneca.
To the best of our ability, we also offer specialty translation services, such as academic translation, business translation, literary translation, and localization services. Our academic translation services are excellent for anyone looking to create educational materials for learners of the language, while our business translation services are ideal for businesses and organizations seeking to better connect with Seneca speakers. Writers in either Seneca or English can work with our literary translators to bring their stories to a wider audience, and language activists can translate digital media such as websites, apps, and games into Seneca to help support the development of the language.
Whatever kind of Seneca translation services you need, we’re here. Contact us today to place your first order!