Our world is filled with more languages than most people are aware—and that’s particularly the case in Africa. Most African countries are remarkably multilingual, with the majority of citizens speaking a local, indigenous language as their first and learning a larger lingua franca—sometimes more than one—to communicate with compatriots. In West Africa, for example, most countries speak English or French as an official language, but most people speak one of the hundreds of indigenous languages, like Soninke, natively.
Soninke is known by multiple names—you may also hear it called Serakhulle, Azer, or Maraka. Whatever moniker it goes by, the language is spoken by some 2.3 million people as a mother tongue, making it one of the more prominent and important languages in the region. However, as with many other minority languages in Africa, the prestige and widespread usage of bigger languages, such as English or French, poses a threat to Soninke. That’s one of the reasons there aren’t many translation services available—but we at TranslationServices.com are here to fill the gap with our new Soninke translation services.
If you’re interested in seeing a free quote for our Soninke translation services, just send us a message today!
Soninke: diving into this important West African language
The Soninke are a traditionally nomadic people, which has resulted in the large geographical area that Soninke is spoken in today. The majority of Soninke speakers hail from Mali and Senegal, both of which house more than a million Soninke speakers each, but smaller communities in Mauritania, the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Burkina Faso also speak the language. Soninke speakers also constitute a sizeable immigrant community in Paris, making up one of France’s most representative West African communities.
Soninke comes from the Niger–Congo language family’s Mande branch, which is known as a bit of an outlier from the rest of the family. Whereas most Niger–Congo languages use a subject-verb-object word order, Soninke and its Mande cousins employ a subject-object-verb order. Soninke doesn’t distinguish grammatical gender, either—another deviation from typical Niger–Congo languages, which can have dozens of genders. Another feature of Soninke is that it lacks tense conjugations as in European languages—to indicate verbal tense, Soninke adds a particle before the noun, with special negative versions of the particles to negate sentences—for example, “He came” is A wa riini in Soninke, whereas “He didn’t come” is A nta riini. Translating between Soninke and English can be a tricky task because of the vast differences between the languages, but if you’re working with native-speaking translators (like ours!), it’s easily manageable.
Highly flexible Soninke translation services that cater to your specific needs
Whether you’re in Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, or even outside of West Africa, you can take advantage of our team’s Soninke translation expertise. Our translators are proud native speakers from different countries in West Africa—Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, the Gambia, and more—so if you’re looking for a particular variety of Soninke, just ask! Our translators are passionate about breaking down language barriers and are capable of translating both to and from Soninke, expanding the possibilities for our diverse clientele.
We also offer specialty translation services in a variety of areas, so if you’re looking for Soninke translation services for academic papers, business documents, literary works, or even digital media, you can rely on our multifaceted team. We work with professors, students, and researchers in a wide array of disciplines, and we’re happy to serve business leaders, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and marketers from any number of industries. Our team also translates for creatives of different types—novelists, poets, screenwriters, web designers, software developers, and more. For any esoteric terminology, just request a subject-matter specialist—we’ll always do our best to match you to the best Soninke translator for the job!
Are you ready to see what our Soninke translators can do for you? Reach out today to place your first order!