Like much of Africa, South Sudan is a hotspot of language diversity, with around 70 languages spoken within its borders. Of those, approximately 60 are indigenous to the area, with most of the population speaking one of these languages as their first. English is the sole official language of South Sudan, but only because there’s no unifying native language in the country. South Sudan’s biggest languages are Nuer, Bari, Dinka, and Zande, but many smaller languages in South Sudan still have relatively large communities, such as Shilluk.
With around 570,000 native speakers as of 2017, Shilluk is a major minority language in South Sudan. Native speakers call the language Dhøg Cøllø, with the term “Shilluk” being of Arabic origin. Shilluk is spoken by the majority of the ethnic population, meaning it’s in strong standing and not in immediate danger of extinction, but as with most minority languages, the threat of erosion is always there. Many Shilluk speakers learn English for school and work or to communicate with other ethnic groups in the country, which poses a threat to Shilluk’s vitality. We at TranslationServices.com are proud to provide dedicated translation services for Shilluk, which is overlooked by most translation agencies.
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A closer look at the Shilluk language
Shilluk is spoken in the northernmost regions of South Sudan’s northernmost state, Upper Nile State, which is one of the African nation’s most developed regions. The Shilluk Kingdom hugs the banks of the White Nile along the border with Sudan, which they share with other ethnic groups who speak similar languages, such as Anuak. Shilluk belongs to the Nilo–Saharan language family and, more specifically, the Luo subfamily. It’s divided into a few key dialects, including Gar, Kwak, and Mwomo.
Like many other Nilo–Saharan languages, Shilluk is a tonal language that predominantly uses one-syllable words, although inflection can result in polysyllabic words. Vowel length and tone are important inflectional markers, indicating tense and other grammatical information. Shilluk also constructs the possessive in a completely different way from English: whereas English inflects the possessor, as in “a person’s rodent,” with the possessor, “person,” taking the possessive ’s marker, Shilluk inflects the possessed noun, as in dû́uup, meaning “a rodent belonging to,” derived from dúup, “rodent.” Since Shilluk is so different from English, translation can be challenging, but that’s why it’s worth it to hire native-speaking Shilluk translators, like our team.
Let us guide you to the Shilluk translation services you want.
Our goal is to make sure you can get your document translated in the way you envision, no matter what your circumstances are. This applies whether you’re looking to translate from English to Shilluk or from Shilluk to English. Our team of native speakers from South Sudan’s Upper Nile State, representing the Gar, Kwak, Mwomo, and other dialects, are well versed in both directions of translation, and they’re eager to help clients communicate clearly and effectively across language barriers.
We provide Shilluk services for a wide variety of translation niches, so no matter what your document is, we’d love to help. Perhaps you’re a researcher who needs to translate a questionnaire from English to Shilluk—we can help. Maybe you’re a business owner expanding into the Shilluk Kingdom and need to translate marketing collateral into Shilluk—let us assist you. It could be that you’re a creative writer, either from South Sudan or abroad, and you want to grow your audience by translating your works to or from Shilluk—our team can do that for you. In essence, we can help you with whatever you need for Shilluk translation, even if your document contains technical jargon.
Why not contact us today to see how we can help you with your Shilluk translation needs?