Like most African countries, Guinea-Bissau is a highly multilingual country, with many people speaking an indigenous language as their first. Guinea-Bissau’s official language isn’t native to the West African nation, however—Portuguese is the language of the intellectual and political elites in the country. Only around 32% of Guinea-Bissauans speak Portuguese, but with so many languages comprising Guinea-Bissauan society, a common language is necessary—and that’s the role Guinea-Bissau Creole plays.
Guinea-Bissau Creole—known by speakers as guinensi, kriyol, or portuguis—is spoken by roughly 90% of the population in Guinea-Bissau, with more than 50% of citizens speaking it as their first language and another 40% or so learning it as a second language. This makes it by far the biggest language in the country, and it’s what you’ll typically hear on the streets when people from different ethnic groups intermingle. Even though it’s not the official language of the country—that’s Portuguese—it’s safe to say that Guinea-Bissau Creole is the true language of Guinea-Bissau. But translation services for the language are scarce—so we at TranslationServices.com have stepped in with our own Guinea-Bissau Creole translation team.
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So, what is Guinea-Bissau Creole like, anyway?
Although Guinea-Bissau Creole speakers are, naturally, concentrated in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau, you can also find communities of speakers in southern Senegal, particularly in the region of Casamance, as well as the Gambia. In these areas, Guinea-Bissau Creole functions as a regional lingua franca and is used in trade. In Guinea-Bissau, the language is used widely in daily life, trade, informal literature, and entertainment, but Portuguese is used in news media, government, and education.
A creole is a language that arises when speakers of different languages use a new, common language to communicate with one another. This new language adopts vocabulary and grammar from the different languages of its diverse speakers, eventually resulting in an entirely new language that is learned as a native language. In the case of Guinea-Bissau Creole, it’s primarily derived from Portuguese, with as much as 80% of its vocabulary tracing back to the European language. However, it’s been heavily influenced by the local, indigenous African languages spoken in the region. This makes it a completely different language from Portuguese, which is why you should rely on trained Guinea-Bissau Creole translators, not Portuguese translators, for your Guinea-Bissau Creole projects.
We’re proud to provide you with Guinea-Bissau Creole translation services.
Quality matters to us—that’s why we’ve scoured Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and the Gambia for the best Guinea-Bissau Creole translators we could find. Our translators are native speakers of this unique creole language and are eager to help clients from across Africa and the world with their translation projects, whether that means translating into Guinea-Bissau Creole or translating from Guinea-Bissau Creole. Our translators are skilled in different types of translation, so whatever you’re looking for, we’re confident our team can help.
What domain do you work in? If you work with academic texts—anything from research surveys to lesson materials for children—our academic translators would love to help. If you’re involved in business writing—whether that means internal documents like business plans or financial reports or marketing materials like press releases or ad copy—our business translators are ready to help. If you produce literary texts—novels, poems, short stories, or even digital media like websites, apps, or games—our literary translators and localization experts would love to help you translate your creative content to or from Guinea-Bissau Creole. Whatever you need, our passionate and flexible Guinea-Bissau Creole translation team is eager to help.
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