It’s easy to think that Russia is purely Russian-speaking and China is purely Chinese-speaking, and indeed, most people in both countries speak the respective national language of their country, given that it’s necessary for interethnic communication. But the truth is that both countries are home to countless indigenous languages that are completely different from Russian and Chinese. One of these languages, Evenki, is spoken natively in both Russia and China.
Modern-day Evenki, spoken by the Evenk people, is still used by around 26,000 people—roughly 7000 in Russia and 19,000 in China. Most Russian Evenks also speak Russian and sometimes even Yakut or Buryat as well, and many Chinese Evenks also speak Mandarin and Mongolian. Linguists have been surprised at the relatively high usage rate of Evenki, particularly in China, despite the pressure put on it from bigger languages like Russian and Mandarin, but the language is still considered endangered. That’s why it’s so hard to find translation services for Evenki—but it’s also why we at TranslationServices.com are so proud to have our own Evenki translation team.
Check out our rates for Evenki translation by requesting a free quote for your project today.
Evenki: the biggest Tungusic language
In Russia, Evenki speakers can be found mostly in Krasnoyarsk Krai, especially in the former Evenk Autonomous Okrug, or Evenkia, and in China, Evenki speakers mostly live in Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang. Split between two countries, Evenki has multiple writing systems: the Cyrillic alphabet in Russia and the Latin alphabet in China, with the vertical Mongolian script used experimentally. Evenki is the largest surviving language of the Tungusic family, which also includes the once-prominent Manchu language. Evenki and Manchu are only distantly related, however.
Evenki word order is subject-object-verb, which is the most common word order among the world’s languages. It’s also a head-final language, meaning that relative clauses come before the noun they modify, unlike in English. Evenki has a large case system with 13 distinct cases, including a semblative case to denote similarity to a given noun and a possessed case that can be used to create compound nouns. The accusative (direct object) case also comes in three different forms: indefinite (like “a” or “an”), definite (like “the”), and reflexive–genitive definite (like “one’s own”). The language also distinguishes between alienable possessions, such as belongings, and inalienable possession, such as body parts.
Our Evenki translators love their unique language, and they’re eager to help you translate to and from it, regardless of your goals.
Take advantage of our flexible Evenki translation services
Our Evenki translators are well versed in translation and can provide translation services for a wide range of documents, whether you’re looking for translation to or from Evenki and whether you’re working with the Cyrillic, Latin, or Mongolian scripts. If you want to translate traditional Evenki stories and folklore or historical documents into English, our team is ready to help, eager to share their culture with outsiders. If you want to translate questionnaires, pedagogical material, or books, games, websites, apps, and more into Evenki, let our team help—they’re passionate about producing content in Evenki, since that will encourage speakers and learners alike to use the language more.
Don’t wait to reach out if you’re looking for Evenki translation services. We’re ready to help!
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