Even though English is clearly the dominant language in the United States, it’s a country of many languages. Immigrants from all over the globe have brought their diverse languages to the land, but the territory was already teeming with linguistic diversity before Europeans ever stepped foot on it. Although the Pacific Coast boasts the most diversity in indigenous languages in the US, the original Amerindian languages that have been spoken in the region for thousands of years can be found all over the country, including in the distant northern state of Alaska. That’s where you’ll find, among others, the Cup’ik language.
Cup’ik is considered a dialect of Yup’ik, one of the biggest indigenous languages in the United States today, with nearly 20,000 native speakers. The number of Cup’ik speakers is much smaller—likely below 2,000—but it’s still an important part of the identity of the Cup’ik people. In fact, many Cup’ik speakers identify specifically as Cup’ik, not as Yup’ik. However, the language is highly endangered, and few translation services tailor their work specifically to Cup’ik. We at TranslationServices.com are proud to support Cup’ik with our new Cup’ik translation team.
How about a free quote for our Cup’ik translation services? We’ll provide one—just ask!
Cup’ik: An overview of one of Alaska’s native languages
Cup’ik is sometimes called Cugtun and sometimes called Chevak Cup’ik, which provides a clue as to where it’s spoken: the city of Chevak, found on the southwestern coast of the state. More speakers can be found in the nearby city of Hooper Bay. In fact, these two cities account for the two key subdialects of Cup’ik—the Chevak dialect and the Hooper Bay dialect. Altogether, Yup’ik is a member of the Eskaleut language family, native to Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland, making Cup’ik ultimately related to languages like Greenlandic and Inuktitut.
Cup’ik differs from other varieties of Yup’ik not only in pronunciation but also in grammar. Cup’ik is morphologically distinct from Yup’ik dialects like Central Alaskan Yup’ik, which means dedicated Cup’ik translation services are necessary for the highest quality. It’s a complex, highly inflectional language with few similarities to English, although English has heavily influenced the Cup’ik of younger native speakers. In Chevak, Cup’ik is taught in schools alongside English, and the city counts itself as trilingual: English, Cup’ik, and a mixture of the two. We and our native-speaking Cup’ik translators are proud to serve anyone who needs Cup’ik translation services.
We can provide Cup’ik translations for all kinds of translation projects.
To provide our clients with the highest-quality Cup’ik translation services we can, we’ve scoured the cities of Chevak and Hooper Bay to find the best translators in the Cup’ik-speaking population. We cater to clients looking for translation services for both dialects, and we work in both directions, translating both from English to Cup’ik and from Cup’ik to English. We can also offer specialized translation services for the more traditional varieties of older speakers or the more Anglicized varieties of younger speakers.
Our Cup’ik translation services also span a wide array of domains. For researchers and educators, our academic translators can work with everything from research surveys to lesson materials for children—no matter the discipline. For CEOs and entrepreneurs, our business translators can help your organization better connect with local Cup’ik speakers in Chevak and Hooper Bay. For artists and language activists, our literary translators and localization specialists can work with creative materials of all kinds—books, poems, stories, websites, apps, games, and more—to translate them to or from Cup’ik, allowing you to share Cup’ik culture with the rest of the world or create new Cup’ik-language materials for speakers and learners alike to indulge in.
Don’t wait to get started with Cup’ik translation services—just send us a message whenever you’re ready to place an order!