The world is a lot more linguistically diverse than most people think—and there are far more languages spoken in each country than most people think. For example, many people may believe that Mayan languages are a relic of the past and that now, only Spanish is spoken in most of Central America, but a large number of Mayan languages (and other indigenous languages) are still spoken by millions today. Indigenous languages are particularly strong in Guatemala, where almost half of people speak one of them natively. Among Guatemala’s 21 Mayan languages is Ixil, which has 120,000 native speakers, according to the 2019 census.
Since Ixil is endangered, very few translation agencies are willing to offer translation services for the language. However, the language remains an important relic of Guatemala’s roots and is an invaluable cultural asset of the Ixil people, helping them cement their ethnic identity. So, even if other translation companies ignore Ixil, we at TranslationServices.com don’t. In fact, we’re proud to have a professional team of Ixil translators ready to translate to and from this beautiful language.
Would you like a free quote for our Ixil translation services? Just contact us today and ask about one!
Ixil: discovering a dark chapter of Guatemala’s history
While modern-day Guatemala may be one of the most indigenous-friendly Central American countries, with a governmental agency dedicated to revitalizing and preserving the country’s 21 Mayan languages, the country harbors a dark past. Particularly from 1979 to 1985, the Guatemalan government persecuted the Ixil people, with former president Efraín Ríos Montt later being found guilty of genocide. Nowadays, around 133,000 Ixil people live in the Cuchumatanes mountains in the north of the El Quiché district, primarily in the municipalities of Santa Maria Nebaj, San Gaspar Chajul, and San Juan Cotzal.
Ixil is part of the Marmean branch of Mayan languages and, like all Mayan languages, uses an ergative–absolutive alignment system as opposed to the nominative–accusative system used in European languages. Ixil’s ergative markers apply to the subjects of transitive sentences and the possessors of nouns—indeed, this ergative–genitive mix is observed across all Mayan languages. The absolutive markers, conversely, are used for the subjects of intransitive sentences and the objects of transitive sentences. Interestingly, Ixil’s reflexive pronouns (e.g., “myself,” “yourself”) are difficult to distinguish from its reciprocal pronouns (e.g., “each other,” “one another”).
If Ixil sounds confusing to you, that’s okay—it’s not to our Ixil translators, and they’re passionate about translating their language.
Let us translate Ixil for you—both to and from the language!
Not only do we offer Ixil translation services—we go above and beyond by offering our services in both directions. That means we can translate from English to Ixil and from Ixil to English. So, if you’re a historian or governmental agency that needs translations of old documents or traditional literature, why not hire our Ixil translators? We’re also available to help any scholars who might like surveys translated into Ixil to hand out to Ixil speakers or language activists who want to translate interesting content—like books, poems, websites, games, and apps—into Ixil, which increases the domains of use for the language and allows people to more easily learn it.
Our Ixil translation services are diverse and multifaceted. Reach out today to discuss your vision!