Marshallese, also known as Ebon, comes from the Micronesian language, which the people of Marshall Islands speak. The whole country of up to 60,000 speak this language. Other than the people of the Marshall Islands, around 27,000 Marshallese citizens are also settled in the United States. Marshallese language is part of Austronesian languages and has a lot of differences from the mainstream Indo-European languages. This is what makes the translation tough. Thus, businesses should opt for professional Marshallese translation services for error-free results.
Businesses and companies often have to translate the content between Marshallese and other Indo-European languages such as English, French, and Spanish. It is important that the companies are aware of the important differences before translation to make it a smooth process.
Linguistic differences:
The linguistic composition of a language is a foremost important factor to consider and understand a language and its differences from other languages.
Language family
Marshallese language belongs to the Micronesian branch of the Austronesian language family as mentioned above. However, the Indo-European languages have a different and separate family. This difference in the family indicates that these languages have evolved along different paths and there are no chances for the inherent similarities or the similar and shared roots, thus making the translation process testing.
Grammar
The grammar of the Marshallese comes agglutinative. This indicates that the words get into shape with the help of the suffixes that are added to the root words. When we talk about the Indo-European languages, most of these are fusional, and the grammatical information is often conveyed through the words and their modification. Facts like this can make the translating sentence structure and verb conjugation tough and complex while working on European to Marshallese translation services and vice versa.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary is what makes a language tough. Marshallese and Indo-European languages come from different roots. Naturally, there are not many cognates which are the words with a common ancestor between both language families. The basic concepts of every word can come up with different words in the Marshallese language and Indo-European language families. Hiring a competent translation agency can surely work in everyone’s favor in this regard.
Cultural Nuances:
Cultural nuances play an important role in making the language and its translation relatable.
Cultural references
All the cultural differences including Marshallese idioms, proverbs, and cultural references can come with little to no direct equivalents in the Indo-European languages for obvious reasons. The translators, during such cases, have to come up with creative solutions to convey the right and intended meanings while considering the target audiences and their cultural context. The cultures and audiences of both languages and their regions are different and poles apart. Therefore, difficulties during translation are a must to take care of these issues and produce quality translations from Marshallese and other ancient and isolated languages to Indo-European languages.
Non-verbal communication
The Marshallese translation also becomes challenging because people who speak Marshallese and are from Marshallese culture rely heavily on non-verbal cues. This may include gestures and body language that convey meaning. However, this is not the case in the Indo-European languages. A competent translation agency with native speakers in Marshallese and other languages should be taken on board for better services. The translation of the spoken language requires additional explanation from the native speakers and experienced personnel, and only they can capture the subtleties that come in the written text.
Limited resources
It is also important to consider while working on the Marshallese translation that there are not many resources and data links available when it comes to the Marshallese language. When we compare the language material with the Indo-European languages there are very few dictionaries, grammar resources, and online tools that are available. All this lack of existing data and roots often creates hurdles in research eventually making accurate translation even more challenging and struggling.
Fewer Marshallese Translators
Furthermore, another important aspect that makes the translation of the Marshallese to the Indo-European language challenging is the lack of the professional translators. Though there are native speakers of Marshallese, however, translators with proficiency in Marshallese and Indo-European languages are very limited. This is also a great challenge that companies have to face while working on translation. However, approaching a professional company can help to sort this issue and get quality translation.
Machine translation limitations
Due to the lack of proper content and information about the Marshallese language, there are certain limitations that machine translation has with this language. Though the machine translation tools are under constant evolution, we all understand how the translation engines are not equally good for every language. The progress that they have made in the English language, for instance, can not be the same for a language such as the Marshallese. Marshallese comes as a complex language due to limited training data and the lack of cultural nuances.
Conclusion
Marshallese is the language of people living on the Marshall Islands. There are around 60,000 speakers of this language, due to which the language is considered sacred. The limited resources and data available often become a problem when companies and businesses opt to translate to or from this language to mainstream Indo-European languages. The main factors that could make the translation process challenging include linguistic differences, cultural nuances, along with limited resources. However, opting for a professional LSP with native speakers can surely contribute to quality Marshallese translation.
