Recently, AZ World was asked by a long-term client to translate some internal documents into the two official First Nation languages of Nunavut, Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun.
Nunavut is Canada’s newest, northernmost territory, and home to rich Indigenous cultures and languages that are vital to preserving Inuit identity, heritage, and sovereignty.
While researching whether and how we could assist our client, I discovered that translating documents into Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun is far from straightforward. Here’s why.
Linguistic Complexity
- Inuktitut is polysynthetic, meaning a single word can express what would require a full sentence in English. This makes direct translation difficult and often requires the rephrasing of entire concepts.
- Inuinnaqtun, while closely related to Inuktitut, uses the Roman alphabet and has distinct dialectal features, making it a separate challenge for translators.
- Many Indigenous languages are primarily oral, with limited written records or standardized grammar.
- Translating oral stories or teachings into written form risks losing tone, rhythm, and cultural nuance.
- There is a dire shortage of translators and interpreters for both languages, especially for specialized fields like law, medicine, and technical documentation.
- Many translators are elders or community members with deep cultural knowledge but limited access to formal translation and interpretation training, certification or translation software.
- The Inuinnaqtun language has fewer than 1,500 speakers.
- Translating isn’t just about words – it’s about context and meaning. Concepts like governance, legal rights, or environmental policy may not have direct equivalents in Inuit languages.
- Translators must navigate cultural sensitivities, ensuring that messages are not only linguistically accurate but also respectful and relevant to Inuit worldviews.
- Inuktut (an umbrella term for the Inuit language family) is, in reality, a dialect continuum that stretches geographically from Alaska to Greenland. Even within Nunavut, dialects vary significantly from region to region.
- Many documents require formatting for digital platforms, which may not support syllabics (used in Inuktitut) or require special fonts and layout adjustments.
- Translators often work with limited resources; in addition to a limited number of translators, Indigenous languages across the board experience a lack of standard dictionaries and digital tools, including a lack of access to translation memory tools.
- High-quality translation takes time, especially when working with complex or lengthy documents.
- Organizations may underestimate the time and budget needed, leading to rushed or incomplete translations that fail to serve their purpose.
- Nunavut has four official languages: Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, English, and French. Translating government documents into Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun is a legal requirement, adding pressure to meet high standards with limited resources.
- Unlike the more common Romance languages, such as French and Spanish, with reasonably large pools of translators, the same cannot be said for Nunavut languages. Given the high demand and small number of translators, they can pick and choose among projects and work when they want. One said to me, “I cannot take on new clients, I have enough work for the next year already!”
- Expand training and certification programs for Indigenous language translators.
- Develop standardized terminology for legal, medical, and technical fields.
- Invest in digital tools that support Indigenous scripts and dialects.