Looking for expert Tswana translation services? Since 2003, Green Crescent has been providing professional translation services between English and Tswana to clients worldwide. We specialize in sectors such as legal, business, community, and marketing. Our team ensures precise, high-quality translations tailored to your specific needs. Get a fast, free Tswana translation quote today!
Our Comprehensive Tswana Translation Services
Green Crescent’s skilled team of Tswana translators includes subject matter experts for industry-specific needs. We provide translations tailored to the linguistic intricacies of Tswana, ensuring cultural and contextual accuracy across its various dialects.
- Standard Tswana
- Regional Tswana variations across Botswana and South Africa
We specialize in both English to Tswana and Tswana to English translations, offering the following services:
Simple Translation
Our simple translations in the English/Tswana language pair are designed for basic communication needs. These translations are completed by a single Tswana translator without the involvement of an editor or proofreader, and therefore should not be considered final or polished work for most professional or formal use cases. While they are typically of high quality, simple translations are essentially "rough drafts" that do not go through additional editing, proofreading, or other quality control processes. These translations are ideal for personal letters, informal communications, initial drafts that will later be revised, or for situations where you need to quickly understand the general meaning or "gist" of a Tswana text.
Standard Translation (TEP)
Our Standard Tswana Translation service is designed to provide high-quality translations for everyday use, including business correspondence, websites, reports, presentations, and similar content. This service includes translation, editing, and proofreading (TEP) to ensure the highest level of accuracy and clarity in your Tswana communications.
Organization Critical Translation (TEP+)
Our Organization Critical Tswana Translation service is designed for situations where precision is essential. This option is recommended for texts intended for large-scale printing, legal contracts, medical documents, or any case where an error could be critical or costly. Each translated line is reviewed by a minimum of three linguists, with multiple rounds of proofreading. Subject matter experts (SMEs) may be involved as needed throughout the Tswana translation, editing, and proofreading (TEP) process.
Bilingual Editing
Bilingual Editing for Tswana Translation is the process of editing a translated text by comparing both the source and target texts in the English/Tswana language pair. The editor, fluent in the source language and a native speaker of Tswana, ensures that the translation is accurate, consistent, and faithful to the source text while also maintaining clarity and fluency in Tswana. This step occurs after the initial translation in our TEP (Translation, Editing, Proofreading) Organization Critical and Standard Translation services. We also offer this service as a standalone option for translations completed by individuals or organizations not affiliated with Green Crescent.
Proofreading
Our proofreading service for English to Tswana and Tswana to English translations involves reviewing a single-language text to identify and correct surface-level errors, such as spelling mistakes, grammar issues, punctuation errors, and formatting inconsistencies. This step is the final phase in our TEP (Translation, Editing, Proofreading) Organization Critical and Standard translation services. We also offer proofreading as a standalone service for translations completed by individuals or organizations not affiliated with Green Crescent.
Legal Translation
Green Crescent's elite team of linguists, each with subject matter expertise in legal fields, is ready to assist you with the translation of a wide range of judicial, administrative, and private legal documents between Tswana and English. We can also implement enhanced security measures to ensure strict confidentiality upon request.
Technical Translation
Technical translations involve any text that features specialized vocabulary or language registers, necessitating additional research and terminology verification. Common technical subject matter includes legal, medical, scientific, and IT topics. These translations require the expertise of linguists with in-depth knowledge of the relevant technical field in both Tswana and English.
Medical Translation
Green Crescent provides professional Tswana medical translations with a focus on accuracy and confidentiality. Our team of skilled linguists, specialized in medical terminology, ensures that your translations are both precise and secure.
Localization
Our translation services are tailored for specific target markets that require localized varieties of the Tswana language. Green Crescent ensures that your content resonates with the intended audience. Our experienced linguists provide translations that are not only accurate but also culturally relevant and engaging.
Back-translation
Back-translation is a crucial component of quality control, particularly for critical translations in the Tswana/English language pair. This process involves translating a previously translated text back into its original language, either Tswana or English, and comparing the result to the original translation for accuracy.
Peer Review
Green Crescent offers professional peer review services where one or more linguists not involved in the original translation process assess the quality, style, and overall fitness of the translation for its intended purpose.
SME Review
Subject Matter Expert (SME) review is a specialized form of peer review conducted by non-linguist professionals with expertise in specific fields. This process ensures that Tswana to English or English to Tswana translations of highly technical texts are both linguistically accurate and technically precise.
Transcreation
Our Tswana Transcreation Service adapts your content creatively to resonate with Tswana-speaking audiences. We ensure that your brand’s messages maintain their original intent, emotional impact, and tone while aligning with the cultural and linguistic nuances of the target market.
MTPE-Full (Machine Translation Post-Editing - Full)
MTPE-Full involves comprehensive post-editing of machine-generated translations to meet the highest standards of linguistic quality. This includes correcting grammar, syntax, and terminology to ensure the text flows naturally in Tswana or English.
MTPE-Light (Machine Translation Post-Editing - Light)
MTPE-Light is a streamlined version of post-editing designed for situations where speed and cost-efficiency are prioritized. The human editor fixes major errors, ensuring the overall meaning is clear and understandable.
Additional Language Services and Options for Tswana
Certified Translation
Green Crescent provides certified translations of a wide range of legal documents, including birth, marriage, and death certificates, diplomas, school transcripts, passports, and much more, in both Tswana and English. Our certified translations are recognized for their accuracy and compliance with legal standards, making them suitable for official use. You can receive hard copies of our standard certificate of translation mailed directly to your home or business.
Rush Service
If you require expedited service, Green Crescent can usually accommodate such requests. However, please note that rushing translations may come with trade-offs, which could affect both price and consistency. Please consult with a project manager for more details.
Discounts
Volume discounts are available for large projects, long-term clients, and for non-profits, charities, NGOs, and government organizations.
Minimum Fee
There is a minimum project fee of $75.00 USD per language, which can be reduced or waived for regular clients.
Additional Language Services
In addition to translation, Green Crescent offers a range of other Tswana language services, including interpretation, transcription, website design and development, and desktop publishing.
About the Tswana Language
Tswana, known locally as "Setswana," is a Bantu language spoken primarily in Botswana, where it serves as the national and official language, as well as in South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. It is one of the major languages of Southern Africa, with over 5 million speakers. Tswana is closely related to other Bantu languages such as Sotho and Sepedi, and it plays a central role in the cultural identity and daily life of the Tswana people.
Tswana is used in government, education, media, and informal communication, making it an essential language for both formal and everyday contexts in Botswana and surrounding regions.
The Cultural Context, History, and Linguistic Features of Tswana
Tswana has a rich cultural history, deeply intertwined with the traditions and social structures of the Tswana people. Historically, the language has been central to storytelling, oral traditions, and communal activities, with proverbs and folktales playing an important role in passing down cultural knowledge and values.
Linguistically, Tswana is part of the Niger-Congo language family and belongs to the Sotho-Tswana branch of Bantu languages. It features a noun class system, a characteristic of many Bantu languages, where nouns are classified into different groups that affect the agreement of verbs, adjectives, and pronouns. Tswana also uses agglutination, a linguistic process where prefixes, infixes, and suffixes are added to root words to modify their meaning, tense, aspect, or mood.
The Writing System: Latin Alphabet
Tswana is written using the Latin alphabet, a system introduced during the colonial period. The alphabet includes 26 letters and follows a largely phonetic structure, meaning that words are generally pronounced as they are written. Tswana does not use diacritical marks or additional characters, which makes the writing system relatively straightforward for learners.
Vowels and Consonants: Tswana has five vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and 21 consonants. The language features some consonant clusters that are common in Bantu languages, such as "tl" and "kg."
The Tswana Alphabet
Tswana is written using the following alphabet:
- 5 vowels: A, a, E, e, I, i, O, o, U, u
- 21 consonants: B, b, C, c, D, d, F, f, G, g, H, h, J, j, K, k, L, l, M, m, N, n, P, p, R, r, S, s, T, t, V, v, W, w, Y, y, Z, z
The phonetic nature of the Tswana writing system means that once the basic letter-sound correspondences are learned, reading and writing become easier. However, the language’s noun class system and verb conjugations require careful attention in translation.
Key Linguistic Differences Between Tswana and English for Translation
Several key linguistic features differentiate Tswana from English, and these must be considered in translation to ensure both accuracy and cultural appropriateness:
Noun Classes: Like many Bantu languages, Tswana has a noun class system where nouns are categorized into different classes that affect how verbs, adjectives, and pronouns are used. There are about 18 noun classes in Tswana, each with its own prefix. For example, the word for "people" is "batho," and the verb, adjectives, and pronouns used with "batho" must agree with its noun class. This system does not exist in English, so translators need to be mindful of noun class agreements when translating to ensure grammatical accuracy.
Verb Conjugation: Tswana verbs are highly inflected, with prefixes and suffixes indicating tense, aspect, mood, and sometimes the subject’s gender or number. For example, the root verb "tsamaea" (to go) can be modified to indicate various tenses and subjects, such as "ke a tsamaya" (I am going) or "ba a tsamaya" (they are going). These verb conjugations require careful handling during translation to ensure the correct tense and meaning are conveyed in English.
Tone: Tswana is a tonal language, meaning that the meaning of words can change based on pitch or tone. While tone is not marked in writing, it is crucial for understanding meaning in spoken Tswana. This can pose a challenge in translation, as English does not rely on tone to distinguish between meanings.
Reduplication: Reduplication, or repeating part or all of a word, is common in Tswana and is used to express intensity or repetition. For example, "dira" means "to do," while "diradira" suggests doing something repeatedly or intensively. This concept does not have a direct equivalent in English, so translators must find appropriate ways to convey this meaning.
Politeness and Honorifics: Tswana has specific forms of address and politeness that reflect respect for elders, authority figures, and social hierarchies. Translators need to ensure that the appropriate level of formality and respect is maintained in English translations, especially in legal, governmental, or cultural texts.
By understanding and adapting to these linguistic and cultural differences, Green Crescent ensures that our Tswana translation services are accurate and culturally appropriate, providing high-quality translations that resonate with both Tswana and English-speaking audiences.