Looking for expert Māori translation services? Since 2003, Green Crescent has been delivering professional translation services between English and Māori to clients globally. We specialize in sectors such as legal, business, community, and cultural services. Our team ensures accurate, high-quality translations tailored to your specific needs. Get a fast, free Māori translation quote today!
Our Comprehensive Māori Translation Services
Green Crescent’s skilled team of Māori translators includes subject matter experts for industry-specific needs. We provide translations tailored to the linguistic nuances of Māori, ensuring cultural and contextual accuracy across its different dialects.
- Standard Māori
- Regional variations of Māori
We specialize in both English to Māori and Māori to English translations, offering the following services:
Simple Translation
Our simple translations in the English/Māori language pair are designed for basic communication needs. These translations are completed by a single Māori 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 Māori text.
Standard Translation (TEP)
Our Standard Māori 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 Māori communications.
Organization Critical Translation (TEP+)
Our Organization Critical Māori 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 Māori translation, editing, and proofreading (TEP) process.
Bilingual Editing
Bilingual Editing for Māori Translation is the process of editing a translated text by comparing both the source and target texts in the English/Māori language pair. The editor, fluent in the source language and a native speaker of Māori, ensures that the translation is accurate, consistent, and faithful to the source text while also maintaining clarity and fluency in Māori. 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 Māori and Māori 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 Māori 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 Māori and English.
Medical Translation
Green Crescent provides professional Māori 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 Māori 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 Māori/English language pair. This process involves translating a previously translated text back into its original language, either Māori 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 Māori to English or English to Māori translations of highly technical texts are both linguistically accurate and technically precise.
Transcreation
Our Māori Transcreation Service adapts your content creatively to resonate with Māori-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 Māori 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 Māori
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 Māori 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 Māori language services, including interpretation, transcription, website design and development, and desktop publishing.
About the Māori Language
Māori, known locally as "Te Reo Māori," is the indigenous language of the Māori people of New Zealand (Aotearoa). As one of New Zealand’s official languages, alongside English and New Zealand Sign Language, Māori holds significant cultural importance and is central to the identity of the Māori people. Though the language faced decline during the 19th and 20th centuries, revitalization efforts in recent decades, including immersion programs and the establishment of Māori language schools, have helped preserve and promote Te Reo Māori. Approximately 160,000 people can speak Māori, with varying levels of fluency.
Māori is an Eastern Polynesian language, closely related to other Polynesian languages such as Hawaiian, Tahitian, and Rapa Nui, reflecting the shared heritage of the Polynesian voyaging ancestors.
The Cultural Context, History, and Linguistic Features of Māori
Māori has a rich oral tradition that has preserved the language through generations. Traditionally, knowledge, history, and cultural values were passed down through storytelling, songs (waiata), and chants (haka). This oral tradition has had a profound influence on the structure and rhythm of the language, which is marked by its musicality and poetic qualities.
Historically, Māori was the dominant language in New Zealand until the arrival of European settlers in the 19th century. The subsequent colonization led to a decline in the use of Māori, as English became the primary language of education and government. However, through the efforts of language revitalization movements in the 20th and 21st centuries, Te Reo Māori has seen a resurgence and is now taught widely in schools and used in media and official contexts.
Linguistically, Māori is known for its relatively simple phonology and grammar. The language has a flexible word order, but typically follows a Verb-Subject-Object (VSO) sentence structure. It is also agglutinative, meaning that words can be modified by adding prefixes and suffixes to convey different grammatical functions.
The Writing System: Latin Alphabet
Māori uses the Latin alphabet, which was introduced by European missionaries in the early 19th century. The modern Māori alphabet consists of 15 letters: five vowels and ten consonants. Māori is a phonetic language, meaning words are pronounced as they are written, which makes the language relatively easy to learn in terms of pronunciation.
Vowels and Consonants: Māori vowels can be either short or long, with long vowels indicated by a macron (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū). The length of the vowel can change the meaning of a word, making it a critical aspect of pronunciation.
The Māori Alphabet
Māori is written using the following letters:
- 5 vowels: A, a, E, e, I, i, O, o, U, u (with macrons for long vowels: Ā, ā, Ē, ē, Ī, ī, Ō, ō, Ū, ū)
- 10 consonants: H, h, K, k, M, m, N, n, P, p, R, r, T, t, W, w, NG, ng, WH, wh
The digraphs "ng" and "wh" represent sounds that are distinct in Māori but do not have direct equivalents in English. "Ng" is pronounced as in "sing," while "wh" is pronounced as an "f" sound in modern Māori.
Key Linguistic Differences Between Māori and English for Translation
Several important linguistic features differentiate Māori from English, and these must be carefully considered in translation to ensure both linguistic accuracy and cultural sensitivity:
Sentence Structure: Māori typically follows a Verb-Subject-Object (VSO) sentence structure, while English uses a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) structure. This difference in word order requires careful reorganization during translation. For example, "I am eating food" in English becomes "Kei te kai ahau i te kai" in Māori, where the verb "kai" (to eat) comes first.
Use of Macrons: In Māori, macrons are used to indicate long vowels, and the length of the vowel can change the meaning of a word. For example, "keke" means "cake," while "kēkē" means "armpit." Translators must be careful to preserve macrons in the target text to avoid altering the meaning.
Possession and Ownership: Māori has two types of possession: "a" category and "o" category possession. The "a" category is used for things one has control over (such as children or pets), while the "o" category is used for things that happen to someone (such as emotions or body parts). This distinction has no direct equivalent in English, so translators must ensure that the correct possessive form is used based on context.
Reduplication: Māori uses reduplication (repeating part of a word) to convey a variety of meanings, such as intensification or repetition. For example, "paku" means "small," while "pakupaku" means "very small." Translators need to find equivalent expressions in English to convey the same nuance.
Honorifics and Formality: Māori places great importance on politeness and respect, especially when addressing elders or people of higher status. This is reflected in the use of certain words and phrases that convey respect. Translators must be careful to preserve the appropriate level of formality in English, even if direct equivalents do not exist.
By recognizing and adapting to these linguistic differences, Green Crescent ensures that our Māori translation services maintain the accuracy and cultural significance of the original material, delivering translations that resonate with Māori-speaking audiences in a meaningful and authentic way.