One Word for One World
One Word for One World

Professional Bengali translations by native speakers

The Bengali language

The Bengali language belongs to the Indo-European language family and the Indo-Iranian branch. It’s the furthest east of the Indo-European family and is spoken by about 220 million people worldwide. This makes it one of the most common languages in the world. It’s the native tongue for some 140 million inhabitants of Bangladesh, as well as for another 75 million in India, especially in West Bengal and Tripura. The remaining 5 million are dispersed throughout specific areas of Nepal, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.

Scientists assume that Bengali had a great impact on Bangladesh’s emergence as a sovereign state. During the partition of British India, the historical region of Bengal was originally assigned to and renamed East Pakistan by the Pakistani government with the goal of making Urdu the official language of the entire country. Because the belief system of East Pakistan was extremely uniform, and almost 99% of its population was Bengali with their own language, the country became Bangladesh after winning its independence in the Bangladesh War.

Today, Bengali is the country’s only official language. Of course, many English terms and phrases have taken hold in the language in recent years. English has even become the language of administration, business, and education and is spoken by many members of the middle and upper classes.

Nevertheless, the sheer number of Bengali speakers in the world is enough to generate high levels of demand for translations into Bengali and back again in every possible combination. For this reason, we work with a network of native-speaking translators located all around the world.

The written language and grammar

Bengali uses the Brahmi script. In many ways, it resembles Hindi and Sanskrit and is also a cross between an alphabet and a syllabary, what is known as an “Abugida.” The Bengali script has 36 consonants, 11 vowels, and 10 vowel diacritics that are used along with corresponding vowels.

There is also a vast array of special characters. Only when they appear without corresponding consonants can vowels be written with distinct characters, like at the beginning of a word. Otherwise, they are found in conjunction with the consonant with which they form a character.

There is no upper or lower case, and there is only one punctuation mark: a vertical stroke that ends the sentence. Paragraphs, however, end with two vertical strokes. Bengali script is written from left.

As for grammar, Bengali follows the subject-object-verb sentence structure and uses postpositions. There is no grammatical gender, and adjectives and nouns hardly ever change. Verbs, however, change depending upon the person, time, and honorific form, but not singularity or plurality.

You can be sure that our Bengali translators are familiar with these specific grammatical features because we only hire native-speaking translators for our projects. Only a native speaker is able to translate your documents accurately.

To ensure that your documents are also perfect in thematic terminology, our translators are specialized in at least one subject area. In this way, we can ensure that your Bengali translation in the field of medicine, technology, or other field will be error-free.

Dialects of the Bengali language and its similarities to other languages

There has only been a standardized Bengali language since the mid-18th century. In addition to the standard official language, there are still many Bengali dialects in existence. For example, Nadia, Choltibhascha, or Bangal are spoken in different regions of Bangladesh and India. Some Bengali dialects such as Chakma and Sylheti have even evolved into separate languages. Languages related to Bengali are Assamese and Oriya. All three languages share a common root – Magadhi.

Dialects are especially important for translations if the translated documents have to do with a certain region, as would be the case in marketing. We watch out for subtleties like these so that your translation always hits the correct tone.

Leave it to our dedicated project managers to pick the best translator for your project. They are happy to assist you if you have any questions about your Bengali translations and are in charge of preparing your documents for translation. In addition to producing professional translations, we also specialize in many other language services, including interpreter services and certified translations of birth certificates and other official documents into or from Bengali (often used for immigration by the USCIS or immigration body in another country).

How much does a translation into Bengali cost?

The standard rate for translations from English into Bengali is $ 0.13 per word and for translations from Bengali into English, the going rate is $ 0.14. For new customers or large texts (more than 5,000 words), we may significantly reduce our rates. For urgent jobs that need several translators working simultaneously, we will apply a surcharge.

Just contact us to get more information and a no-obligation quote. Our project managers can be reached via telephone, email, or the form. We look forward to serving you.

Mariana Mellor
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