Karen or Karenic Languages
Native Speakers: 5.5 million
Myanmar, Thailand, Overseas Karen Diaspora
Official: N/A
Sino-Tibetan; Proto-Karenic
Karen is not a single language, but rather three (3) mutually unintelligible languages, known broadly as the Karenic Languages. The Karen people live in parts of Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand, but there is a large overseas diaspora because of persecution in their native regions. Karen is a tonal language and are unusual among Sino-Tibetan languages in that they have a subject-verb-object (SVO) word order.
The three main branches of the Karenic Languages are Sgaw, Pwo and Pa’o. They are largely mutually unintelligible.
Burmese script
Immigration of the Karen people to the U.S. in a relatively recent phenomenon, with many fleeing the violence in their home countries as refugees. There are estimated to be more than 65,000 Karen-Americans (and growing) in the U.S. The largest concentrations of Karen communities are in Minnesota, New York, Nebraska, and Indiana. The Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) have the fastest growing community of Karen people in the U.S.
At Latitude Prime, we offer Karen translation, Karen interpretation, and Karen localization services in numerous specialized subject areas and multiple dialects. Whether you need to translate medical records from English to Karen, need a Karen interpreter for a refugee or asylum case in Minneapolis, or want to localize your website into Karen to market your products or services in local Karen communities, Latitude Prime has the customized language solution to meet all of your Karen language needs.
