Southern Sami translator

No. Southern Sami (ISO 639-3 sma) and North Sami (sme) are separate languages within the Sami branch and are mutually unintelligible. As a Southern Sami translation agency, we assign a translator who specifically knows Southern Sami, and we confirm the exact variety and ISO code before we begin.

By default we work in Northern Southern Sami (Åarjelsaemien), the variety with the widest readership. For the Härjedalen and Idre area we match the word choices accordingly. We confirm the variant in the quote based on your audience, and we hold to the 1976 spelling standard throughout the document.

Southern Sami is a recognised indigenous minority language in Norway and Sweden, and official work there usually follows those countries' frameworks. In the UK there is no sworn-translator institute, so for official acceptance we provide certified translation: a signed and dated statement of accuracy from the translator or the agency. Where a body asks for more, this can be escalated to notarisation by a solicitor or notary public, or to an apostille or legalisation through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). We confirm per document what your receiving authority requires.

On working days you receive a quote within 1 hour. Because Southern Sami is a small, severely endangered language, the lead time can be longer than for major languages; it depends on document type, volume and any required certification, and we confirm the workable schedule in the quote rather than promising a fixed turnaround.

We apply the standardised Latin spelling adopted in 1976, with the additional letter Ï and the umlauted vowels ä and ö, and we ensure correct Unicode rendering. Older texts that depart from the norm we bring into line with the current spelling, so the result reads consistently to a Southern Sami reader.

A Southern Sami translation agency takes the coordination off your hands. We select a translator who knows the right variety, hold to the 1976 spelling standard, arrange certification or notarisation where an authority requires it, and have the work checked where the document warrants it. You keep one point of contact for variant, terminology, scheduling and delivery, which saves a great deal of time when the language is small and reference resources are limited. A skilled freelance translator does excellent work too; the difference an agency adds is bringing those moving parts together so you are not managing them separately.