Totonac interpreting and translation

Lowland or highland Totonac?

Papantla (lowland) and Sierra (highland) Totonac differ considerably, and speakers from distant areas may not understand each other well. Please give us the client's municipality, and we will match an interpreter accordingly and check mutual understanding at the start of the session.

Many Totonac speakers are bilingual in Spanish, but older and rural speakers may prefer Totonac, especially when describing symptoms or giving a legal account. Our Totonac interpreters generally work over video, through the SILA Linguists® app or the platform your service uses, with a Spanish-English interpreter completing the relay. A phone line is also available, at any hour, for brief or urgent calls. Hospital and legal appointments proceed in short consecutive turns, and the client can ask for a woman or a man to interpret. For tourism and heritage events we can also provide interpreters for guided visits and presentations.

Totonac translation and certified translation

Totonac is written in the Latin alphabet, with conventions marking long and laryngealised vowels and consonants such as lh. Spelling differs between Veracruz and Puebla materials, so we agree the variant and conventions before translating health leaflets, school materials, visitor information or cultural texts.

Official documents from Veracruz and Puebla are in Spanish. Our English translations of them can be certified with a signed statement of accuracy, accepted by UK authorities such as courts, the Home Office and universities, and by employers.

Heritage, tourism and transcription

The Totonac region includes the archaeological site of El Tajín and is home to the ritual ceremony of the Voladores, a celebrated part of the region's cultural heritage. Museums, tourism bodies and documentary makers can ask us to transcribe interviews with Voladores and community members, with time codes and an English or Spanish version, and to produce subtitles and localised visitor content.

Sectors we support in Totonac

Our vetted, trained and qualified Totonac linguists can support hospitals and clinics, courts and legal advisers, schools, museums, tourism and heritage organisations and media producers. SILA Linguists® appoints one coordinator for each project, and our Totonac linguists sign confidentiality agreements and work within UK GDPR.