Sesotho translation services

Sesotho translation is priced per word for text and per minute for audiovisual, depending on volume, subject matter and turnaround, with confirming the market and the orthography included as part of the brief rather than billed as an extra step. Send your files and we will come back with a free, itemised quote, backed by our Price Match Promise.

Yes. Native Sesotho linguists handle every translation, and a second native linguist independently reviews each text, checking that it holds the agreed orthography from the first line to the last rather than mixing Lesotho and South African spellings.

Yes — Sesotho translation, subtitling and voice over all come from one team, working to a single glossary throughout. The orthography question applies to the written files; for voice over, the brief is about the audience and the voice.

They are two orthographies for the same language. Lesotho's comes from the nineteenth-century missionary tradition; South Africa's was proclaimed in 1959 and taught in schools from 1960. They differ in consonants, in possessives such as oa and wa, in the pronoun «you» — u in Lesotho, o in South Africa — and in accented vowels, which Lesotho spelling uses and South African spelling does not.

The one your audience reads. Material for Lesotho goes in Lesotho spelling, material for South Africa in South African spelling. If your English source does not say where it is going, we ask, because nothing in the text can tell us.

Yes — audiovisual is our specialisation. We deliver spotted SRT/VTT and timed two-column voice-over scripts, plus translated text when you need it.

Yes, but it is a revision rather than a conversion. The differences sit inside ordinary words and possessives, so a native linguist reads every line and a second linguist reviews the result. If you know from the start that you need both markets, we plan two versions instead.

Yes. Sesotho is an official language of Lesotho and of South Africa, where it was the language spoken most often at home by 7.8 % of the population at the 2022 census, and by 72.2 % in the Free State. We work in either orthography, and in both as two versions when a project serves both countries.

Most short documents are delivered within 24 to 48 hours. Word count, subject complexity and turnaround all move the date, and your project manager will confirm the timeline at the start.

Less than people expect: the document, script or subtitle file, its word count, what the text is actually for, and the date you need it by. A draft is fine — we would rather quote on what exists than wait for a final version that eats your deadline. A named project manager comes back with an itemised quote, normally within four working hours.

More than half of enquiries get a reply within thirty minutes during office hours (Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm UK time), and the itemised quote normally follows within four working hours. After that you have one dedicated project manager who owns the job from brief to final file — not a ticket queue, and not a different name on every email. If it is easier, call +44 207 095 5730 and ask for them by name.

Yes, and it is one of the commonest reasons people get in touch. Tell us it is for a pitch and you get a figure you can put in front of your own client, itemised so it stands up to being picked apart, with no obligation and no follow-up sales calls if the pitch goes elsewhere. If it lands, the quote still holds and we already know the project.