Tiv Translation Engine v3
Self-contained translation powered entirely by the Tiv Heritage Archive — dictionary, grammar rules, proverbs, and bilingual Bible.
How the Tiv translator works
The translator works from the archive's own records: the Tiv dictionary, the collections of names, foods, festivals, plants and animals, the proverbs, a growing set of everyday phrases, the bilingual Tiv and English Bible, and a set of Tiv grammar rules. It does not send your text to an outside translation service. Every result is built from records held in the archive.
The order it looks things up
When you enter a word or phrase, the translator first checks whether it is the name of a person, a food or a festival. Then it looks for an exact dictionary word, a known proverb, and a known phrase, whole or in part. After that it tries the dictionary again more broadly, then the other collections and the Bible. Only if none of these match does it translate word by word. It then applies the grammar rules to put the result in a more natural order. The most specific match always wins, so a proverb is translated as a proverb, not as a string of separate words.
Reading a result
Along with the translation, you may see why it was chosen, alternative ways of saying the same thing, a pronunciation guide, notes on when the expression is used, and the archive records it came from. The sources are worth a look: they show whether a result rests on a full dictionary entry, a proverb or a single example.
Getting good results
Short words and phrases work best. Check your spelling, especially the paired letters gb, kp, mb, nd, ng, ny and ts; the alphabet page explains them. Tiv is a tonal language, and the same spelling can carry more than one meaning, so for an ambiguous word, read the alternatives and the context notes, or look the word up in the dictionary. For anything important, such as a letter, a legal document or a public notice, ask a fluent speaker to check the result.
Daily limits
Visitors can make 5 free translations a day, and signed-in members 15. Unlimited access is described on the plans page.
Help the translator improve
When a word is not in the dictionary, signed-in members can suggest its meaning straight from the result, and suggestions are reviewed before they are added. Wrong or missing translations can also be reported through the contribution form. Every word added makes the next translation better for everyone. To learn the language rather than only translate it, try the lessons.