Santali Translation Services
Linguists on roster. Projects start within days of scoping.
ISO 9001 | ISO 27001 | ISO 17100
Written by the MoniSa Enterprise team. Last reviewed: March 2026.
Santali is the only Austroasiatic language in India’s Eighth Schedule, written in the Ol Chiki script that Pandit Raghunath Murmu created in 1925. MoniSa maintains an active bench of Santali linguists sourced from Jharkhand’s Santal Pargana region and West Bengal, covering translation, annotation, and audio work in a script that has near-zero machine translation support.
When teams need Santali translation
- Government or NGO programs targeting Jharkhand, Odisha, or West Bengal tribal populations require Ol Chiki script materials that standard vendors cannot produce.
- AI training data projects need Santali text, audio, or annotation from native speakers familiar with both the script and regional dialects.
- Educational publishers or ed-tech platforms expanding into scheduled language markets need Santali content that meets state curriculum standards.
- Healthcare or financial inclusion initiatives require Santali translations for communities where Hindi or Bengali comprehension is limited.
Santali services we deliver
Linguists sourced from Jharkhand’s Santal Pargana region, West Bengal (Birbhum, Bankura), and Odisha tribal areas. Sido Kanhu Murmu University and Ranchi University provide academic pipeline. Santal community organizations facilitate recruitment.
Script note: All Santali work is delivered in Ol Chiki script. The script is a true alphabet (not an abugida), written left-to-right, with 30 letters. Unicode support exists but font availability remains limited across platforms. MoniSa’s Santali linguists work in validated Ol Chiki digital environments.
Dialect note: Coverage spans Standard Santali (Jharkhand), West Bengal Santali, and Bangladesh Santali. Dialect selection is confirmed during scoping based on target audience and geography.
From scoping to delivery: Santali translation
step 1
Scope and match
We identify the target dialect (Jharkhand Standard, West Bengal, or Bangladesh), confirm Ol Chiki script requirements, and assign linguists from the matching region. For annotation projects, domain-specific briefing materials are prepared alongside Santali-specific guidelines.
step 2
Execute and review
Translators deliver in Ol Chiki with font validation checks at each milestone. Editors verify terminology against Santali standardization references from Sido Kanhu Murmu University. Community validators confirm cultural accuracy for indigenous context.
step 3
Deliver and report
Final files are delivered with Ol Chiki font embedding confirmed, a quality scorecard per batch, and a dialect-alignment report documenting any terminology decisions made during the project.
Santali at a glance
Santali belongs to the Munda branch of the Austroasiatic family. It is linguistically unrelated to the Indo-Aryan languages surrounding it. Its closest relatives are Mundari and Ho, not Hindi or Bengali. Approximately 7.6 million people speak Santali across Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, and parts of Bangladesh and Nepal. The Ol Chiki script, created by Raghunath Murmu in 1925, replaced earlier attempts to write Santali in Devanagari, Bengali, or Roman scripts. It is one of the newest writing systems in active daily use anywhere in the world.
Quality control
All Santali work follows MoniSa’s 3-layer review model: translator (domain-matched, with Ol Chiki script proficiency verified before assignment), editor (bilingual accuracy and terminology adherence), proofreader or community validator (cultural and contextual review). The quality bar holds whether the language is high-resource or rare.
Proven delivery
257,000 words delivered across 8 rare languages spanning 4 script systems at 99.8% accuracy in 10 days. Santali was a directly delivered language in that project, requiring Ol Chiki script output, dialect-specific terminology alignment for Jharkhand Standard Santali, and rolling batch delivery within a 25-day timeline. The same linguist vetting, script validation, and quality framework are the operational standard for all Santali programs.
Buyer risk controls
Linguist replacement SLA
Active bench means replacement Santali linguists can be assigned within 48 hours. The sourcing depth in this language provides backup capacity that minimizes single-point-of-failure risk.
Quality parity guarantee
No separate quality standard exists for rare languages. Every deliverable meets the same accuracy, terminology, and fluency benchmarks.
Transparent sourcing status
Linguist availability is a scoping-stage disclosure, not a production-stage discovery. Sourcing timelines are built into project commitments upfront.
Governance and security
Certified: ISO 9001:2015, ISO 27001:2013, ISO 17100:2015.
Memberships: Member of GALA, ATC, EUATC, Elia, and CITLoB — international language industry associations.
Security: GDPR-compliant. NDAs standard. Encrypted transit and storage.
Data handling:Santali content processed under standard security protocols with full audit trail.
Frequently asked questions
What is your Santali linguist capacity?
Yes. All Santali translation is delivered in Ol Chiki script by default. Our linguists work in validated digital environments with confirmed Unicode font support. If a project requires Devanagari or Roman transliteration alongside Ol Chiki, that is handled as an additional deliverable.
How does Ol Chiki differ from other Indian scripts?
Ol Chiki is a true alphabet, not an abugida like Devanagari or Bengali. Each of its 30 letters represents a single sound. It was designed from scratch in 1925 by Raghunath Murmu to capture phonemes unique to Santali that other scripts could not represent, including glottalized stops and nasalized vowels specific to Austroasiatic languages.
What quality standards apply to Santali projects?
The same 3-layer review model used for all MoniSa projects: translator, editor, community validator. Quality metrics, error scoring, and reporting are identical to high-resource language programs.
How fast can a Santali project start?
Active Bench status means linguists are on roster. TEP projects typically begin within days of scoping confirmation. Audio and annotation timelines depend on volume and are confirmed during the scoping call.
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Active bench. Ol Chiki script specialists on roster. ISO-certified delivery across 300+ languages. Backed by 35,500+ vetted linguists worldwide.