Language Scientific’s Pashto Translation Services

Language Scientific provides high quality Pashto translation services, supplying technical, medical and scientific translation, localization and interpreting into and out of Pashto. We are a US-based language services company serving over 1,500 global corporations. Our specialization, focus, industry-leading quality management standards and customer-centered attitude have earned us the trust of many of the world’s best technology, engineering, biomedical and pharmaceutical companies.

Language Scientific has two divisions—Technical and Engineering Localization and Translation Services Division and Medical and Pharmaceutical Localization and Translation Services Division. Both groups provide a full range of Pashto language services including:

We offer a unique depth of subject-matter expertise via our Advanced Scientific Knowledge network (ASKnetwork™) and globalization know-how for companies in the Aerospace & Defense, Chemical, Clinical Research, Energy, Healthcare, Industrial Manufacturing, Medical Device, Pharmaceutical, Technology and related industries. Our ASKnetwork™ of over 6,000 specialists comprises multilingual engineers, doctors and scientists working in over 75 countries on 5 continents.

Language Scientific’s unique Accreditation Program for Technical and Medical Translators, along with a rigorous Quality Management System, ensures the quality standards that our clients have come to depend on. Language Scientific’s Quality Management System is ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 17100:2015 certified.

At Language Scientific, we are driven by the mission to set the new Standard of Quality for technical translation and localization. It is this mission that drives our success and sets us apart as a company. When you need precise global communication, Language Scientific is the clear choice.

Pashto Language Statistics/Facts

There are between 40 to 60 million Pashto-speakers worldwide. Pashto is the native language of the Pashtun people (Islamic people originating from Afghanistan and Pakistan) and is part of the Eastern Iranian family of languages. Pashto is one of two official languages spoken in Afghanistan; the second is Dari. 35 percent of Afghanistan’s population speaks Pashto. Pashtun people in western and northwestern Pakistan also speak Pashto, amounting to 15.4 percent of its population. Displaced Pashtun people are scattered around the world, including in areas of the United Kingdom, United States and Canada also speak Pashto.

There are two major dialects of Pashto, Northern and Southern. Lexically, they are 80 percent similar. Thus, it is relatively easy for speakers of different dialects of Pashto to understand one another. The Southern dialect is spoken in Afghanistan and since the 1930’s the government has worked to standardize the Pashto language.

Pashto Dialects

DialectRegion
Central PashtoBorder of Afghanistan and Pakistan
Northern PashtoSoutheastern Afghanistan
Southern PashtoNorthern Pakistan

Countries Where Pashto Is Spoken

  • Afghanistan
  • Iran
  • Russia
  • The Netherlands
  • Australia
  • Japan
  • Saudi Arabia
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Canada
  • Pakistan
  • Sweden
  • United Kingdom
  • Germany
  • Qatar
  • Thailand
  • United States
  • India

Pashto Speaking Country Data

Country: Afghanistan

Capital: Kabul
Population: 34,124,811
Islamic Republic: President Ashraf GHANI Ahmadza
Currency: Afghan Afghani
GDP (ppp): $1,900
Unemployment: 35%
Government Type: Islamic Republic
Industries: Opium, fruits and nuts, rugs, wool, cotton, hides and pelts and gemstones

Country: Pakistan

Capital: Islamabad
Population: 204,924,861
Federal Parliamentary Republic: President Mamnoon Hussain
Currency: Pakistani Rupee
GDP (ppp): $5,100
Unemployment: 6.2%
Government Type: Federal Parliamentary Republic
Industries: Textiles and apparel, food processing, pharmaceuticals, construction materials, paper products, fertilizer, shrimp

Pashto History

The Pashto Language has traces of its encounters with the Greek language that date back to the 3rd century. The Pashtun people are primarily located in the southeastern half of Afghanistan and the northwestern border of Pakistan. Pashto development also reflects its contact with Zoroastrians and Buddhists. Pashto has many borrowed words from Arabic, Persian, Prakrits, Balochi and Sindhi. It is approximated that Pashto uses close to 5,550 loanwords. The first written account of the Pashto language dates back to the 16th century. This first account tells of Shekh Mali’s conquest of Swat. The language is written as a variant of the Persian script with letters modified for specific Pashto sounds. During the 17th century the use of the Pashto language grew and was refined. This continued into the late 18th century when spelling throughout the language was standardized.

The most developed style of literature written in Pashto is folk. There are also many stories set to music. There are thousands of two to four line poems written by women that reflect their daily lives. Love and repression by society are recurring themes in this type of literature. Many of these female poets revealed that they were not permitted to leave their homes. The following poem translated into English displays their emotions towards their oppression:
“You will witness a poetic scene if my voiceless voice is risen
You will hear thousands of voices kept behind those scenes
My tragic words will then burst out of my wounded heart
You will then hear thousands of my unheard poems”

In the 17th century, the Afghani poet Khushal Khan Khattak wrote his works in Pashto and is considered the father of Pashto literature. He encouraged revolt against the Mughal Empire through his literary works. He led revolts against the Mughals, however was not successful in uniting the many Pashtun tribes.

The two most common dialects are the Northern and Southern dialects. The Southern dialect is considered to be “softer” while the Northern is more “harsh.” The Southern pronounces the /sh/ and /zh/ sounds where the north alternatively pronounces the /kh/ and /gh/ sounds. The southern dialect is associated with the Sunni sect of Muslim, while the Northern dialect is associated with both Sunni and Shi’a sects of Muslim.

The language has a seven-vowel system and the alphabet reflects this. Revisions were made for clarity after it became the national language of Afghanistan. The language borrows retroflex pronunciation (when the tip of the tongue curls against the roof of the mouth) from the Indo-Aryan languages. Pashto distinguishes gender and plurality of subjects. Thus, verbs change to agree with their subjects as well as change tenses. The typical sentence structure is arranged by subject- object- verb. It differs from Persian in that there are consonant clusters at the beginning of syllables.