The Circassian app has a Translate screen that works between English and Kabardian in both directions: type English and get Kabardian, or paste Kabardian and read it in English. Russian and Turkish work the same way. Under every search sits a Kabardian dictionary, with audio for the words the app’s lessons teach, so single words never depend on a machine’s guess.
Below: how to use it, 18 everyday phrases with their Kabardian translation and audio, where the dictionary comes from, and when to ask a person instead.
How to translate English to Kabardian in the app
- Download the Circassian app and pick Kabardian as your course. The translator then opens with Kabardian as the target language and your own language as the source.
- Open Translate from the bar at the bottom of the Learn screen, or tap the translate button at the top of Messages.
- Type or paste your text. The Kabardian dictionary results appear under it at once, even without an account.
- For whole sentences, sign in with a free account. Results into Adyghe carry the Tarmash logo, the engine that makes them; other results carry a “beta” label.
- To go from Kabardian to English, tap the swap button, or set the source to Kabardian or to auto-detect.
Google Translate cannot help here: its list of 249 languages, checked on October 11, 2026, has Abkhaz, Avar, Chechen and Ossetian, but neither Kabardian nor Adyghe.
18 everyday phrases in Kabardian, with audio
These come from the app’s audio course, whose scripts a native speaker of Kabardian reviewed. Tap the speaker to hear each one; the audio is the app’s own.
| Phrase | Kabardian |
|---|---|
| Hello. | ФIэхъусF'eĥus |
| Good morning. | Уи пщэдджыжь фIыуэ.Wi pshcheddzhyzh f'ywe. |
| How are you? | Дауэ ущыт?Dawe ushchyt? |
| I’m well, and you? | Сыузыншэщ, уэ щэ?Syuzynsheshch, we shche? |
| Goodbye! | Узыншэу!Uzynsheu! |
| What’s your name? | Хэт уэ уи цIэр?Khet we wi ts'er? |
| My name is Madina. | Сэ си цIэр Мадинэщ.Se si ts'er madineshch. |
| Pleased to meet you. | УкъызэрысцIыхуар си гуапэщ.Uqyzerysts'ykhwar si gwapeshch. |
| Where are you from? | Дэнэ ущыщ?Dene ushchyshch? |
| Do you speak Circassian? | Адыгэбзэ пщIэра?Adyghebze pshchera? |
| I speak a little. | ТIэкIу сопсалъэ.T'ek'u sopsalhe. |
| I don’t understand. | КъызгурыIуэркъымQyzguryI'werqym |
| Speak slowly. | Псалъэ хуэмурэ.Psalhe khwemure. |
| Thank you. | УпсэуUpsew |
| Please. | кхъыIэkh'yIe |
| Excuse me. | КъысхуэгъэгъуQyskhwegheghw |
| Welcome! | Къеблагъэ!Qyeblaghe! |
| Do you want tea? | Шей ухуей?Shyey ukhuyey? |
More in the Circassian phrasebook, with Adyghe beside every line.
The Kabardian dictionary under the translator
The Kabardian dictionary in the app has 24,190 entries. It comes from a printed Kabardian–Russian dictionary, so every entry has a Russian definition; English and Turkish searches are matched through an index built from those definitions, and the meaning on the row can then be in English. Because the book was scanned from paper, a few entries still carry scanning errors, so a word that looks odd is worth checking in a second source. On top of the dictionary, the translator searches the 2,216 Kabardian phrases of the app’s lessons, with a listen button where the app has the audio: that is what the screen at the top of this page shows.
Kabardian or Adyghe: make sure you need this one
Circassian has two written standards. Kabardian (East Circassian) is the language of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, and the dialect of the Kabardian and Besleney tribes, in the Caucasus and in the diaspora. The two differ from the first lesson, in words, sounds and spelling, so a Kabardian translation will not read right to someone who speaks Adyghe. Not sure which one your family speaks? The Circassian tribes page shows which dialect each tribe speaks, and the page on the difference between Kabardian and Adyghe shows them side by side. For Adyghe, use the Adyghe translator.
Honest limits: when to ask a person
Machine translation for Kabardian is new, and it makes mistakes, especially with long or unusual sentences. For anything that matters, like a tattoo, a wedding speech, a gravestone or an official document, ask a native speaker to check it. The app’s community chats are full of Circassians from Turkey, Jordan, Russia and beyond.
Typing Kabardian on a phone? The app writes the palochka, the letter that looks like a capital I, as a Latin capital I, so you can type it with the keyboard you already have. And if you would rather understand Kabardian than decode it, the Kabardian course teaches the words the translator gives you.
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English, Russian and Turkish to Kabardian and back, with a dictionary and audio.
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Kabardian translator: frequently asked questions
Is there an English to Kabardian translator?
Yes. The Translate screen of the Circassian app for iPhone and Android translates English, Russian and Turkish into Kabardian and back, with a Kabardian dictionary of 24,190 entries and 2,216 lesson phrases.
Can I translate Kabardian to English?
Yes. Set the source language to Kabardian, or to auto-detect, and the target to English.
Does Google Translate have Kabardian?
No. On October 11, 2026, Google Translate listed 249 languages, including Abkhaz, Avar, Chechen and Ossetian, but not Kabardian or Adyghe.
Is the Kabardian translator free?
Yes. Dictionary lookups work without an account; translating whole sentences needs a free account.
Is Kabardian the same as Circassian?
Kabardian is East Circassian, one of the two written standards of the Circassian language; Adyghe is the other. The app has a separate translator setting, dictionary and course for each.
How accurate is the Kabardian translation?
Lesson phrases and dictionary words are far more reliable than machine-translated sentences, though the scanned dictionary still has a few scanning errors. Sentences are marked beta and can be wrong: have a native speaker check anything important.
Sources
- Circassian app, version 5.9.0 (October 2026): Translate screen (src/components/TranslateModal.tsx: languages, defaults, sign-in rule, Tarmash logo, beta label), entry points on the Learn and Messages screens, translation routing (all Circassian results come from Tarmash).
- Dictionaries in the app, counted by running the app’s code on October 11, 2026: Kabardian 24,190 entries (a scanned Kabardian–Russian dictionary), Adyghe 3,499 entries (dovlet.info), 2,216 Kabardian lesson phrases. The phone screen shows the app’s real dictionary results for the query.
- Phrases: the app’s audio course (scripts reviewed by a native speaker of each dialect), as in the Circassian phrasebook.
- Google Translate’s language list (translate.googleapis.com, translate_a/l), read October 11, 2026: 249 languages, no Kabardian or Adyghe.
- Tarmash, the Circassian machine translation engine the app uses.
- Where each dialect is spoken and which tribes speak it: Wikipedia, “Kabardian language”, “Adyghe language” and the tribes’ articles, as cited on the Circassian tribes page.
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