Is there a need for Latin to English translation services? Isn’t Latin already a dead language? It’s understandable for you to think that way.
It will probably come as a surprise to you to find there’s a need for translators who can convert Latin text into English. Latin is the official language of the Vatican, an Italic language used in Ancient Rome. It was also the Roman Empire’s official language.
There were many varieties of Latin, such as Classical Latin, used back in the 2nd century BC. There is also Vulgar Latin, the spoken version that is the originator of the Roman languages. For many centuries, it was a language important to Christianity and so is still widely used in religious activities today.
It might not be a language useful or necessary in running a business, but many fields still use Latin. In many areas, Latin continues to play an important role in the world today. So it is important to find out more about the Latin language and what a Latin to English translator can do for you.
A Brief History of the Latin Language
The Latin language has quite a long history that no one knows its true origins. The only thing that we know for sure about Latin’s origins is a collection of writings that suggests its rich history.
Latin is part of the Indo-European languages, specifically of the Italic family. It is also the originator of some of the modern Romance languages, such as Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Romanian.
It was originally spoken somewhere in central-western Italy known as Latium. This place was where the city of Rome was founded, which soon became the Roman Empire’s capital city.
With the Roman Republic’s growing power, Latin soon became the dominant language. It eventually became the language spoken all over the western Roman Empire.
Many people would also mistakenly believe it as a progenitor of English. Novice Latin students would often mistake English as a Romance language because many English words have Latin origins.
Latin scholars often debate about the exact dates of the different periods in the language’s history. But the consensus is it started with Old Latin followed by Classical Latin.
Next came Vulgar Latin, Medieval Latin, Renaissance Latin, New Latin, and Contemporary Latin. Modern Latin courses are usually based on the classical period, notable for important works from prominent authors such as Caesar, Augustus, Cicero, and more.
As one of the world’s most influential languages, Latin has continued to develop into modern society. Although it’s not a language you will often use in business transactions, it is crucial in the scientific and philosophical world.
Where is the Latin Language Used Today?
Latin is a dead language, meaning there is no longer anyone who uses it for everyday communication or as their main language. It is among the well-known dead languages, along with Biblical Hebrew, Sanskrit, and Middle English.
Take note that a “dead” language is different from an “extinct” language, as the latter means it no longer has any speakers at all. Although it is technically dead, Latin is still very much alive in the present.
Since Latin is not used for everyday communication, you are probably wondering when is a Latin to English translation service hired. Well, translating Latin to English is rather useful in research and educational fields.
There is not much use to such a service in the corporate world. You can’t use it in creating YouTube captions, developing a marketing campaign, or finding out the meaning of an email from a foreign client. Nevertheless, it’s still one of the best languages to learn.
But a translator capable of converting Latin to English can help you understand scientific and philosophical texts. With a Latin to English translation service, you can learn a text as it was originally in the Italic language.
It goes to say that many professionals will need a reliable company that can provide this particular translation service on their speed dial. Moreover, many English words have Latin roots, so it is not wrong to say even the corporate world may come across it sometimes.
But perhaps the most important benefit of knowledge of the Latin language is that it helps gain a better understanding of specialized fields of study. It will be a big help if you’re in the fields of science, history, education, and technology.
Latin and the Romance Languages
When you hear the word ‘romance,’ love and courtship would often come to mind. But when we say Romance languages, we’re talking about a group of languages with origins based on Latin, particularly Vulgar Latin.
This Latin language is not the classical Latin that the literati used, but one used in daily life. Classical Latin was the language used mostly in literature. Common Romans would use Vulgar Latin, which is less polished and simplified.
The Romance languages came to be at around the 6th century. At that time, speaking in the Latin-derived language means to fabulare romanice. Romanice suggests speaking in “Roman manner,” which is then shorted to “romance” and thus the name.
Latin-derived languages have many changes that include the lack of terminal consonants, simple words replacing diphthongs, and more. The most prominent change is the loss of inflection, the primary characteristic of Latin.
As such, the Romance languages must show another way to the role that words play in sentences. Latin’s word order is relaxed, which was then replaced with a more fixed order used in simplified Latin.
Latin vs. English
Is learning Latin hard? Well, learning Latin is as hard as learning any language. In terms of Latin to English translation, the difficulty stems not from the vocabulary. The struggle is in how Latin and English uses words to give meaning.
In English, one understands meaning based on the order of the words. Even if the words are exactly the same, they can mean differently depending on how they are placed in the sentence.
Latin is different as it is an inflected language. It means the language expresses meaning by how the words look like. Specifically, you can understand its meaning by the particular endings attached to the basic stem of a word.
It does not matter which word came first or last. The endings of each word are what tells you about who does what. This means a change in the form of words means a change in the meaning of the sentence.
Forming a sentence like this is absurd and impossible in English. If you’re studying Latin, it will take a big change in the way you think to understand how Latin works. But by practicing Latin to English translation as well as composition, it gets better.
How Can a Latin to English Translation Service Help You?
Certain fields still widely use Latin and are still taught at many schools and universities. Latin is a window that lets you get a glimpse of an ancient civilization. If you are fascinated by the Roman Empire, learning Latin is an excellent starting point.
Besides this, learning Latin seems to make it easier to study other inflected languages such as German and Russian, as well as Roman languages. These days, the native speakers of Romance languages reach up to over 800 million, and that shows the value of Latin in the modern world.
As you may realize by now, Latin is still very much alive. A Latin to English translator can help you in a lot of ways, from translating the tweets of the Pope to converting an original text from a Roman literato into English.
You will usually need to hire Latin to English translation services in the following fields:
Science
One of the specialized fields of study known for using Latin terminology is Science. Taxonomy uses Latin in naming the classification of organisms. It’s the same with biology as well, where they use Latin (and Greek) in naming plants and animals.
In the field of medicine, many names of diseases and medicine were in Latin, or at least their suffixes and prefixes are. Some parts of the body also use Latin terminology. If you’ve never studied Latin, a Latin to English translation service can help you understand them.
Catholicism
The Vatican City uses Latin as one of its official languages. Catholic scriptures also use Latin words. In the Vatican, entire masses are even spoken in Latin after experiencing a resurgence thanks to more churchgoers requesting the language.
Of course, there’s the Pope, who is the most influential and popular Latin speaker. In his Twitter account with almost 900,000 followers, Pope Francis would often tweet in Latin. A translator in this language is a big help if your field of work is related to Catholicism.
Law
Law is one of the fields where the Latin language is often used. If you work as a lawyer, judge, or prosecutor or still just a law student, you must have already encountered phrases such as ex post facto, amicus curiae, habeas corpus, and more.
Even the word ‘jury’ has Latin origins. It came from the word jurare, meaning “swear.” If you are a legal professional, a Latin to English translation service can help make sense of these Latin terms.
Philosophy
There are many Latin phrases and terminologies you will likely encounter when studying philosophy. One example of a famous Latin quotation by a philosopher is Cogito ergo sum, meaning “I think, therefore, I am.”
There are other Latin phrases you’ll encounter, such as “a posteriori,” “a priori,” “argumentum ad hominem,” and more. The world of philosophy is complex, with Latin playing a significant role, which a Latin to English translator can help you understand more deeply.
Would a translation software be enough to convert a Latin text to English? Not really. Latin is an old language with many variations from different time periods. If you want a flawless translation, only a translator expert in that period can help you convert the texts accurately.
Find a Latin to English Translator at Bunny Studio
Latin is not a c0mmon language you might use in business or marketing. However, professionals can take advantage of a Latin to English translation service in various ways. If you need help with Latin translation, our Bunny Studio translation services can assist you.
