Amharic Translator & Interpreter

Amharic interpreters and translators

Cal Interpreting & Translations (CIT) offers Amharic interpreters and translators with legal, medical, and specialty experience, including criminal and civil matters, employee meetings, engineering, patent cases, labor disputes, immigration, and more. Although located in Los Angeles, CIT offers comprehensive Amharic language services including interpretation, translation, and transcription, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, worldwide.

Our interpreters and translators are native speakers who have been screened, certified, provided credentials, field tested, and kept up to date with developments in both English and Amharic languages through means such as lectures, conferences, and travel. CIT’s Amharic language interpreters and translators possess in depth knowledge of the Amharic language, as well as of the culture and history of the Amhara people, allowing them to provide informed and complete interpretation and translation.

Status of Amharic

The language of Amharic, also know as Amarinya or Kuchumba, is spoken by over 25 million people today. Approximately 22 million of those speak Amharic as a first language. It is the official language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and is the native language to the Semitic people of Central Ethiopia. After Arabic, it is the second most spoken Semitic language in the world. Amharic is the national language of commerce, education and public media in Ethiopia. Many people who speak Amharic also speak English, Arabic Tigrinya and Afaan Oromo, all of which are languages spoken primarily in Northern Africa.

Origin of Amharic

The origins of the Amharic language can be traced back to the first millennia B.C. It is believed that the descendants of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba spoke this language for thousands of years. It is also believed that the immigrants who crossed the Red Sea to present0day Eritrea sprouted new language among the Cushitic people, one of them being Amharic. The initial language of Ethiopia was Axum but when it shifted to Amhara, the influence of the Amharic language spread through the region, making it the national language. Influences & Dialects of Amharic

The Amharic language is heavily influenced by Cushitic languages, such as Oromo and the Agaw languages. Amharic has many dialects and are intelligible with each other. The main dialects are Gondar, Goijami (spoken in the North) and Showa (spoken in the south). Between the dialects, there are several differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Whichever dialect is spoken in the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, becomes the standard spoken and written language of the country.

The original script of the Amharic language was Ge’ez. However, Amharic eventually outgrew the original Ge’ez alphabet, which was primarily consonant-based. In the modern Ethiopian Semitic languages, the more evolved script is known as Abugida. Amharic is read from left to right and have seven forms based on the vowels in each syllable. It also has quite a complex verb system, which can be influences by several things, such as a person, number, the gender of a subject and whether it is direct or indirect. Amharic is a category III in its difficulty of learning by English speakers by the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) of the Department of State organization.

The Arabic language is also a heavy influencer on Amharic. Because of business with many nations of the Arab world, the Amharic language adapted several Arabic phrases or “loan words.”

Interesting Facts

• The name Rastafari, meaning “head”, refers to a former Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie. It is considered the sacred language to many Rastafarians and many speak Amharic themselves. Most reggae musicians have written songs in Amharic.
• The language is used by many scholars in History, Anthropology, Archaeology and Linguistics because Ethiopia holds such great history and treasures.