Asturian Translator & Interpreter

Asturian interpreters and translators

Cal Interpreting & Translations (CIT) offers Asturian 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 based in Los Angeles, CIT offers comprehensive Asturian 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, have provided credentials, field tested, and kept up to date with developments in both English and the Asturian language through means such as lectures, conferences, and travel. CIT’s Asturian language interpreters and translators possess in depth knowledge of the Asturian language, as well as of the culture and history of the Asturian people, allowing them to provide informed and complete interpretation and translation.

Asturian Language

Over 1 million people currently inhabit Asturias, a region located in northern Spain and mainly in rural areas. The capital of Asturias is Uvieu or Oviedo in Spanish. It is surrounded by the Bay of Biscay and the Castilla y Leon. The main language spoken is Asturianu, also known as Bable. It is classified as a Romance language and is very similar to Spanish, having many regard it as a dialect of Spanish, not it’s own language.

The amount of Asturian speakers has grown drastically since the 1980s. Initially, the amount of speakers was counted as incorrectly, as over 250,000 people initially had not declared that they understood the language. By the 1990s, about 44% of people in the northern region of Spain declared that they spoke the language, while between 60,000 and 80,000 people declared their ability to read and write, concluding that approximately 68% of people living in Asturias understand Asturian.

For many centuries, the Asturian language was not spoken publically. However, in the 1990s, there has been a movement to save the language and bring it to the public. Because of it’s many similarities to Spanish, many people have learned to speak it or at least have made an effort to understand it. Because of this, many people who initially did not admit to speaking Asturian now are and others who were not aware that they spoke Asturian (previously confused with “bad Spanish” or “street talk”) now understand that they, in fact, are speaking another language.

History of Asturian

Like many other Romantic languages, Asturian is a branch off of Latin. It was heavily influenced by the languages of the pre-Roman people who live in Asturias. It took a long time to convert from Latin to Asturian and for a lot of time, there was a lot of overlap. Asturian was used for official documents and government business beginning in the 12^th century. This included agreements, donations, wills and contracts. Other sources, such as books, had Asturian as well. In the 14^th century, Castillian was introduced when officials and governors arrived to the area to occupy places of power. This brought down the Asturians and for the next couple of centuries, no record of Asturian had been found and the language decreased in usage. In the 17^th-19^th centuries, the Asturians increased in literature, including poetry such as folklore. By the 20^th century, the first newspaper in Asturian was published and the Asturian Academy debuted, signifying the artistic and intellectual abilities of the Asturian people and language.

In recent years, a lot of efforts have been put in by the government to ensure that the language does not disappear. This included getting the language to have official status in Spain and trying to have Asturian as a common language, both spoken and written. This process is still in its process.