Belarusian Translator & Interpreter

Belarusian interpreters and translators

Cal Interpreting & Translations (CIT) offers Belarusian 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 Belarusian 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 Belarusian language through means such as lectures, conferences, and travel. CIT’s Belarusian language interpreters and translators possess in depth knowledge of the Belarusian language, as well as of the culture and history of the Belarusian people, allowing them to provide informed and complete interpretation and translation.

The Belarusian Language

The Belarusian language, also spelled Belarusan, is formerly known as the White Russian, after the Russians who fought against the communists after the Russian Revolution in 1917. Belarusian is an eastern Slavic language and is native to Belarusians. It is also affiliated with Indo-European, Balto-Slavic and Slavic languages. However, many government departments have favored Russian over Belarusian and is more widely used in education and public life than Belarusian. Belarusian is a middle ground between Russian and Ukrainian languages. There are several dialects of Belarusian as well, which are also incorporated into Russian and Ukrainian dialects. The Central dialects are the standard Belarusian. Additionally, Belarusian contains a lot of Polish loanwords. It is also written in the Cyrillic alphabet.

Belarusian is spoken primarily in Belarus; however, it is spoken in other countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Lithuania, Russia, Canada, the USA and Israel. Approximately 7.5 million people worldwide speak Belarusian. However, it is presumed that only about 1/3 of the Belarusian population can read, write and speak the language. Research indicates that Belarusian was first written in the 13^th century.

History of the Belarusian Language

Belarus was initially part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuanian from the 13^th century to the 18^th century. Since the Greek Orthodox Church heavily influenced the region, Belarusian began being written by Church Slavonic, a liturgical language of the church. Church Slavonic elements were discarded from literary Belarusian during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation in the 16^th century. During this time, written Belarusian texts also began appearing in Latin. In 1642, the earliest published Belarusian text in Latin appeared in a Jesuit anti-Lutheran publication called Witanie na Pierwszy Wiazd z Krolowca do Kadlubka Saskiego Wilenskiego.

About 80% of the urban population of Belarus was destroyed in the Russian Invasion of 1654-1667. In 1710, Belarusian was replaced by Polish but Belarusian still appeared in writings. It is not until the 19^th century that Belarusian started to emerge as the literary language of today’s form. Additionally, it was around this time that Belarusian began being written using the Cyrillic alphabet.

Ever since its independence in 1991, the Belarusian people have made many efforts to revive Belarusian with the Latin alphabet. However, there are many arguments as to the proper spelling of Latin words in the Belarusian language. Currently, Belarusian is also written in Arabic script by the Belarusian Tartars and in Hebrew by the Belarusian Jews.