Provencal Language Interpreters and Translators

Provencal Interpreters And Translators

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

The Provencal Language

The Provencal dialect, part of the Occitan language, is an ancient language spoken by about 1.5 million people all across countries in Europe. Provencal is very popular in southern regions in France. Additionally, it is spoken in parts of Spain, Monaco and in the Occitan Valleys of Italy. In the Piedmon region of Italy, where the Occitan Valleys are, Occitan speaking communities are recognized. Occitan has a total of six dialects: Provencal, Gascon, Languedocien, Limousin, Alpine and Augergne.

The Occitan language in general, including all six dialects, are based in Latin, due to the Romans having spread the language. As the Romans spread throughout and conquered Europe, they brought their language along with them and it started to be used in areas such as France, Spain and further. Eventually, this Latin language was known as Vulgar Latin and was used and spread by the Roman soldiers. Soon enough, as the Roman Empire began to weaken, so did the language. As a result, other languages began to gain strength. Provencal was one of those languages. Not only did it gain verbal strength, but new literature came to be in the Provencal dialect around the 900s.

Between the 900s and 1400s, Occitan and its dialects was known as a poetic language. Troubadours used Occitan dialects to write plays and comedies as they traveled around France. Up until the 1400s, the Occitan language was used as the main language of reading in both France and northern Spain. Currently, Occitan is still an official language in Catalan, Spain. Due to the power of the French court, the French language began to replace Occitan entirely. Especially after the French Revolution, there was a grand push to have everyone speak the same language.

Currently, out of the six Occitan dialects, four, including Provencal, are endangered according to UNESCO. It is currently on UNESCO’s Atlas of World Languages in Danger. In the 1800s, there had been a short attempt by Frederic Mistral, a known writer and Nobel Prize winner in 1904, to revive Provencal. He began writing in Provencal. About 40 schools in Franch still teach Provencal along with the differences between the Provencal alphabet and the French alphabet. Of the presumed 1.5 millione Occitan speakers across Europe, most are elderly and perhaps cannot read or write the language. However, due to the efforts to preserve the language, many people are beginning to learn it. Additionally, it is a field of study at Oxford University. It is the hope of the linguists who are trying to preserve the language that those studying it will actually speak it as well.

In order to effectively understand French history, Provencal is a useful tool. Many believe that it is important to keep dialects like Provencal alive as a reminder of the past of a nation.