World Translation Center can provide professional Catalan translation services for English to Catalan and Catalan to English. We can also translate Catalan to and from over 130 other languages, including all the principal languages of Europe, Asia, South America, the Middle East and a wide range of African languages, at competitive prices.
Our Catalan specialists will be able to provide translation for virtually any project you might have, including marketing materials, technical, financial, legal and medical documents, websites and software. Our skilled project managers will match your project with a translator team best suited for the area of expertise needed. Every linguist works exclusively in his or her own mother tongue and within his or her area of expertise guaranteeing not only quality translation, but proper localization as well. After each document is translated, it will be edited and proofread by another professional translator to assure maximum quality.
We also make available transcription, video recording and subtitling services. In the event that you need to have an existing video dubbed, a commercial narrated or a telephone system recorded, our native Catalan speakers are available to provide high quality voiceover services.
We pride ourselves in delivering high quality cost-effective services, whether your project is small or large, simple or highly complex.
Catalán Information
Catalán is the official language of Andorra and an official language, along with Spanish, in Cataluña, Valencia (Comunitat Valenciana), the Balearic Islands and the Sardinian city of Alghero (l'Alguer). It is also spoken in parts of Aragon, Murcia, Rousillon, in southern France, although has no official status there. The language of Valencia is known as Valencian, which some Valencians argue is a separate language. Most linguists view it as a variety of Catalán.
Catalan Language Facts
The Catalán language developed by the 9th century from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern part of the Pyrenees mountains. It shares features with Gallo-Romance and Ibero-Romance, and started as a dialect of Occitan, or of Western Romance.
Catalán appeared as a distinct language during the 10th and 11th centuries. During the 12th century, Catalán began to appear in the writings of scientific, philosophical, financial, religious, legal, literary and historical documents. At that time, Latin and Provençal were the preferred languages for literary and philosophical texts.
During the 15th century, during the Valencian Golden Age, the Catalán language reached its highest cultural splendor, which was not matched again until La Renaixença, four centuries later.
In the 19th century, a period of economic, cultural and national recovery began, known as the Renaixença (Renaissance). Catalán was reborn as the language of literary culture through the Floral Games - a poetry contest and through distinguished figures such as Jacint Verdaguer, Narcís Oller and Àngel Guimerà.
The Renaixença raised awareness of the lack of unity in the use of the language (there was no model for a common written language) and of the need to draw up rules on spelling. The founding of the Institute of Catalán Studies in 1907 led to the language being codified through the publication of Spelling Rules in 1913, the Spelling Dictionary in 1917, and the Catalán Grammar by Pompeu Fabra in 1918.
After the Treaty of the Pyrenees, a royal decree by Louis XIV of France on April 2, 1700 prohibited the use of Catalán language in present-day Northern Catalonia in all official documents under the threat of being invalidated. Since then, Catalán as a language has lacked official status in that Catalán-speaking region in France.
Following the death of Franco in 1975 and the restoration of democracy, the use of Catalán increased partly because of new affirmative action and subsidy policies and the Catalán language is now used in politics, education and the Catalan media, including the newspapers Avui ("Today"), El Punt ("The Point") and El Periódico de Catalunya; and television channels.
Writing Catalan
Ever since the restoration of democratic institutions, there has been a process to re-establish the use of Catalán. It is now a co-official language, along with Spanish, in Cataluña and the Balearic Islands, and is widely used as everyday language throughout Cataluña, Valencia, Andorrra, and the Balearic Islands. Catalán is used as a medium of instruction in many schools, and is also used extensively in the media and in government.
Catalán uses the Latin alphabet.