certified latin translators?
Thread poster: Robert M Maier
Robert M Maier
Robert M Maier
Local time: 09:02
English to German
+ ...
Nov 25, 2004

Are there any *certified* translators from latin out there, I wonder?

The story behind this question is already some years old, but I still wonder:

For the entry in a German register of births, both parents were requested to bring documents concerning their academic titles. He, being German, had little troubles... she however, was not only an American citizen, but also had a PhD from... (I forget, somewhere New England; Cambridge, Mass.?) To the major concern of German
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Are there any *certified* translators from latin out there, I wonder?

The story behind this question is already some years old, but I still wonder:

For the entry in a German register of births, both parents were requested to bring documents concerning their academic titles. He, being German, had little troubles... she however, was not only an American citizen, but also had a PhD from... (I forget, somewhere New England; Cambridge, Mass.?) To the major concern of German authorities, her PhD certificate was a really representative piece - carved in wood (!), and in... Latin. They could be made to accept the unusual material, but this far-out language, as well... no. They required a legally valid translation, leaving it to the parents to find someone who could do that. In the end, they gave up and had only the father registered with his academic title... but I still wonder: who could have done that job? Could anyone? And which authorities give out these credentials?
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Adam Bartley
Adam Bartley  Identity Verified
Australia
Local time: 19:02
Member (2011)
Latin to English
+ ...
Usually a case of citing credentials Nov 25, 2004

I am familiar with this issue. I have provided 'certified' translations of degrees for the Singapore authorities. In that case, when I signed off, I cited my PhD qualification and current institution so that my identity could be verified. Hopefully a similarsolution could be fund in this case? Hope so.

 
Robert M Maier
Robert M Maier
Local time: 09:02
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Nope. Nov 25, 2004

ANB0368 wrote:
Hopefully a similar solution could be fund in this case? Hope so.


Don't think so... as far as I remember, they went totally narrow in that case (probably already miffed by the fact that they had been handed a piece of wood) and really insisted on someone who could legitimately make the official stamp on it...


 
Luisa Ramos, CT
Luisa Ramos, CT  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 04:02
English to Spanish
There are other options Nov 25, 2004

I am not sure I understood very well what happened. That said, here is my two cents. She could have obtained a certification from the university, in plain English, and have it translated, rather than presenting her diploma (in wood and in Latin in this case). An unorthodox alternative could be to take the diploma to a Catholic priest and have him translate it.

[Edited at 2004-11-25 22:18]


 
Robert M Maier
Robert M Maier
Local time: 09:02
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
been there, done that Nov 25, 2004

She could have obtained a certification from the university, in plain English, and have it translated, rather than presenting her diploma (in wood and in Latin in this case).


Actually, they had considered requesting a paper copy... but the university apparently would have handed out an additional paper copy (possibly even translated) only upon submission of the original... which would have cost lots of either time (what, and leave your child unregistered in the meantime?) or money (for flying there - which both my friends were not up to, so briefly after childbirth...).

As for the catholic priest... certainly one of these, or any of a number of other people, would have been *able* to translate the diploma... but none of these would have been a sworn court translator/interpreter for Latin, thus not entitled to place the oh-so-important stamp of authenticity under a translation from Latin, thus it is still not legally valid, and thus... no help!

(Maybe I was too brief and/or too cryptic first time around... can you now see the fix they were in?)


 
Adam Bartley
Adam Bartley  Identity Verified
Australia
Local time: 19:02
Member (2011)
Latin to English
+ ...
Latin first in Ivy league Nov 26, 2004

And in any case, at these universities a latin degree is provided in the first instance - it's not the case that one asks especially for it. A proper university stamp on the translation is usually enough for official purposes in most countries. Although I've spent my time involved with German officialdom, I think they'd probably accept something prepared by the local university seminar für klassische philologie.

Robert M Maier wrote:

She could have obtained a certification from the university, in plain English, and have it translated, rather than presenting her diploma (in wood and in Latin in this case).


Actually, they had considered requesting a paper copy... but the university apparently would have handed out an additional paper copy (possibly even translated) only upon submission of the original... which would have cost lots of either time (what, and leave your child unregistered in the meantime?) or money (for flying there - which both my friends were not up to, so briefly after childbirth...).

As for the catholic priest... certainly one of these, or any of a number of other people, would have been *able* to translate the diploma... but none of these would have been a sworn court translator/interpreter for Latin, thus not entitled to place the oh-so-important stamp of authenticity under a translation from Latin, thus it is still not legally valid, and thus... no help!

(Maybe I was too brief and/or too cryptic first time around... can you now see the fix they were in?)


 
Joseph Brazauskas
Joseph Brazauskas
United States
Local time: 04:02
Latin to English
+ ...
'Certification' in Latin Nov 3, 2007

Occasionally I have been asked to supply proof of certification in Latin, a request which I should deem humourous if it were not a matter of business. But so far as I have been able to ascertain, Spain is the only nation which issues official certifications in this language. Hence, my response is invariably that one's Latin certification consists in one's command of and experience with the language. As a Latin tutor to whom, for nearly two decades now, hundreds of students have reverted becau... See more
Occasionally I have been asked to supply proof of certification in Latin, a request which I should deem humourous if it were not a matter of business. But so far as I have been able to ascertain, Spain is the only nation which issues official certifications in this language. Hence, my response is invariably that one's Latin certification consists in one's command of and experience with the language. As a Latin tutor to whom, for nearly two decades now, hundreds of students have reverted because of the misguided preference of many instructors and professors to teach Latin as if it were a modern spoken language, I have continually experienced something between frustration and disgust. For the bulk of my tutorial work involves disabusing my students of the incorrect or unclassical morphology, syntax, and vocabulary which they have imbibed as the guinea pigs of various novel experiments on the part of such instructors. It is bad enough that the traditional Latin course has been watered down over the past generation to the point where college students majoring in Latin--and this goes doubly for those majoring in Greek--are nowadays set to labour over authors whom I had finished studying before I had even graduated from high school. Since those who are supposed to impart a sound and thorough knowledge of Latin and Greek are either insufficiently trained in these languages themselves or too pre-occupied with inflicting paedagogical experiments on their pupils to supply them with the sort of instruction that they really need in order to read and appreciate the great classical authors, I gravely doubt that there are many who are even qualified to issue such a certification. Whether one likes it or not, there is no easy road to learning Latin for most students. Consequently, I think that starting them off by spoon-feeding them faux Latin is counterproductive and merely delays their progress in the language. Once the rudiments of the language have been acquired, the student ought, in my opinion, to be presented with genuine Latin and Greek to be read, so that he or she becomes familiar with a real Latinity from the beginning. But I digress, and in any case few will heed my advice. Perhaps it is better so--at least for me, since i would be out of a job if teachers and professors did theirs properly.Collapse


 
Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz
Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 09:02
English to Polish
+ ...
25 sworn translators of Latin in Poland Jun 1, 2013

Here.

You can see no entries past very early 2005. Basically, no exception was made for dead languages when mandatory exams were introduced, and exams require both translation and interpreting from and to the language. Which basically means consecutive interpreting into Latin, as if reading Latin papers in a Polish voice ('a vista interpre
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Here.

You can see no entries past very early 2005. Basically, no exception was made for dead languages when mandatory exams were introduced, and exams require both translation and interpreting from and to the language. Which basically means consecutive interpreting into Latin, as if reading Latin papers in a Polish voice ('a vista interpreting') weren't hard enough already.

A Polish court of law could always swear in an ad casum translator. I honestly doubt those sworn translators of Latin get to stamp much. Perhaps some really ancient realty litigation. Or perhaps some Roman Rota acts (i.e. files in canon law) used for evidentiary purposes in a civil court. Oh, wait, medicine. That's probably not what one studied Virgil and Catullus for, and I bet a court might very well appoint a translator instead of just getting a doctor to decypher those records that barely contain any grammar to put the verbiage together. On the other hand, I can easily imagine a court conveniently overlooking the foreignness of the language while appoint a medical expert to deal with the documentation. In any case, I doubt there's much traffic.

For comparison, Ancient Greek has two, Hebrew seven, and Sanskrit none.
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José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 05:02
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
8 sworn translators for Latin in Brazil Jun 1, 2013

... among some 3,000 in total. Maybe there are possibly 2-4 in Rio de Janeiro State, no more than that, because their web site was down.

However we have none for Swedish and Turkish (plus a host of other languages). A suitable plain translator must be found, and then an ad-hoc appointment request must be filed. Such a request (as I was told) in the Sao Paulo State takes 3 weeks to be granted, and costs a fee equivalent to some USD 75 per document (for the request, not the translatio
... See more
... among some 3,000 in total. Maybe there are possibly 2-4 in Rio de Janeiro State, no more than that, because their web site was down.

However we have none for Swedish and Turkish (plus a host of other languages). A suitable plain translator must be found, and then an ad-hoc appointment request must be filed. Such a request (as I was told) in the Sao Paulo State takes 3 weeks to be granted, and costs a fee equivalent to some USD 75 per document (for the request, not the translation).

Once a client in Turkey had to file a certain document issued in Turkish with its Brazilian sworn translation with some Ministry in Brasília within 30 days. The only timely solution I found was for them to get a sworn translation of it into English in Turkey, legalize it at the Brazilian Consulate there, and send me via courier. Then I did a sworn translation of it from English into Portuguese, and express-mailed it to the Ministry.

So one solution would be to have this document in Latin translated into Polish by a sworn translator in Poland, and then from Polish into German by a sworn translator in Germany. If there is a sworn translator in Poland for both Latin and German, s/he could do it directly from Latin into German. However in either case this Polish sworn translation should be legalized by the Consulate of Germany in Poland.
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Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz
Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 09:02
English to Polish
+ ...
We can't, actually Jun 2, 2013

So one solution would be to have this document in Latin translated into Polish by a sworn translator in Poland, and then from Polish into German by a sworn translator in Germany. If there is a sworn translator in Poland for both Latin and German, s/he could do it directly from Latin into German. However in either case this Polish sworn translation should be legalized by the Consulate of Germany in Poland.


We can't do that, actually. Not even for Spanish and Portuguese, heck, not even Danish and Norwegian, Czech and Slovak etc. In fact, Ancient to Modern Greek would need to go through Polish.


 
Irene Elmerot
Irene Elmerot  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:02
Dutch to Swedish
+ ...
Swedish authorities accept SFÖ membership Jun 4, 2013

The Swedish authorities have often stated that "In case no certified translator (in Swedish "auktoriserad translator") exists in this languae combination, a translator with a full membership if SFÖ should be chosen".
SFÖ a member of the FIT.


 


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certified latin translators?






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