Latin Translation from Classical Turns

 

Latin and Ancient Greek are languages renowned not only for their beauty but also for their difficulty, and learning them has long been recognised as a task requiring hard and dedicated toil. Nevertheless, good dictionaries of both of these languages exist, and a decent amount of information is available online, so why need anyone opt for professional help? Here are six of the primary reasons why a human Latin translator is very much required, and why contacting Classical Turns should be strongly considered for clear, concise and, most importantly, correct results, especially as an English - Latin translator.

 

 

 

 

II)      No reliable alternative exists. Given that Latin and Greek are languages that possess a diverse vocabulary like any other tongue which has been studied closely for many centuries, reliable dictionaries exist for both languages, in print and (to a lesser extent) online. Nevertheless, a number of significant dangers exist with these tools, and they can only be used with sufficient experience. Consider just three:

(a)   Historic use of a word. While it may be possible to find the Latin or Greek word that you want provided with a reliable translation in a respectable dictionary, it is not necessarily the case that your choice of word is a good one: most particularly, it may well be that you are using an extremely rare word that was not used at the time that Classical Greece or Rome were flourishing but many centuries later, or perhaps was employed only by one single author in a very specific context. This may not be perceived to be a problem but we must remember that a man who should choose in English to say "kine" or "yclept" instead of "cattle" or "named" would  presumably be thought a rather curious character. The same can be true if an inappropriate word is chosen at random from a Latin or Greek dictionary.

(b)  Importance of grammar. Even if one succeeds in carefully selecting the right word or words, both Latin and Greek almost always require further modifications to these words in order to produce meaningful phrases or sentences: without the correct forms and endings applied to these words, the end result will be a list of words that do not function together. Let us choose an example for translation into Latin: "fine wines will be pleasing to all". If one found the appropriate words in a dictionary and put them into a sentence without any knowledge of how the Latin language works, the result would probably be optimus uinum placeo ad omnis, a meaningless series of words. In fact, the desired form of the sentence would actually require every one of these words to change: optima uina placebunt omnibus. To learn the full range of rules regarding Latin and Greek grammar and syntax takes a good deal of time and effort; Classical Turns, by contrast, offers to provide expert results in this field with a high-speed return.

(c)   Online translation programs do not work. Before finding your way to this website, you may have noticed that a wide range of Latin / Greek-to-English or English-to-Latin / Greek online computer programs and downloadable software appears to exist. This is true, but it can be said with certainty that these tools are almost useless to everyone, since they have been designed for use with modern, less complex, languages: even major sites such as Google Language Tools and Babelfish fail to provide reliable results in this department. Firstly, the supposedly 'Greek' translators can be dismissed, as they all concern Modern Greek, not its distant ancestor Ancient Greek; no automatic translation program exists for the Greek language of the ancient world. Secondly, these programs work simply by combing small dictionaries that have had their contents digitalised: although they can provide translation of a single word (a good example of which is offered by the University of Notre Dame) the Latin result requires diligent checking with a dictionary to ensure that it is appropriate, and is not itself a typographical error. Thirdly, for any instance involving a phrase, or a word more complicated than one noun, the translator (or rather crude word converter) will not be able to produce correct Latin. Instead, a string of words as mentioned above in (b) will be returned: turning again to our example of "fine wines will be pleasing to all", entering this into the most popular Latin translator online gives the bizarre conversion teres uinum ero gratus ut totus (!), which could only mean "thin wine I will be welcome as a whole". We have seen in (b) how different the correct translation is, namely optima uina placebunt omnibus. No matter what self-service program you find advertised online, whether you are translating into or out of Latin, it is very likely indeed to provide you with something definitively wrong. This is unfortunate in itself but, when applied in the most personal of contexts, for instance in a bodily tattoo, the results can be spectacularly incorrect.

 

III)  Professional experience. Classical Turns provides a professional service dedicated to the Latin and Greek languages from a scholar who has over a dozen years' experience working with these languages and who teaches them on a daily basis at t world-leading university. For more about the figure behind the service and his previous experience in translation, please see the section About Classical Turns.

 

IV)  Speed of service. Classical Turns offers an unparalleled speed of translation: any shorter translation request (of fewer than 100 words) is typically returned within 24 hours. If the 'High Priority' option is selected, short translations are returned between 1 and 8 hours (from receipt betweeen 0700 and 0000 GMT). For longer requests, your translation will be addressed at a consistently dedicated pace that nevertheless ensures results of the highest standard. For further details, please see the Turnaround page. For more complicated matters relating to branding and the selection of commercial names, which require dialogue (and often one or more meetings in person), Classical Turns is happy to operate at the desired speed of the client.

 

V)  Cost of service. Classical Turns provides the cheapest translation fees available anywhere online nor has it yet found cheaper rates offered in person: for as little as £7 or $10, a short phrase can be translated into Latin or Ancient Greek; for translation into English, fees begin at £4 or $6. For longer projects, rates continue to be attractively low, and are yet cheaper for the translation out of the Classical languages into English. United with its speed and reliability, the competitive cost of the service renders Classical Turns the most natural choice for those in need of professional translation assistance or naming consultancy: it need hardly be said that this service cannot be done swiftly and reliably for free. For more information about the prices for the various services offered by Classical Turns, see Rates.

VI)  Confidence in Classical Turns. Customers and clients can have the utmost confidence in the accuracy and veracity of the translations and linguistic advice offered by Classical Turns. Furthermore, information can be given regarding the Classical pronunciation of any translation given, and for a small surcharge an audio file of any translation can be offered. Not once has Classical Turns received complaints from a dissatisfied customer, nor has any project ever been turned down as too difficult or demanding. In short, Classical Turns guarantees a clear, correct and competitively costed return for any project submitted.

 

For any further queries about why Classical Turns deserves your consideration, and why it has been selected as the best online translator by hundreds of customers, please make direct contact by Email or use the contact form.