Frequency of work from Catalan to English
Thread poster: Lara Barnett
Lara Barnett
Lara Barnett  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:19
Member (2011)
French to English
+ ...
Sep 22, 2017

I am considering learning Catalan. I would rather concentrate on this than Spanish itself, which is not one of my working languages and not a language I have every learned directly (my pairs are French, Italian and Romanian into English). Does anybody know how frequently translations are required in this pair (i.e. Catalan to English)? And would it be worth investing some extra time and expense into getting this to a good level? Or is it not too in demand and possibly be a time-waster for in... See more
I am considering learning Catalan. I would rather concentrate on this than Spanish itself, which is not one of my working languages and not a language I have every learned directly (my pairs are French, Italian and Romanian into English). Does anybody know how frequently translations are required in this pair (i.e. Catalan to English)? And would it be worth investing some extra time and expense into getting this to a good level? Or is it not too in demand and possibly be a time-waster for investing in this pair?

[Edited at 2017-09-22 18:03 GMT]

[Edited at 2017-09-23 11:56 GMT]
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neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 11:19
Spanish to English
+ ...
My 2 cents Sep 23, 2017

I do offer Catalan/Valenciano translation services, but I've only ever been asked for one or two in the past fifteen years or so. There are already many good Catalan-English translators and I don't know if there is a lot of work around.
From my point of view, studying or learning Catalan without also learning Castilian Spanish would be like only learning one variant of English, i.e. limiting oneself to that particular version. Like learning Ukrainian without any knowledge of Russian. Or S
... See more
I do offer Catalan/Valenciano translation services, but I've only ever been asked for one or two in the past fifteen years or so. There are already many good Catalan-English translators and I don't know if there is a lot of work around.
From my point of view, studying or learning Catalan without also learning Castilian Spanish would be like only learning one variant of English, i.e. limiting oneself to that particular version. Like learning Ukrainian without any knowledge of Russian. Or Serbian without any knowledge of Croation or "Serbo-Croat".
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Lara Barnett
Lara Barnett  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:19
Member (2011)
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Useful 2 cents.... Sep 23, 2017

Thanks for informing me. I was just thinking about it as I recently stayed in Barcelona for a week and want to go back for a while. Spanish has never featured in my life that much and I find Catalan a lot easier than actual Castilian. And as I have a tendency to mix French and Italian into all other new languages I try to learn, I thought this option might make it easier for me. Anyhow, will consider this now you have informed me.

[Edited at 2017-09-23 12:04 GMT]


 
Danielle Easton
Danielle Easton
Spain
Local time: 11:19
Spanish to English
+ ...
Not much demand Sep 23, 2017

Hi Lara,

I think it's a nice language to learn. Like you, I know other languages that are similar which made it easier to pick up but from a translation point of view I haven't seen that much demand. The "problem" is that most Catalan texts are quickly translated into Spanish and there are so many ES>EN translators out there that the work pretty much always gets done right away. I hope that doesn't put you off learning it! I just wouldn't recommend depending on it as a source of inc
... See more
Hi Lara,

I think it's a nice language to learn. Like you, I know other languages that are similar which made it easier to pick up but from a translation point of view I haven't seen that much demand. The "problem" is that most Catalan texts are quickly translated into Spanish and there are so many ES>EN translators out there that the work pretty much always gets done right away. I hope that doesn't put you off learning it! I just wouldn't recommend depending on it as a source of income

Happy learning!

Danielle
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Iseult Harrington
Iseult Harrington  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 11:19
Spanish to English
+ ...
Agree.. Sep 23, 2017

I get regular offers of work from Catalan to English but only for medical documents, which is my main speciality area. I really haven't noticed much of a demand for other fields. It could also be harder to learn if you don't actually go to Catalonia to learn it, due to learning resources being quite limited compared to other languages. Despite actually living here, I had very little to work with in terms if vocabulary books, grammar resources. Maybe German or another more in-demand language woul... See more
I get regular offers of work from Catalan to English but only for medical documents, which is my main speciality area. I really haven't noticed much of a demand for other fields. It could also be harder to learn if you don't actually go to Catalonia to learn it, due to learning resources being quite limited compared to other languages. Despite actually living here, I had very little to work with in terms if vocabulary books, grammar resources. Maybe German or another more in-demand language would be a wiser time investment. ..just my 2 cents

[Edited at 2017-09-23 16:45 GMT]

[Edited at 2017-09-23 22:15 GMT]
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Vanda Nissen
Vanda Nissen  Identity Verified
Australia
Local time: 20:19
Member (2008)
English to Russian
+ ...
Sorry, what is wrong with learning Ukrainian before Russian? Sep 23, 2017

neilmac wrote:

Like learning Ukrainian without any knowledge of Russian. Or Serbian without any knowledge of Croation or "Serbo-Croat".


I do not know how it works with Catalan and English, but Ukrainian is not a dialect, it is an independent language, one can easily start learning it from scratch, no prior knowledge of Russian is required. It is true though that if you know at least one of the Slavic languages, it would be easier for you to learn the other ones because grammars are very similar.

By the way, it is Croatian, and it is not true that you must start with Croatian in order to learn Serbian, you can do the other way around.


 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 11:19
Spanish to English
+ ...
Clarification Sep 25, 2017

Vanda Nissen wrote:

neilmac wrote:

Like learning Ukrainian without any knowledge of Russian. Or Serbian without any knowledge of Croation or "Serbo-Croat".


I do not know how it works with Catalan and English, but Ukrainian is not a dialect, it is an independent language, one can easily start learning it from scratch, no prior knowledge of Russian is required. It is true though that if you know at least one of the Slavic languages, it would be easier for you to learn the other ones because grammars are very similar.

By the way, it is Croatian, and it is not true that you must start with Croatian in order to learn Serbian, you can do the other way around.


I'm sorry if my original post wasn't quite clear.

1.- Excuse the typo in Croatian.
2.- I never claimed Ukrainian was a dialect.
3.- What I meant with these comments is that for someone coming from a non-Slavonic language background, it is probably better to study them as a group, partly because of the similar grammar structures you mention. For example, when I studied Russian we had the option of studying other related languages as well (I chose Polish).


 


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Frequency of work from Catalan to English






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