Language Scientific’s Romansch Translation Services

Language Scientific provides high quality Romansch translation services, supplying technical, medical and scientific translation, localization and interpreting into and out of Romansch. We are a US-based language services company serving over 1,500 global corporations. Our specialization, focus, industry-leading quality management standards and customer-centered attitude have earned us the trust of many of the world’s best technology, engineering, bio-medical and pharmaceutical companies.

Language Scientific has two divisions—Technical and Engineering Localization and Translation Services Division and Medical and Pharmaceutical Localization and Translation Services Division. Both groups provide a full range of Romansch language services including:

We offer a unique depth of subject-matter expertise via our Advanced Scientific Knowledge network (ASKnetwork™) and globalization know-how for companies in the Aerospace & Defense, Chemical, Clinical Research, Energy, Healthcare, Industrial Manufacturing, Medical Device, Pharmaceutical, Technology and related industries. Our ASKnetwork™ of over 6,000 specialists comprises multilingual engineers, doctors and scientists working in over 75 countries on 5 continents.

Language Scientific’s unique Accreditation Program for Technical and Medical Translators, along with a rigorous Quality Management System, ensures the quality standards that our clients have come to depend on. Language Scientific’s Quality Management System is ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 17100:2015 certified..

At Language Scientific, we are driven by the mission to set the new Standard of Quality for technical translation and localization. It is this mission that drives our success and sets us apart as a company. When you need precise global communication, Language Scientific is the clear choice.

Romansch Language Statistics/Facts:

The Romansch language has many names, it is sometimes spelled Romansh, Rumants or Romanche, and is also referred to as Rumantsch, Rumauntsch and Romontsch. Germans call this language Rätoromanisch, and Italians call it Romancio.

Romansch is one of the Rhaeto-Romance languages believed to have descended from the Vulgar Latin variety spoken by Roman era occupiers of the region. Romansch is closely related to French, Occitan and Lombard, as well as other Romance languages to a lesser extent.

Romansch is one of the four national languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian and French. As of the 2000 Swiss Census, Romansch was spoken by 50,000-70,000 residents of the canton of Graubünden (Grisons) as the language of “best command,” and 61,815 in the “best command” plus “most spoken” categories. Romansch is spoken now by around 0.9% of Switzerland’s 7.7 million inhabitants, it is Switzerland’s least-used national language in terms of number of speakers.

Romansch Dialects:

DialectRegion
SursilvanVorderrhein (Rain anteriur) valley, including the Val Lumnezia, Foppa, and Cadi, Surselva region
SutsilvanHinterrhein (Rain posteriur) valley, including Plaun, Heinzenberg, Domleschg, and Schams.
SurmiranJulia and Albula valleys, including Surses and Sutses
PutèrUpper Engadine valley (Engiadin’ Ota) west of Zernez
ValladerLower Engadine valley (Engiadina Bassa) and the Val Müstair

Countries where Romansch is spoken:

  • Austria
  • Hungary
  • Luxembourg
  • Romania
  • Belgium
  • Italy
  • Namibia
  • Switzerland
  • Germany
  • Liechtenstein
  • Poland
  • United States

Romansch-Speaking Country Data:

Country: Switzerland

Capital: Bern
Population: 8,236,303
Federal Republic: President Johann Schneider-Ammann
Currency: Swiss Franc
GDP (ppp): $59,600
Unemployment: 3.3%
Government Type: Federal Republic
Industries: Machinery, chemicals, watches, textiles, precision instruments, tourism, banking, insurance

Country: Germany

Capital: Berlin
Population: 80,594,017
Federal Parliamentary Republic: President Joachim Gauck and Chancellor Angela Merkel
Currency: Euro
GDP (ppp): $48,100
Unemployment: 4.3%
Government Type: Federal Parliamentary Republic
Industries: World’s 4th largest economy by nominal GDP and 5th largest by purchasing power parity. It is the 3rd largest exporter and 3rd largest importer of goods. Focus on engineering, chemical, pharmaceutical, solar energy, financial services, tourism, manufacturing, iron and steel, automotive, ships, electrical engineering products and tools

Country: France

Capital: Paris
Population: 67,106,161
Semi-Presidential Republic: President François Hollande and Prime Minister Manuele Valls
Currency: Euro
GDP (ppp): $42,300
Unemployment: 9.7 %
Government Type: Semi-Presidential Republic
Industries: Machinery and equipment, aircraft, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, iron and steel, beverages

Romansch History

The origins of the Romansch people is unclear. Archaeological evidence shows the influence of Illyrian, Celtic, and Etruscan cultures. Although the Roman occupation that began in 15 BC brought vernacular Latin to a wide territory, the geographical isolation of the Romansch territory permitted it to develop into a separate dialect—and later a distinct language in its own right—rather rapidly.

The ancient territory of the Romansch was called Raetia, which consisted of the modern canton of Graubunden, as well as eastern Switzerland south of Lake Constance, a large portion of the Tirol, and part of northern Lombardy. Its Capital was at Chur. The Raetians were cattle breeders and timber cutters for the most part, though they practiced agriculture as well.

In the 5th and 6th century AD, Roman authority went into decline and the government of the region passed to the duchy of Alemannia. The Frankish kings spent the period from the 6th to 9th centuries attempting to secure control over this territory, as well as the lands of Swabia. Raetia’s importance to the Franks lay in the fact that its capital commanded the eastern access routes to Italy—thus it was of strategic as well as economic concern.

In the 10th century, German kings began to try to take control of this region. By the 1300s, Raetia belonged entirely to German rule and was split into territories. Some of these territories came under the rule of feudal lords, others under the authority of ecclesiastics (e.g., the bishopric of Chur). During this time, a number of autonomous peasant communities in the region grouped together to form the Gray League (Grau Bund or Grisons), the League of God’s House (Gotteshausbund), and the League of the Ten Jurisdictions, all three of which formed a confederated republic that allied itself with the Swiss Confederacy. These three groups became known as the “Gray Leagues” (French “Grisons” or German “Graubunden”), from which the name of the modern Romansch territory is derived.

The period of German control over the Raetia region caused a serious setback for the Romansch language, because the language of the rulers supplanted the local tongues in literature and official business. However, the provincial autonomy maintained in the area of the “Gray Leagues” served to preserve large pockets of Romansch speakers. The “Gray Leagues” were militant against government suppression of the Romansch language. Romansch is now listed as one of the four national languages of Switzerland (along with German, French, and Italian), although it does not have official language status.

The written form of Romansch dates from the sixteenth century. The first printed books in Romansch appeared during the Reformation and show the religious concerns of that era. The earliest printed works in Romansch were Bible translations, hymnals, religious tracts, and prayer books. It was not until the later nineteenth century that the Romansch language established a strong secular literary tradition, a movement largely inspired by concerns that German and Italian were beginning to supplant the Romansch language through the incursion of their idioms.

By the early 1900s, a great effort was made to preserve the oral traditions, folk customs, music and other cultural elements of the Romansch past. It became an important enterprise among historians and linguists to develop dictionaries and grammars for Romansch in order to preserve its linguistic integrity. This has since been followed by a revival of the use of Romansch in the development of contemporary literature, particularly in the realm of poetry.

Romansch is taught in primary schools, but the only language of instruction at the secondary level is German. Biweekly newspapers are published in Romansch and its linguistic relative, Ladin, and there is a church-produced weekly (La Casa Paterna), but there are no daily newspapers published in the language.

Recently, the efforts of scholars to preserve the folk culture and oral traditions of the Romansch have been largely replaced by efforts to establish and develop a lively contemporary literature. It has become more important to the Romansch people to preserve their autonomy and to develop in today’s world than to preserve some idealized version of past cultural practice, and the Swiss federal government has shown a willingness to respect these goals.