Italian may be the official language of Italy, but the southern European country’s linguistic landscape isn’t quite that clear-cut. Italian is just one of dozens of vernaculars that developed from the Vulgar Latin spoken across modern-day Italy, so while it’s used nationwide in education, administration, and media, many Italians actually speak a separate Romance language at home. These languages are usually so similar to Italian that they’re politically classified as dialects, but not all of Italy’s minority languages are so similar to the national language. One prominent example is Griko.
If you thought “Griko” sounds an awful lot like “Greek,” you’d be right—Griko is Italy’s very own Greek-based minority language, spoken today by around 20,000 native speakers and about 40,000 to 50,000 second-language speakers. Griko is similar enough to modern-day Greek that they share partial mutual intelligibility, but Griko’s vitality is under severe threat, with Grikos effectively forced to learn Italian to participate in society. Over the past century, Grikos have cultivated a fierce sense of ethnic pride, which has helped slow the erosion of the Griko language, but unfortunately, few translation services exist for the endangered tongue. So, we at TranslationServices.com decided to compile our own Griko translation team to serve this culturally important language.
How much do our Griko translation services cost? You can find out by requesting a free quote!
An exploration of Griko, a Greek-derived language in Italy
Italy is home to two different Griko-speaking communities: one in Apulia and the other in Calabria. The Calabrian Griko community numbers only 2,000 people, mostly living in Bovesia. The Apulian Griko community, however, has more than 40,000 members, spread out across several small towns in the Grecìa Salentina region. Grecìa Salentina in particular is relatively prominent, with Griko music and poetry popular both in Italy and Greece.
Griko is similar enough to Greek that native speakers of the two languages can somewhat understand each other without any training, but Griko has, naturally, received considerable influence from Italian and the minority Romance languages of the region. However, Griko has also preserved various features of Ancient Greek that have disappeared from the Greek spoken in modern-day Greece, with Griko more closely resembling Ancient Greek in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar alike than modern-day Greek. Griko also exhibits features of Koine Greek and Byzantine Greek, major forms of Greek that flourished after Ancient Greek. Clearly, Griko is a cultural treasure of Italy and Greece alike.
We’re proud to support the Griko language with our translation services.
Lamentably, most translation services overlook Griko—they translate Italian and Greek, but they skip this culturally important minority language. At TranslationServices.com, however, we translate minor languages in addition to the major ones, and that’s why we’re proud to present our Griko translation team. Made up of native Griko speakers from both Apulia and Calabria, our team provides high-quality translation services both from English to Griko and from Griko to English. With our translators’ passion for their unique language driving their tireless effort toward quality, you can rest assured your translation project is in good hands.
Whether you want Griko translation services for business purposes, academic grounds, cultural reasons, or personal objectives, you can count on our Griko translation team. We can help your business produce promotional materials in Griko, which can serve as a unique marketing campaign in Grecìa Salentina, or we can aid educators in translating educational material into Griko to procure a native-language education for Griko children. We can translate Griko songs, stories, and other rich cultural artifacts into English, helping share this vibrant culture with the world and increasing appreciation for it. We can also translate entertainment content from English to Griko—everything from novels, stories, and poems to websites, games, and apps—to help promote Griko and make it easier for speakers and learners alike to proudly carry it into the future.
Our Griko translators are ready to help anyone interested in Griko translation services. Message us today to tell us what you’d like!