<h2>Tagalog Language Interpreters and Translators</h2>
Tagalog interpreting and translating services are highly sought in California due to the high number of Tagalog speaking persons in California, compounded by the extremely limited number of court certified interpreters in the state. Cal Interpreting &amp; Translations (CIT) offers interpreters and translators in all 100 + languages and dialects of the Philippines, including Tagalog, Filipino, Cebuano, and Ilocano.  We offer California court-certified Tagalog language interpreters and translators with legal, medical, and specialty experience, including criminal and civil matters, employee meetings, engineering, patent cases, labor disputes, immigration, and more.

CIT offers comprehensive Tagalog language services including interpretation, translation, and transcription, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, worldwide. Our interpreters and translators are native speakers who have been screened, certified, provided credentials, field tested, and kept up to date with developments in both English and Tagalog languages through means such as lectures, conferences, and travel.  Cal Interpreting &amp; Translations’ Tagalog language interpreters and translators possess in depth knowledge of the Tagalog language, as well as of Filipino culture and history, allowing them to provide informed and complete interpretation and translation.
<h2>What is the difference between Tagalog and Filipino?</h2>
Often times this question is dismissed out of hand by less attentive interpreting agencies. It is often asserted that these language terms are not indicative of serious differences, since native speakers of both languages are able to understand each other in conversation.

However, Cal Interpreting &amp; Translations is aware that technical translations always call for more precise language, necessitating that we be more sensitive about whether to use Tagalog or Filipino. In order to understand the difference between the two languages, we must first understand the history of the evolution of the national language from Tagalog to Filipino.
<h2>An evolving linguistic history</h2>
The national language of the Philippines is Filipino, which is Tagalog based. While Tagalog is only spoken in the capital city of Manila and its neighboring areas, Tagalog has existed as the lingua franca of the Philippines since the 1930s. In the 1930s the Commonwealth Constitution of the Philippines was drafted. This constitution did not specify a national language, and therefore Tagalog became the de facto national language, as it was understood by inhabitants of the entirety of the Philippine islands.

When a new constitution was issued in 1970, a new national language was introduced- Pilipino. Newly coined words and expressions were added to the Tagalog vocabulary, replacing words of foreign origins. This program failed, as the old vocabulary was already deeply seated in the daily lives and conversations of the Filipino people.

In the 1980s, a new constitution was ratified, which labeled the national language as Filipino. The goal of this new national language was to accommodate Filipino people’s preference for multiple existing words that were derived from English and Spanish words. Because of this, the formerly non-native letters and speech sounds c, ch, f, j, x, and z were introduced into the Filipino alphabet.
<h2>So… what’s the difference?</h2>
The notable difference between Filipino and Tagalog is that Filipino is more inclusive and all-encompassing, as it incorporates contributions from other languages besides Tagalog. For example, in Filipino, the correct translation of the word ‘dictionary’ is <em>diksyunaryo, </em>derived from the Spanish <em>diccionario</em>. Tagalog purists would insist on <em>talatinigan </em>as the translation for dictionary. Though this translation is indigenous to Tagalog speaking regions, it is considered more politically appropriate to use Filipino than Tagalog. As an unwritten rule in translation practices, words that have been universally used for long periods of time in the Tagalog regions are safe to be classified as Tagalog. Modern words and other borrowings are distinguished as Filipino.

As you can see, the language history of the over 7,000 islands that make up the archipelago of the Philippines is extensive and complex, and Cal Interpreting &amp; Translations takes great pains to ensure that we always provide you and your clients with the most accurate and up to date translation, transcription, and interpretation services.