TransMission Translations

	Overview
	Real Academia
	The Standard
	A Soaring Market

Spanish orthography, translation tool The Real Academia Española (Spanish Royal Academy) is the official body dedicated to the defense of the Spanish language. Its linguistic judgements are respected and followed all around the Spanish-speaking world. Although the RAE is based in Spain, its normative publications embrace the criteria of all 22 official Spanish language academies around the world—including academies in Asia (Philippines), South America and North America (the Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española in the USA). Similar to Webster and Oxford in the English speaking world, RAE guidelines are commonly accepted as the definitive authoritative source in the Spanish-speaking world, and in this respect it is a unique and supreme arbiter. Some of the RAE's chief works are a Spanish Grammar, the famed Diccionario de la Lengua Española—the first edition of which dates back to 1726—, and a Spanish Orthography. The Diccionario de la Lengua Española, compiled and approved by the academies of all 22 Spanish-speaking countries, is a basic reference source for any Spanish translator. Indeed, if the main linguistic authorities of these 22 countries have supplied us with such a wonderful tool, why not use it? In the Prologue to the latest edition of the Orthography (July 1999), signed by all 22 academies, the need for an International Spanish is stressed. One can conclude that if we apply it, our translations will be considered satisfactory in these 22 countries.