On this 239th American Independence Day, we got to thinking about the language diversity of our founding fathers. We found some interesting information and wanted to share it with you. Oh, and Happy Independence Day to the United States of America!

Did you know?

The U.S. Constitution was written in English with splashes of Latin throughout the document, which was and continues to be consistent with legal documents. Due to international interest in the U.S. Constitution, it was almost immediately translated into French and most certainly has been translated into over 200 languages throughout the history of the United States.

John Dunlap‘s Pennsylvania Packet was the first newspaper to publish the U.S. Constitution. Dunlap, together with David Claypoole, also printed the Declaration of Independence and the Committee of Detail Report.

The U.S. Constitution was published in German immediately after the signing to accommodate the inhabitants of Germantown and Lancaster. On September 24, 1787, the Pennsylvania Assembly authorized Dunlap to publish 3000 copies of the Constitution in English, and 500 in German, at an estimated cost of $1500.

INGCO International provides document translation, on-site interpreting and global marketing in 200+ languages across the world. We look forward to working on your next multilingual project soon!