Assyrian Interpreter

Prism Language Solutions supplies Assyrian (Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, or Sureth) interpreters for asylum and USCIS interviews, immigration and state court hearings and medical appointments nationwide, in person where a linguist is based near the venue and by phone or video everywhere else. We ask the family's church and home region before assigning, so the interpreter speaks the variety the client grew up with rather than an Arabic or Persian substitute.

Assyrian is the English name speakers use for their Aramaic language; among themselves they call it Sureth. It runs as a chain of related dialects from the Nineveh Plain in northern Iraq to Urmia in northwestern Iran, with communities that also came from northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey. The 2020 Census counted about 119,000 people reporting Assyrian, Chaldean or Syriac ancestry, with Illinois, Michigan and California holding the largest numbers.

• Certified translations prepared to meet USCIS requirements
• Human linguists only, matched to the subject
• Fixed written quote within 60 minutes in business hours
• One office in New York, linguists in every state

Assyrian Interpreter in Chicago, Detroit and California

Chicago has the largest Assyrian community in the country, with metro Detroit, the Central Valley towns of Modesto and Turlock, San Diego County and Phoenix also carrying sizable populations. In those areas an in-person Assyrian interpreter is often available with a few days of notice, and we assign someone based near the court, clinic or asylum office rather than flying anyone in.

Outside those centers, video is the practical answer, and it works well for most interviews and appointments. The company works from a single New York office, while its Assyrian interpreters live where the families do. For hospital and court rooms that need someone physically present, see on-site interpreting.

Iraqi Koine or Urmian: Matching the Assyrian Interpreter

Assyrian dialects are broadly understood across the community, and the Iraqi koine and the Urmian standard are the two most widely known. Still, vocabulary borrowed from Arabic on the Iraqi side and from Persian on the Iranian side can trip up an interpreter from the other end of the chain, especially when a witness is tired or upset. We ask where the family is from and match as closely as the calendar allows.

Two neighboring bookings get mixed up with this one. Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, spoken by Chaldean Catholic families from the Nineveh Plain, is close enough that an interpreter in one usually serves the other, and we tell you when we are relying on that; see Chaldean interpreter. The Aramaic of Syriac Orthodox families from Tur Abdin, Turoyo, is a different language and is covered on our Aramaic interpreter page.

Assyrian Asylum Interpreter for Iraqi and Iranian Christians

Assyrian asylum claims tend to rest on particulars: what happened to a church or a shop in Mosul in 2014, a relative who was taken, a threat delivered at a checkpoint. The applicant names villages, parishes and family members that an Arabic interpreter will flatten or skip. An Assyrian interpreter keeps those names intact and renders the account as told, including repetitions, pauses and corrections.

Applicants must supply their own interpreter for an affirmative interview at the asylum office. The regulation, 8 CFR 208.9(g), requires that person to be at least 18 and fluent in both languages, and excludes the applicant's attorney, representative and witnesses and any employee of their government. We send an independent Sureth speaker with interview experience. See USCIS interview interpreting for naturalization and adjustment interviews too.

Assyrian Court Interpreter Without a Certification Exam

Assyrian is not a language any state tests for court certification, Illinois and Michigan included. The judge therefore examines the interpreter on the record and decides whether they are qualified, which is standard for a language with no exam. We give the clerk or counsel the interpreter's background, dialect and courtroom experience ahead of the hearing.

Immigration cases are the largest share: the court supplies its own interpreter at the hearing, so attorneys book us for preparation sessions, declaration review and detention visits. State court requests come from criminal and family matters, protective orders and depositions in the communities where Assyrian families are concentrated. More detail on the court interpreting page.

Assyrian Medical Interpreter Instead of an Arabic Line

Hospitals see an Iraqi address and reach for the Arabic phone line. That works for a patient who is comfortable in Arabic. It fails a patient from an Urmia village who never learned it, and it can fail an Iraqi patient who has school Arabic and no wish to discuss a cancer diagnosis in it. Ask which language the patient wants before the appointment, not during it.

Federally funded providers owe that patient language assistance free of charge, and the rule limits the use of accompanying family members to emergencies or cases where the patient asks for it. Diagnosis conversations, surgical consent, dialysis teaching and end-of-life planning get an Assyrian interpreter in the room whenever one is within reach, and routine follow-ups run by video.

Assyrian Interpreter Rates and How to Book

In-person Assyrian interpreting typically runs $45 to $95 an hour in the US market, with a two-hour minimum; phone and video are billed in shorter increments. Those are guide ranges from our pricing page, and the written quote you receive is the actual price.

Assyrian bookings go through the quote form: add the date, venue, expected length, setting, and the family's church and town of origin. Expect a fixed price within 60 minutes during business hours; the intake desk takes urgent calls around the clock on +1 (833) 282 8883. For the Syriac-script church certificates and the Arabic or Persian civil records that sit in most Assyrian files, see Assyrian translation.

Questions we get asked