Damara Translation Services

Damara is the west-central variety of Khoekhoegowab, the click language of Namibia, and it is one of the smallest services on this site. Namibia issues its certificates in English, so there is almost never a Damara document to translate. What Prism Language Solutions actually does here is handle the click-letter names inside English and Afrikaans records, certify the Damara statements and letters that sit beside them, and put a Damara interpreter on a video link for a hearing or a clinic.

Last reviewed September 12, 2026 by Sarah J, Prism Language Solutions

We will not inflate this. The Namibian community in the United States is small, most of its members are fluent in English, and a Damara request reaches us a few times a year rather than a few times a week. When it does, it is because somebody has already tried the usual providers and been told the language is not on their list.

• 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

Namibian Records in a Damara File Are Printed in English

English has been the sole official language of Namibia since independence in 1990, under Article 3 of the Constitution. Birth, marriage and death certificates and the national identity document are issued in English by the ministry responsible for civil registration, and USCIS takes them as they are. If you have been quoted for a Damara translation of a Namibian birth certificate, ask what exactly is being translated.

Two things in a Namibian file genuinely do need work. Records made before 1990 can be in Afrikaans, which was one of the three official languages of the territory under South African administration alongside English and German. And any handwritten Damara in the bundle, a declaration, a letter, a church entry, needs a Khoekhoegowab translator. See Afrikaans translation for the first and certified translation for the certificate itself.

Click Letters in a Damara Name on a Certified Translation

Here is the piece of the job that belongs to Khoekhoegowab alone, and that US systems handle worst. The language writes its four clicks with the letters ǀ, ǁ, ǂ and ǃ, and a Damara surname or place name can begin with one. Namibia's ǁKharas region is spelled that way on official maps. A US form, a case management system or an airline booking engine will not accept those characters, so somewhere between Windhoek and the field office a name gets rewritten.

The result is predictable: the Namibian record shows one spelling, the passport another, and an adjudicator reads two people. Our approach is to reproduce the click letter exactly as the original prints it, set the passport spelling alongside, and state in a translator's note that the two are the same name written in two systems. Guessing which one to use, or quietly deleting the click, is how a file earns a Request for Evidence.

Damara Affidavits and Letters as Secondary Evidence

Where a Namibian record is missing, the substitute is the same as anywhere: secondary evidence under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(2), which allows affidavits from people with direct personal knowledge where a required document does not exist or cannot be obtained. For a Damara family that usually means a sworn statement from a relative, a church baptismal entry, or a letter from a community figure confirming a birth or a marriage.

Those are translated in full rather than summarized, with the writer's name, place and date rendered as written and any click letters preserved. A partial or paraphrased translation of a supporting statement invites exactly the query the statement was meant to answer.

Damara Interpreters by Video for Courts, Clinics and USCIS

For a language this rare, remote delivery is the service rather than a fallback. A phone line covers a benefits call or a short conversation with an elderly relative. Video suits a hearing, a consent discussion or a USCIS interview joined remotely where the office allows it, because the interpreter can see the speaker and the documents.

A Namibian under fifty has been schooled in English and usually does not need us at all. The Damara interpreter is for the generation above, and for the moment when a medical history or a witness account has to be given in the language the person thinks in. A hospital receiving federal financial assistance carries language assistance duties under 45 CFR 92.201, so the interpreter costs the patient nothing. No state certifies court interpreters in Damara, so a judge qualifies the interpreter on the record. See video remote interpreting and court interpreting.

Notice and Cost on a Damara Translation or Interpreting Booking

Give us as much notice as the matter allows, and tell us where in Namibia the speaker grew up. We would rather say plainly that we need a few days than send the wrong variety of Khoekhoegowab to a hearing. A short certified item starts from around $24.95 per page as a US market guide, running text is quoted by the source word, interpreting is quoted by session. Figures are on the pricing page.

Questions we get asked