Frisian Interpreter

Prism Language Solutions arranges West Frisian interpreters for court hearings and depositions, medical appointments and USCIS interviews anywhere in the United States, almost always by video or phone. The first question is which language the person wants to use, because a family from Fryslân may be just as comfortable in Dutch, and when Frisian is the answer we send a native Frisian speaker who also works in Dutch.

West Frisian is spoken by around 470,000 people, most of them in the province of Fryslân in the northern Netherlands, where it has had official status equal to Dutch since 1956. It is not a dialect of Dutch. It is closer in origin to English than Dutch is, and a Dutch interpreter who has never heard it will catch fragments and guess at the rest.

• 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

Frisian Interpreter or Dutch Interpreter: Deciding Which

The paperwork a family from Fryslân holds is written in Dutch, or in Dutch and Frisian together, and the person may be entirely comfortable being interviewed in Dutch. Ask them. If Dutch is the answer, book a Dutch interpreter, who is easier to place and more likely to be available in person.

If the answer is Frisian, that choice deserves respect, especially where the speaker’s own words are the evidence or the diagnosis. Under stress, or late in life, the language of childhood may be the one a person reaches for, and for someone from a village near Snits or Dokkum that language may well be Frisian.

Frisian Court Interpreter Qualification

Frisian is not tested by any US state court certification program, so qualification happens on the record, and we send the court the interpreter’s background before the hearing. Frisian is the sort of language a court turns to an agency for when its own list has nobody.

One point worth knowing before a deposition: testimony in Frisian can switch into Dutch mid-sentence, with Dutch words or whole Dutch clauses inside the Frisian. An interpreter who has only one of the two languages will miss what happens at the switch, so every Frisian interpreter we assign works in both. See court interpreting.

Clay and Wood Frisian Interpreter Matching

The two most widely spoken varieties are Clay Frisian and Wood Frisian, named after the clay and wooded countryside where each is spoken. They differ noticeably in some pronouns and diphthongs, but native speakers understand one another, so a fluent Frisian interpreter covers both. If the person comes from somewhere with strongly local speech, tell us the town, and we will say honestly how close a match we can find.

Frisian Medical Interpreter by Video

Federally funded hospitals must give the patient free language assistance, in Frisian as in anything else. The call we get comes from a ward with an older patient on a Dutch passport whose family explains that their mother has gone back to Frisian. A Frisian interpreter joined by video remote interpreting meets that need far better than a Dutch-speaking nurse who follows half. For consent, capacity or end-of-life conversations, precision in the first language matters most, and video at the bedside is a sound option when a person in the room is not possible. See medical interpreting.

Frisian Interpreter for USCIS Interviews and Documents

An applicant from Fryslân may choose Dutch or English at a USCIS interview. When the applicant asks for Frisian, we provide it, and the interpreter signs the interpreter declaration with the applicant at the interview and renders every answer as spoken. Ask the attorney to check ahead with the field office on how a remote interpreter will be handled. See USCIS interview interpreting.

Since 2014 Dutch law has required civil status records in Fryslân to be drawn up in both Frisian and Dutch, so a birth certificate from Ljouwert is a bilingual document. Our Frisian translation service handles both halves.

Frisian Interpreting Cost and Lead Time

Remote Frisian sessions are quoted by the hour or by the session; allow a few business days. Because a Frisian interpreter able to attend in person is rare in this country, we promise one only after confirming availability, and the on-site guide range is $45 to $95 an hour with a two-hour minimum, plus travel.

Frisian enquiries go through the quote form or to +1 (833) 282 8883, with the setting, date, time zone and length. Your fixed written quote arrives within 60 minutes in business hours, and guide figures appear on the pricing page.

Questions we get asked