Kurdish Interpreter

Prism Language Solutions supplies Kurdish interpreters for asylum and USCIS interviews, immigration and state court hearings, depositions and medical appointments nationwide, in person, by phone and by video. Kurdish is booked by variety, Kurmanji or Sorani, so tell us the country and region the speaker comes from and we assign an interpreter for that variety rather than a general Kurdish speaker.

Kurdish is an umbrella over two main spoken varieties that part company in grammar, vocabulary and alphabet. Kurmanji, or Northern Kurdish, is the Kurdish of southeast Turkey, northern Syria and the Duhok area of Iraq, and is written in Latin letters. Sorani, or Central Kurdish, is the Kurdish of Erbil and Sulaymaniyah and of Kurdish Iran, written in an Arabic-based script. A Sorani interpreter facing a Kurmanji witness under cross-examination loses detail, and so does the reverse. Nobody else in the room can tell it is happening.

• 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

Kurdish Interpreter for Asylum Interviews and Immigration Court

Most Kurdish interpreting we arrange sits in immigration: affirmative asylum interviews, credible fear interviews, merits hearings, and the attorney meetings that prepare for them. The accounts turn on chronology and geography, such as which armed group held a town in which year, the checkpoint where an arrest happened, the date a relative disappeared. An interpreter who converts a Kurdish village name into its Arabic or Turkish official form, or tidies an answer that sounds inconsistent, has altered the record.

The asylum office no longer supplies one: under the USCIS rule in force since September 13, 2023, the applicant arrives with an interpreter who is 18 or older, fluent in English and the applicant’s language, and neither the attorney nor a witness. We send a Kurmanji or Sorani interpreter briefed to render every answer as given. The documents that sit behind these claims are mostly Arabic, Turkish or Persian, with Kurdish letters and statements alongside, and the Kurdish translation page explains how that mix is handled. See also USCIS interview interpreting.

Kurdish or Arabic Interpreter for a Patient from Iraq?

Hospitals see this mistake constantly. The chart says Iraq or Syria, the registration clerk picks Arabic, and the patient nods through an appointment in a language they did not choose. The question for the patient is the language, not the country. If the answer is Kurdish, book Kurdish and name the variety.

Under Section 1557 rules, a federally funded provider owes the patient that Kurdish interpreter free of charge, and a relative is not the fallback outside an emergency. Diagnoses, surgical consent and trauma-focused mental health assessments get a person in the room; we also arrange a female interpreter for obstetric and gynecological visits when asked, and use video for follow-ups. More at medical interpreting.

Kurdish Interpreter in Nashville and Other Communities

The largest Kurdish community in the United States is in Nashville, and a steady share of our Kurdish requests comes from Middle Tennessee: courts, schools, clinics and law offices. Dallas, San Diego, Phoenix, Atlanta and the Detroit area generate regular work as well. We dispatch from a single New York office, so an in-person Kurdish job in one of those metros goes to a linguist who lives nearby.

Everywhere else, video remote interpreting and phone interpreting cover the gap. Video is the better choice when a document is being reviewed or the speaker’s face matters; phone suits intake calls and short check-ins.

Kurdish Court Interpreter for State and Family Cases

Kurmanji and Sorani both fall outside every state’s court interpreter certification program. A judge who needs a Kurdish interpreter qualifies them on the record, and we give the clerk the interpreter’s training, experience and variety in advance. Tell the court Kurmanji or Sorani rather than Kurdish, so the clerk’s own roster does not produce the wrong one.

Beyond immigration, the court work is family law, protection orders, criminal cases and civil depositions in the cities where Kurdish families have settled. Consecutive interpreting is the norm for testimony, and the interpreter can sight-translate a short Kurdish exhibit at the bench when the judge allows it. See court interpreting.

Kurdish Interpreting Rates and Booking

As a guide, on-site interpreting runs $45 to $95 an hour in the typical US market, with a two-hour minimum. Remote Kurdish sessions are charged per minute or per booked block. We confirm a fixed written quote within 60 minutes in business hours, and that number is your price.

Send the date, venue, setting and expected length through the quote form, with the speaker’s variety or home region. For an arrest, an admission or a hearing moved up at short notice, call +1 (833) 282 8883; the desk answers day and night. Guide rates for the rest of our work are on the pricing page.

Questions we get asked