Lozi Translation Services

Lozi, or Silozi, is spoken on both sides of one border: Zambia's Western Province and Namibia's Zambezi Region. Both countries issue their civil records in English, so a Lozi speaker rarely has a document in Lozi to translate. Prism Language Solutions certifies the Lozi pages that do exist, affidavits, headman letters, customary marriage statements, and supplies Lozi interpreters, mostly by video, for USCIS interviews, hearings and clinic appointments.

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

This is a small service and we would rather describe it accurately than pad it. Few Lozi speakers live in the United States, and most of working age handle English comfortably, because English is Zambia's official language and Lozi one of the seven languages recognized regionally alongside it. The interpreter is usually for a parent, a grandparent, or a witness whose evidence goes back to a home village on the floodplain.

• 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

Why a Bemba or Nyanja Interpreter Cannot Cover Lozi

If you read one paragraph here before making a booking, make it this one. Lozi is not a near relative of the languages a generalist Zambian linguist is likely to speak. It belongs to the Sotho-Tswana branch of Bantu, closest to Northern Sotho, Tswana and Sesotho, and it grew out of Kololo, a Sotho-Tswana language carried north to Barotseland in the nineteenth century, laid over the older Luyana of the floodplain.

So a fluent Bemba or Nyanja interpreter is not a partial match for Lozi, they are simply a different language. Ask for Lozi or Silozi by name on the booking form, and if a provider offers you whichever Zambian linguist is free, that is your warning. Lozi is one of the languages courts and hospitals reach outside their own rosters to find.

Zambian and Namibian Certificates in a Lozi File

Neither country issues a civil record in Lozi. Zambia registers births through the Department of National Registration, Passport and Citizenship in English; Namibia has had English as its sole official language since independence in 1990 and prints its certificates accordingly. Certificates of birth, marriage or death from either country go into a filing exactly as they stand.

That cross-border split has one practical consequence worth knowing. A Lozi family with relatives on both sides of the Zambezi may hold a Zambian certificate for one person and a Namibian one for another, with different form layouts, different registry names and different reference formats. We translate or certify each for what it is and identify the issuing authority precisely, rather than treating the two countries as interchangeable.

Lozi Affidavits, Headman Letters and Customary Marriage Records

Here is where a Lozi translator earns the fee. A sworn affidavit written in Lozi. A letter from an induna or village headman confirming when and where someone was born. A church record from a mission in Mongu or Senanga. A statement describing a customary marriage that no registry ever recorded.

Affidavits from people with direct personal knowledge sit squarely inside 8 CFR 103.2(b)(2), which allows secondary evidence when a required record does not exist or cannot be obtained. Each page is translated in full under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3), with the writer, the village and the district named as written, and described as the document it actually is rather than promoted to the status of a certificate. See certified translation.

Lozi Names From Western Province on a Certified Translation

A registrar in Mongu spells a Lozi name one way; a passport office spells it another; a headman's letter written by hand gives a third version and possibly a praise or family name that appears nowhere else in the file. Standardize those quietly into one tidy spelling and you have handed an adjudicator an inconsistency they cannot see the origin of.

We do the opposite. Each spelling is reproduced as the source shows it, the document controlling the filing is matched, and the relationship between the versions is explained in a translator's note. A date given by season or by a remembered event rather than a calendar date is translated as the phrase stands and flagged, never converted.

Booking a Lozi Interpreter for USCIS, Court or a Clinic

In a naturalization or asylum interview, the Lozi interpreter gives the officer each answer as spoken, dates, places and hesitations included, and bilingual relatives stay out of that seat. Because there is no certification exam for Lozi in any state, a court proceeds with a qualified interpreter and will ask on the record how that person was found.

Because so few Lozi linguists are based in this country, video is how most of this work actually reaches you, and we say so at booking rather than discovering it on the day. Under 45 CFR 92.201 a provider receiving federal financial assistance owes the patient an interpreter at no cost. For an elderly patient facing a difficult diagnosis we will look for someone in the room, and be honest about whether one exists nearby. See video remote interpreting; guide prices are on the pricing page.

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