Chinantec interpreting and translation

Chinantec interpreters for the right variant

Speakers of different Chinantec variants may not understand each other, so please give us the municipality, such as Ojitlán, Usila, Valle Nacional, Lalana or Quiotepec. Many Chinantec speakers also speak Spanish, but those with limited Spanish need an interpreter for their own variant, and we do not substitute a neighbouring one without the client's agreement.

We often combine Spanish relay with remote video, run on the SILA Linguists® app or on a system your organisation already uses, and telephone sessions can be set up day or night. A short screening exchange at the start of a session confirms that interpreter and client understand each other before the substantive conversation begins. Medical consultations, immigration interviews and court hearings are handled in consecutive mode, and clients may ask for a woman or a man as their interpreter.

Chinantec translation and certified translation

Chinantec languages are known for complex tone systems, and some communities have used whistled speech to communicate across mountain valleys. Orthographies mark tone with superscript numbers or accents and differ between variants. We agree the variant and writing convention with you, and a text intended for several communities may need more than one version, which we will advise on before work starts.

Identity papers and birth records from Mexico arrive in Spanish, and we certify their English versions with a signed statement of accuracy, accepted by UK authorities such as tribunals, the Home Office and colleges, and by employers.

Transcription and origin questions

Chinantec interviews and recordings are transcribed with time codes and a parallel English version, always by someone who knows the variant concerned, with tone-related ambiguities flagged. For immigration and asylum matters where a person's origin is disputed, specialist analysts can carry out a LADO assessment, the language analysis used to help establish where a speaker comes from.

Where we can help in Chinantec

Our vetted, trained and qualified Chinantec linguists can support healthcare providers, courts and solicitors, immigration services, community development organisations and researchers. A single SILA Linguists® project team manages the assignment from first contact to delivery, and every Chinantec linguist signs a non-disclosure agreement and handles personal data under UK GDPR, so even complex multi-variant projects stay coherent and secure.