Cushitic language interpreting and translation

Interpreting across the Cushitic languages

Somali and Oromo are the most widely spoken Cushitic languages, and we also arrange interpreters for smaller languages such as Bilin, Saho, Afar and Rendille. Even closely related pairs, such as Afar and Saho or Oromo and Borana, are better served by a direct match. Clan and regional background matters in Somali and Oromo interviews, and many patients prefer a female or male interpreter for healthcare.

Face-to-face interpreting covers asylum interviews, tribunals, GP surgeries, maternity units, schools and social care visits. For rarer languages, telephone interpreting, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and video interpreting widen the pool of available linguists considerably. Consecutive and simultaneous interpreting, including remote simultaneous interpreting (RSI), can be arranged for humanitarian briefings and conferences on the Horn of Africa.

Translation and certified translation

Before we translate, we check the language of each document. Ethiopian records are often in Amharic, Eritrean ones in Tigrinya or Arabic, Somali papers in Somali, Arabic or English, and Kenyan ones in English. Somali, Oromo, Afar and Sidama use Latin alphabets, Bilin is written in Ethiopic in Eritrea, and Beja has appeared in both Arabic and Latin script, so we assign translators who read the script in front of them.

Every certified translation is signed as true and complete and is accepted by UK authorities, so it can be lodged with a tribunal, an asylum caseworker or a college admissions team. Public health and humanitarian organisations can also commission community material in Cushitic languages for distribution in the UK or the Horn of Africa.

Transcription and language identification

We transcribe recordings in Cushitic languages with time stamps and English translation, flagging switches into Amharic, Arabic, Tigrinya or Swahili. When origin is in doubt, SILA Linguists® can arrange language analysis for the determination of origin (LADO), which is particularly useful where Somali, Ethiopian and Kenyan backgrounds overlap.

Where we can help in Cushitic languages

Our vetted, trained and qualified Cushitic-language linguists can support immigration and asylum teams, solicitors, courts, the NHS, local authorities, schools and NGOs working in the Horn of Africa. You deal with one project team that identifies the language, vets the linguist and protects every file under confidentiality agreements and UK GDPR.