Dinka interpreting and translation

Dinka interpreters matched by dialect and background

Rek speakers from Bahr el Ghazal and Bor speakers from Jonglei can usually communicate, but differences in vowels, tone and vocabulary become significant in a detailed asylum account or a police interview. Our Dinka interpreters work in Home Office interviews, tribunals, police stations, criminal and family courts, hospitals, child protection conferences and humanitarian programmes. Relay through Juba Arabic, Sudanese Arabic or English is possible, but direct Dinka interpreting is our default for anything detailed.

After years of conflict in South Sudan, a client may have concerns about an interpreter's community. Our interpreters are strictly neutral and declare any conflict of interest, and you can ask for a male or female interpreter. Video interpreting through the SILA Linguists® app or your platform is especially practical for Dinka because it reaches skilled interpreters across the diaspora and across time zones, and the telephone service is open at all hours. Face-to-face, consecutive and community interpreting are also available.

Dinka translation, audio formats and certified documents

Written Dinka uses extra Latin letters such as ɛ, ɔ and ŋ, plus diacritics, so we work with fonts that display them correctly and agree the target regional standard before translation. For many Dinka speakers, audio or video information is more accessible than print, and we can record translated health or safeguarding messages instead of, or as well as, a leaflet.

Official documents from South Sudan are generally in English or Arabic. We provide certified translation of Arabic records with a signed statement of accuracy, accepted by UK authorities such as colleges and the Home Office, and by recruiters, keeping Dinka names spelled consistently. Arabic or English papers for authorities in the United States, Canada or Australia are certified as each one requires, including through NAATI-certified translators.

Dinka transcription and LADO

We transcribe Dinka recordings with timestamps and a parallel English text, labelling any Arabic or English. For protection and nationality questions, SILA Linguists® offers language analysis to determine origin (LADO) by specialist analysts.

Sectors we support in Dinka

Our vetted, trained and qualified Dinka linguists can support immigration and asylum teams, police and courts, the NHS, family and children's services, refugee charities and aid agencies. One project team, vetted linguists and strict confidentiality under NDAs and UK GDPR come as standard. Dinka interpreters can support resettled families in Australia, the United States and Canada at courts, refugee hearings, hospitals and schools.