Kurdish Badini interpreting and translation

Badini interpreting by speakers from Badinan

Badini keeps the grammatical gender and case system of Kurmanji, which Sorani has lost, and it has local vocabulary and Arabic loanwords. An interpreter from the Badinan area is ideal; a Kurmanji interpreter from Turkey or Syria will usually be understood but may need to adapt. Yazidi clients from Sinjar often speak Kurmanji with local features, and if you tell us the client is Yazidi we can consider an interpreter with suitable cultural and religious knowledge.

Our Badini interpreters attend Home Office interviews, tribunals, police stations, criminal courts, mental health appointments, child protection meetings and school reviews. They also work by telephone at any hour of the day or night, and by video on the SILA Linguists® app or Teams. Female and male interpreters are available on request, which matters to many families in safeguarding and health settings.

Badini translation and Kurdistan Region documents

Documents from the Kurdistan Region are usually in Kurdish (Sorani or Badini), and some are bilingual Kurdish and Arabic. Badini text in Iraq is normally written right to left in the Arabic-based Kurdish alphabet. Some readers, particularly in the diaspora, prefer the Latin Hawar alphabet, so we confirm the script before work begins.

We translate civil status records, ID cards, school reports, court papers, medical letters and witness statements, and each certified translation is signed and dated as accurate, in the form UK authorities accept, from immigration caseworkers and judges to universities and employers. Into Badini, we prepare safeguarding leaflets, school letters and health information.

Transcription and language analysis

Police interviews, voice messages and recorded evidence in Badini are transcribed with timings and an English rendering, and passages in Arabic or Sorani are tagged. For asylum claims, SILA Linguists® provides LADO and nationality assessment for Badini speakers, which can help establish whether a person's speech fits Duhok, Sinjar or elsewhere.

Sectors we support in Badini

Our vetted, trained and qualified Badini linguists can support asylum and immigration services, courts and police, NHS and mental health teams, social workers and schools. One coordinator follows each case. Linguists are bound by non-disclosure agreements, and personal data is handled under UK GDPR.