Mashi (Shi) interpreting and translation

Mashi interpreting for accounts that matter

Most Mashi speakers also speak Congolese Swahili, and many know French, so some clients handle everyday matters in Swahili. For asylum interviews, health consultations and court proceedings, though, a Mashi interpreter allows a fuller and more accurate account. Tell us the client's home area and we will match accordingly.

Our interpreters work face to face at Home Office interviews, tribunals, mental health assessments, GP surgeries and resettlement meetings. Phone interpreting is available at any hour, and video sessions are ideal for follow-up appointments. People describing violence may ask for an interpreter of a particular gender, which we arrange, and a short briefing note on the purpose of the session helps the interpreter prepare for difficult testimony. Where a family has passed through camps or towns in Rwanda, Burundi or Uganda, the interpreter will recognise those place names too.

Translation: French records and Mashi materials

Congolese civil records, judgments and school certificates are issued in French, so certified translation for UK authorities is normally from French. We supply it signed and declared accurate, accepted by UK authorities for immigration files and court proceedings, and by colleges and employers, and we can handle Swahili or English refugee documents in the same project. French-language Congolese records for North American authorities are certified the way each one asks.

Mashi is written in the Latin alphabet in church, radio and educational materials, without one fixed standard. For information leaflets, consent forms and resettlement guidance in Mashi, we agree the spelling of personal and place names at the start and apply it consistently.

Transcription and LADO

Recorded interviews and testimony in Mashi are transcribed with time codes and an English translation, with Swahili and French passages labelled. Where origin in South Kivu is questioned in an asylum claim, SILA Linguists® can arrange a LADO report.

Where we can help in Mashi (Shi)

Our vetted, trained and qualified Mashi linguists can support asylum and immigration services, NHS and mental health teams, courts and solicitors, and refugee resettlement programmes. One coordinator runs each case from the first call, and our vetted linguists keep every detail confidential under signed agreements and UK GDPR, which matters greatly to survivors of the Kivu conflicts. Mashi interpreters can support refugee claims, resettlement services and clinics in the United States and Canada, mostly by video.