Pashai interpreting and translation

Pashai interpreting matched to the valley

Neighbouring districts understand each other, but speakers from opposite ends of the Pashai area can struggle. We therefore match an interpreter whose own variety is close to the client's. Asylum and immigration interviews, health assessments, police interviews, legal consultations and resettlement support are the typical settings, covered face to face, by telephone day or night, bank holidays included, and by video through the SILA Linguists® app.

Video suits Pashai particularly well: the interpreter can confirm the variety and settle unfamiliar words at the start. Many clients choose Pashto or Dari for routine matters, but for asylum interviews and evidence, where precise personal detail counts, the client's own Pashai variety is the clearer choice. The interpreter's gender can be matched on request.

Written material for Pashai speakers

Pashai is mainly spoken and has no widely used spelling, so material for Pashai speakers is usually translated into Dari or Pashto or recorded as Pashai audio. Where written Pashai is required, we use an Arabic-based orthography and agree the conventions with you before work starts.

Afghan tazkira identity documents, certificates and court papers are in Dari or Pashto. We provide certified translation into English with a signed declaration of accuracy, accepted by UK authorities such as the Home Office, courts, local authorities and universities, and keep names spelled consistently across the bundle.

Pashai transcription and language analysis

Recorded Pashai interviews are transcribed, time-coded and translated into English, with any passages in Pashto or Dari marked. Pashai is a language in which origin questions arise in asylum claims from eastern Afghanistan, and SILA Linguists® offers language analysis for the determination of origin (LADO), carried out by specialist linguists and analysts.

Settings for our linguists in Pashai

Our vetted, trained and qualified Pashai linguists can support asylum and immigration services, legal aid solicitors, police and legal teams, health providers, and resettlement programmes supporting Afghan families. You have one point of contact throughout, vetted linguists, and confidentiality agreements and UK GDPR protecting every interview. They can also support organisations working with Afghan women and children, and mental health services working with trauma, when Dari or Pashto would leave too much unsaid.