Q'eqchi' interpreting and translation

Q'eqchi' interpreting in Guatemala and Belize

Q'eqchi' is relatively uniform across a large area, though the speech of Cobán differs from that of Carchá or Lanquín, and Belizean Q'eqchi' includes English and Kriol loans. Second languages also differ: Spanish in Guatemala, English and Kriol in Belize, which shapes how we arrange relay. Many rural Guatemalan speakers, particularly women and older people, have limited Spanish and need a Q'eqchi' interpreter for medical, legal and social care appointments.

Q'eqchi' also appears among the languages of Guatemalan asylum seekers in US immigration proceedings. We provide face-to-face Q'eqchi' interpreters where local linguists are based, video interpreting through the SILA Linguists® app or your platform, and a telephone service at any hour. Court hearings and asylum interviews are interpreted consecutively, development and land rights meetings can include several speakers, and a female interpreter can be arranged for maternal and public health work.

Q'eqchi' translation and certified translation

Q'eqchi' uses Guatemala's official Mayan alphabet, in which apostrophes mark glottalised consonants, as in q' and ch', and vowel length is shown by doubling the vowel. Belizean materials sometimes follow slightly different conventions, so we confirm the readership. We translate health, education, land rights and development materials into Q'eqchi', and statements and letters into English.

Civil documents from Guatemala are in Spanish and from Belize in English. For Guatemalan papers we provide certified translations from Spanish, signed with a statement of accuracy, accepted by UK authorities such as courts, the Home Office and universities, and by employers. Guatemalan papers going to American immigration offices are accompanied by our translator's certificate of accuracy.

Transcription, radio and origin analysis

Q'eqchi' is widely used on radio, in churches, schools and local markets, and our transcribers are prepared for recordings from all of these settings as well as from police and courts. We deliver time-coded transcripts with an English rendering and subtitles where needed. For asylum cases where origin is in question, language analysis for the determination of origin (LADO) can be arranged.

Where we can help in Q'eqchi'

Our vetted, trained and qualified Q'eqchi' linguists can support public health programmes, hospitals, immigration and asylum services, courts and solicitors, land rights and development organisations, and schools. SILA Linguists® assigns one coordinator per project, and every linguist signs an NDA and handles data under UK GDPR. Q'eqchi' speakers in the US can be interpreted for at detention hearings, legal consultations, prenatal visits and school meetings, usually through video or telephone links.