Quechua interpreting and translation

Quechua interpreting matched to the variety

Quechua is usually divided into Quechua I, spoken in central Peru, and Quechua II, which includes the Southern Quechua of Cusco, Ayacucho, Bolivia and Argentina as well as the Kichwa of Ecuador and Colombia. An Ecuadorian Kichwa speaker therefore needs a Kichwa specialist, not a Cusco interpreter. Our separate pages for Bolivian and Peruvian Quechua explain the main regional differences.

Rural, older and recently arrived speakers may rely on Quechua for health, family and legal matters even if they also speak Spanish. We provide telephone interpreting at any hour, video interpreting through the SILA Linguists® app or your platform, face-to-face interpreting where linguists are local, and consecutive interpreting for maternity appointments, police interviews and court hearings. Relay through Spanish and a female interpreter can both be arranged when they serve the client best.

Quechua translation and certified translation

Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador each have official Quechua alphabets, and in Peru the debate over three vowels or five continues. Southern Quechua marks aspirated and ejective consonants with h and an apostrophe, as in khipu and t'anta. We confirm the target variety and spelling before translating public information, consent forms and educational materials.

Civil documents from the Andean countries are generally in Spanish. Our certified translations from Spanish come with a signed statement of accuracy, accepted by UK authorities such as courts, the Home Office and universities, and by employers, so a Quechua-speaking client's paperwork can be handled alongside the interpreting.

Quechua transcription and language analysis

We transcribe research interviews, community meetings and recorded evidence in Quechua, delivering time-stamped transcripts with an English translation and marking Spanish passages. Where an asylum claim depends on questions of origin, we can arrange language analysis for the determination of origin (LADO) involving Quechua varieties.

Sectors we support in Quechua

Our vetted, trained and qualified Quechua linguists can support maternity and public health services, police, courts and solicitors, immigration and asylum advisers, development and research projects, and education and public information campaigns. With SILA Linguists®, one project team manages every booking, and all linguists work under confidentiality agreements and UK GDPR. Tell us the speaker's home region when you book, and our coordinators will find a linguist whose Quechua sounds familiar to them.