Tzotzil interpreting and translation

Tzotzil interpreting rooted in place

Tzotzil has several variants, often associated with particular municipalities, each with its own traditional dress and customs. Chamula and Zinacantán, for example, are neighbours with distinct varieties, and community identity is strongly linked to place. Please give us the client's municipality so we can match an interpreter who will be both understood and trusted. Tzeltal speakers understand some Tzotzil, but not reliably.

Many Tzotzil speakers, particularly women and older people, have limited Spanish. For maternity care, child health and family matters we can provide a female interpreter. Our interpreters work by video, on the SILA Linguists® app or the system your service runs, and by telephone at any hour of the day, with Spanish relay where needed. Hearings and interviews are interpreted consecutively, with care over names and kinship terms. Where a client from Chamula or Zinacantán is now living in another part of Chiapas, or abroad, we match to the community they grew up in rather than where they live today.

Tzotzil translation and certified translation

Tzotzil is written in the Latin alphabet, with apostrophes for glottalised consonants, as in bats'i k'op. Publishers use either ts or tz, and there is a long tradition of writing in Tzotzil by local authors' groups in San Cristóbal. We agree the variant and spelling before translating health information, school letters or community and cultural texts.

Official documents from Chiapas are in Spanish. When certification is required, we translate them into English with a signed declaration of accuracy, accepted by UK authorities such as courts, the Home Office and universities, and by employers.

Transcription, culture and origin analysis

We transcribe Tzotzil interviews, recorded evidence and cultural recordings, such as interviews with writers and weavers, with time codes and an English version, and subtitle educational and documentary video. For asylum claims that depend on origin, language analysis for the determination of origin (LADO) can be commissioned.

Settings for our linguists in Tzotzil

Our vetted, trained and qualified Tzotzil linguists can support hospitals and maternity units, courts and legal advisers, immigration services, schools, and community and cultural organisations. SILA Linguists® gives each request one coordinator, and our Tzotzil linguists sign confidentiality agreements and observe UK GDPR.