Yucatec Maya interpreting and translation

Yucatec Maya interpreting services

Unlike many Mexican Indigenous languages, Yucatec Maya is relatively uniform and is generally treated as a single variant, although vocabulary and accent vary between areas such as eastern Yucatán and Quintana Roo. Most speakers are bilingual in Spanish, but many older and rural speakers are more comfortable in Maya, so for health, legal and immigration appointments we ask which language the client prefers.

We provide Yucatec Maya interpreters face to face where interpreters are local, by video through the SILA Linguists® app or your system, and by telephone at any time of day or night. Relay through Spanish can be arranged. Court hearings and police interviews are interpreted consecutively, and Mexico's Constitution recognises the right to an interpreter who knows the defendant's language and culture. For tourism and heritage events, consecutive or simultaneous interpreting can be provided.

Translation, certified translation and localisation

Yucatec Maya has a standard orthography, used in education and publishing, with doubled vowels for length, accents for its high and low tones and apostrophes for glottalised consonants, as in t'aan. Older texts follow colonial spellings, so we confirm conventions with you before translating.

We translate tourism, heritage and public information materials into Maya, including museum and site text, and translate Maya letters and statements into English. Civil documents from Mexico are in Spanish and from Belize in English; certified translations are made from those languages, with a signed statement of accuracy, accepted by UK authorities such as courts, the Home Office and universities, and by employers. Mexican documents needed by US immigration come with a translator's certificate of accuracy, signed and dated.

Transcription and subtitling

Yucatec Maya has a written history reaching back to colonial texts such as the Books of Chilam Balam, and today it is heard on radio and in music and literature. We transcribe interviews, broadcasts and recorded evidence with time codes and an English version, and subtitle documentary, educational and tourism video.

Where we can help in Yucatec Maya

Our vetted, trained and qualified Yucatec Maya linguists can support hospitals and clinics, courts and solicitors, immigration services, tourism, heritage and hospitality businesses, museums, schools and public information campaigns. SILA Linguists® assigns one coordinator to each project, and every linguist signs a non-disclosure agreement and follows UK GDPR. Yucatec Maya speakers living in the United States can be supported through immigration hearings, meetings with counsel and hospital care, with interpreters familiar with the Yucatán Peninsula.