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French Interpreters

French interpreters by video, phone or in person for asylum interviews, hearings, depositions, attorney meetings, medical appointments and school meetings: $100–104/hour video, $175–182 in person. eVerbary replies within minutes with the interpreter and the exact price, before you pay anything.

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Video, phone or in person

Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or a phone call, or an interpreter at the venue.

From $80 an hour

Virtual $80 an hour, in person $140, plus 25–30% because this is a limited-availability language.

Quote within minutes

We reply within minutes, four business hours at most, with the interpreter, the exact price and any travel, before you book. Asking costs nothing.

African French is most of what we do

A large share of French interpreting in US immigration matters is for speakers from West and Central Africa — Cameroon, DRC, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire — rather than from France. The language is the same and the references are not, and an interpreter who has only worked with European French will manage the grammar and miss the context.

For Haitians, French is the language of their documents and not usually of their testimony — see Haitian Creole.

African French is not Parisian French

The administrative and legal vocabulary of Cameroon, the DRC, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire differs from metropolitan French in exactly the terms these proceedings use: titles of officials, names of documents, descriptions of security forces. An interpreter trained on European French renders them generically and the specificity is gone.

Many West and Central African speakers are also multilingual, using French for official matters and another language at home. Asking which they prefer is worth doing rather than assuming French because the documents are in it.

Interpreting for someone whose French is a second language

A great deal of our French work is for speakers from West and Central Africa whose first language is Wolof, Lingala, Bambara, Fulfulde or Sango, and whose French is a school and administrative language. It is fluent and it is not the language they think in.

Under stress — describing violence, recalling dates, explaining a family relationship — such a speaker will reach for the first language and stall when it is not available. If the client has one, tell us: we can staff some of these directly, and where we cannot we will say so rather than booking French and hoping.

French is a limited-availability language

There are comparatively few qualified French interpreters working in the United States, and the ones there are get booked. That is why French carries the 25–30% limited-availability rate, and why lead time matters more here than with a common language: a week is comfortable, two days is a gamble.

We would rather tell you that before you book a hearing date than after. If your date is fixed and close, say so when you enquire and we will tell you honestly whether we can staff it rather than accepting and hoping.

The standard-availability languages are: Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Korean, Vietnamese, Haitian Creole, Polish, Italian, German, Japanese, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Tagalog, Bengali, Punjabi, Tamil, Armenian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Serbian, Bosnian, Somali and Nepali. Every other language we offer carries the 25–30% limited-availability rate, except the rare languages — Mam, K’iche’, Q’anjob’al, Tzotzil, Mixtec, Fuzhounese, Hakka, Hakha Chin, Kachin, Balochi, Bambara, Soninke, Tigre, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic and Assyrian Neo-Aramaic — which carry 75%. If a language is not on the standard list it is not because we cannot do it — it is because the pool of qualified interpreters in the United States is small enough that we will not promise a date without checking.

By video, by phone or in person

Virtual interpreting runs on Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams, or over the telephone. It is quicker to arrange, costs less and carries no travel charge, and it suits appointments, calls and most meetings.

In person is what venues with their own rules tend to expect, and the right choice when documents are being signed or several people are speaking at once. Tell us the platform, or the city and the venue, when you send the request.

Where interpretation is used

The settings differ in what they demand of the interpreter, which is worth saying because they are frequently priced as though they were the same work:

Each setting has its own page — who has to provide the interpreter, what the meeting asks of one and what it costs: see interpreters by setting.

In person in a particular city — its courts, its immigration court and the languages spoken there: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Miami and more cities.

What it costs

Rates are per interpreter, per hour, and billed from the scheduled start time rather than from when everyone actually arrives. Every rate with worked examples, and what the federal courts pay their own interpreters, is on what an interpreter costs.

What a French interpreter costs, worked out

These are the published rates multiplied out, at the limited-availability rate (25–30% over the base, so each figure is a range): $100–$104 an hour by video or phone, $175–$182 an hour in person, $0.70 a mile of travel.

Worked examples of interpreting costs
BookingHow it is worked outTotal
One-hour video or phone call1 hour × $100–$104$100–$104
Two-hour video interview2 hours × $100–$104$200–$208
Two-hour meeting in person, 20-mile round trip2 hours × $175–$182 + 20 miles × $0.70$364–$378
Three-hour deposition or closing in person, 40-mile round trip3 hours × $175–$182 + 40 miles × $0.70$553–$574
Full day in person (six hours), two interpreters in relay2 interpreters × 6 hours × $175–$182$2,100–$2,184 plus travel

The quote confirms the interpreter, the exact travel figure and the total before you book; nothing is charged until you confirm.

How the travel charge works out

Travel is charged at $0.70 per mile from the interpreter's location, which means you can work it out rather than wait for a quote: a 20-mile round trip is $14, a 60-mile round trip is $42, a 150-mile round trip is $105. There is no separate call-out fee on top.

We will not pretend to know in advance where the interpreter will be coming from — that depends on the language, the date and the venue. What we do is confirm the interpreter and the exact travel figure before you book, so it is never a surprise on the invoice. Virtual assignments carry no travel charge at all, which is one reason most of what we do is virtual.

How booking an interpreter works

What we will tell you before you book

Two things, both of which occasionally cost us the booking. Whether the venue supplies its own interpreter. Immigration court provides one. Hospitals receiving federal funding generally must provide language assistance. School districts have obligations of their own. If yours does, you should not be paying us — ask them first.

And whether we can actually staff your date. For a limited-availability or rare language on short notice the honest answer is sometimes no, and we would rather say it than accept a booking we cannot fill. Interpretation is not translation: see certified translation at $24.95 per page if what you need is a document rendered in writing.

What to have ready

The more of this comes in the first message, the fewer exchanges before you have a price:

Interpreters by city

Request an interpreter

Tell us the date, the language and the setting and we will come back with the interpreter, the exact price and the travel figure if there is one — before you commit to anything.

1The interpreter you need

Video and phone carry no travel charge.

2When and where

Only for in-person assignments.

3Your details
Who is this request for?
4Anything else

For example, how many people need interpreting for, or a credential the venue requires.

We reply within minutes, four business hours at most. No payment is taken at this stage.

Frequently asked questions

Does it matter where the speaker is from?

For accuracy of context, yes. Most of our French work is for West and Central African speakers.

Is the price per person or per interpreter?

Per interpreter, per hour, billed from the scheduled start time. One interpreter covers a meeting; a full-day hearing may need two working in relay.

What if the venue provides its own interpreter?

Then you should not be paying us. Immigration court provides one, and hospitals and school districts frequently must. Ask them first.

Can I see the interpreter's credentials before I pay?

Tell us the credential the venue or the other side requires when you request, and we confirm before you book whether we can staff it. The interpreter's name and credentials are sent once the booking is paid.

How is travel charged?

$0.70 per mile from the interpreter's location — a 20-mile round trip is $14. We confirm the exact figure before you book, and virtual assignments carry none.

Need an interpreter?

Tell us the date, the language and the setting and we will confirm the interpreter and the exact price.

Request a quote

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For firms and institutions

Law firms →Team logins, monthly invoicing, client name and file number on every invoice.Universities →Pay for applicants' translations or send them a payment link.Schools and districts →Records into English, family notices out of English, one invoiced account.API and AI assistants →Order from your own software, or from Claude and ChatGPT, with the price shown first.

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