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Nuer Interpreters

Professional Nuer interpreting, virtual or in person, for the settings where getting it wrong has consequences — asylum interviews, hearings, attorney meetings, medical appointments and school meetings.

Nuer is not Dinka, and in South Sudan the difference was used to decide who lived

Can a Dinka interpreter cover a Nuer speaker? No. Nuer and Dinka are related languages of the same Nilotic branch, not one language, and since December 2013 the question of who interprets for a Nuer client has not been neutral. The UN mission in South Sudan recorded accounts that during the killings in Juba that month, security forces identified Nuer men by their facial markings or by questioning them in Dinka, and that a man who admitted being Nuer, could not speak Dinka, or spoke Nuer was shot; some survivors believed they lived because they could speak Dinka or Anyuak.

That is the background a Nuer asylum applicant may bring into the room. A Nuer client may not give a full account through a Dinka-speaking interpreter — or through one they cannot place — and will almost never say so. Book Nuer, ask the client privately whether they have a preference about the interpreter, and tell us.

Arabic is the other language in that report: people were ordered out of their houses in Arabic, and men who could not speak Dinka were interrogated in Arabic instead. Arabic is the language shared across ethnic lines in South Sudan’s towns, and with English, for clients schooled in it, it is the realistic relay when there is no direct Nuer–English interpreter — but for a client describing those events, the client should choose.

Where Nuer speakers are, in the United States and in Africa

The Census Bureau’s detailed tables report Nilotic languages — the family that includes Nuer and Dinka — as one group: about 6,900 people spoke one at home in 2009–2013. Nebraska had by far the most (about 1,700), followed by Minnesota (about 1,000), Tennessee, Texas, Maine, South Dakota, California and Iowa. Nebraska and Minnesota are where in-person Nuer work is most likely to be possible; elsewhere it is usually by video or phone.

Nuer is spoken in South Sudan and also in western Ethiopia, in the Gambella region, so a Nuer client’s passport may be Ethiopian. Country of nationality does not change the language; it may change the client’s second language and the documents in the file. Tell us where the client grew up.

Dialects, spelling and a very small pool

• Dialects. Glottolog lists Eastern and Western Jikany, Lou, Thiang, Nyuong, Dor, Cien and Abigar among Nuer varieties. They share one written standard, but pronunciation differs — final k is pronounced in Jikany and dropped elsewhere, though the spelling keeps it. Tell us the client’s home area.
• Spelling. Nuer is written in a Latin-based alphabet with breathy vowels marked by an underline and sounds written th, dh, nh and ɣ. Names of people and places therefore reach English records in several spellings; the interpreter should say the name and confirm it rather than read it off the form.
• Lead time. There are very few Nuer–English interpreters in the United States, and in a community this size the interpreter may know the family. Give as much notice as you can; we confirm whether we can staff it, directly or through a relay, before you book.

Nuer is a limited-availability language

There are comparatively few qualified Nuer interpreters working in the United States, and the ones there are get booked. That is why Nuer 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, French, Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic, Russian, Korean, Vietnamese, Haitian Creole, Polish, Italian, German, Japanese, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Tagalog, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil, Armenian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Serbian, Bosnian, Somali and Nepali. Every other language we offer carries the 25–30% limited-availability rate. If a language is not on that 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:

• Asylum and immigration interviews. USCIS asylum interviews require the applicant to bring an interpreter, and the interview can be rescheduled if the interpreter does not appear or is not competent — which makes this the setting where getting it right matters most.
• Attorney–client meetings and declarations. Preparing testimony, taking a statement, going through documents.
• Depositions and hearings. Where the record is being made and accuracy is examined afterwards.
• Medical appointments. Note that hospitals receiving federal funding generally must provide language assistance themselves, so ask before you hire.
• School meetings. IEP meetings and parent conferences — districts also have their own obligations here.
• Business meetings and signings, such as real estate closings.

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.

What it costs

Rates are per interpreter, per hour, and billed from the scheduled start time rather than from when everyone actually arrives.

• Virtual — $80 per hour, one-hour minimum. Zoom, Google Meet, Teams or telephone.
• In person — $110 per hour, two-hour minimum.
• Limited-availability languages — add 25–30%. Which languages those are is listed below rather than left vague.
• Travel for in-person work — $0.70 per mile from the interpreter's location.

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

• You send the request with the form below: the language, the setting, the format, the date and how long it should last.
• We confirm before you commit: the interpreter, the exact price and the travel figure if there is one. We reply the same business day, and no payment is taken at this stage.
• You confirm, and the interpreter is booked for your date.

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 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:

• The language, the date, the start time and how long it should run.
• Virtual or in person: the platform, or the city and the venue.
• The setting and the subject matter.
• How many people need interpreting for.
• Any credential the venue requires of the interpreter.

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.

Sources

The facts on this page about the language and its speakers in the United States were checked against these sources on October 28, 2026.

• UNMISS — Conflict in South Sudan: A Human Rights Report (May 8, 2014)
• US Census Bureau — Detailed languages spoken at home, 2009–2013 American Community Survey (national and state tables)
• Glottolog — Nuer (dialects)
• Wikipedia — Nuer language
• US Census Bureau — American Community Survey language code list

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