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Soninke Interpreters

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

Soninke is not Bambara, Wolof or Pulaar, and none of them is a safe substitute

Can a Bambara, Wolof or Fula interpreter cover a Soninke speaker? Not for testimony: Soninke sits on its own branch of the Mande family (Glottolog groups it with Bozo, apart from Manding, the branch that includes Bambara and Mandinka), and it is not related to Wolof or Pulaar at all beyond sharing a region. Many Soninke speakers do have one of those languages as a second language, which is exactly why the substitution gets made and why it fails when the account gets detailed.

The second language depends on the country. In Mali, where Soninke became one of thirteen official national languages in the 2023 constitution, Bambara is understood by roughly 80% of the population, so a Malian Soninke speaker usually has some. In Mauritania, Soninke is one of four national languages alongside Arabic, Pulaar and Wolof, and the UK government’s naming authority puts the country’s Soninke speakers at about 39,000; there, French serves as the common language between speakers of the national languages. The UK factfile also lists Sarakolé as another name for Soninke; on an intake form it is the same language.

Mauritanian asylum cases are where Soninke is actually needed

The AP reported that more than 8,500 Mauritanians crossed the southern border between March and June 2023 alone, against an estimated 8,000 foreign-born Mauritanians already in the country, about half of them in Ohio; Cincinnati took several thousand, and others went to Philadelphia, Denver, Dallas and New York. By 2024 the Cleveland immigration court, which hears Ohio’s cases, had more than 3,000 pending cases involving Mauritanian nationals, according to TRAC figures cited by the Ohio Immigrant Alliance.

Many are Black Mauritanians whose first language is Pulaar, Soninke or Wolof rather than Hassaniya Arabic. In July 2023 the ACLU and other groups told ICE that more than 100 Mauritanians detained in Adelanto, California, mostly speakers of Pulaar, Soninke or Hassaniya, had hearings delayed because interpretation in their languages could not be found, and that many could not read or write in any language. The court supplies its own interpreter; what usually falls to the attorney is everything before the hearing — the declaration, the preparation, the asylum office interview — in a language the client can actually tell the story in.

Because so many applicants are not literate, a written declaration has to be read back to the client aloud, in Soninke, before it is signed. That is sight translation, it takes longer than the interview that produced the declaration, and it should be in the booking.

Descent-based status runs through many Soninke claims, and it can sit in the room

Anti-Slavery International’s 2025 report describes Soninke, Malinke and Fulani communities in Mali’s Kayes, Kita and Nioro regions as divided into “nobles”, artisans and “slaves”, with people of slave descent unable to marry outside their class and, even after they have left, still treated as of the slave class by the diaspora abroad. The anti-slavery movement Ganbanaaxun Fedde, about 70,000 members, links people of slave descent in Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia. Several Mauritanians told the AP that police targeted them for anti-slavery activism.

So the interpreter’s own family background is not neutral. A claimant of slave descent, or an activist, may not give a full account through a Soninke interpreter from a “noble” family — and in a community this small, the interpreter may know the family. The client will almost never say so in front of the interpreter. Ask privately, and tell us; an interpreter from outside the local community, working by video from another city, or a relay through French, may be the better choice.

The pool is very small, so plan the relay before the date

• Lead time matters more than usual. There are very few Soninke–English interpreters in the United States. Give us as much notice as you can, and we confirm whether we can staff it before you book.
• Relay is often the realistic option. Soninke–French–English for clients from Mauritania or Senegal who went to school in French; Soninke–Bambara–English for Malian clients who are at ease in Bambara. Ask the client which second language they would be comfortable telling the story in — do not assume it from the passport.
• Tell us the country. Mali, Mauritania, Senegal or the Gambia changes both the relay language and who we look for. Soninke is written in Roman and in Arabic script, and Mauritanian documents are in Arabic and French with names romanized inconsistently, so the same village or person can appear under several spellings in one file.
• If what you have is a Pulaar speaker, see Fula; for Wolof, Wolof; for Bambara, Bambara.

Soninke is a rare language

Only a handful of qualified Soninke interpreters work in the United States — we found five or fewer across state court rosters, professional directories and freelance platforms — and courts and hospitals book them first. That is why Soninke carries the rare-language rate, 75% on top of the base: $140 an hour by video or phone with a one-hour minimum, and $192.50 an hour in person with a two-hour minimum, plus travel. Give us as much notice as you can: two weeks is comfortable, a few days often is not enough.

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, 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:

• 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.
• Rare languages — add 75%: $140 per hour virtual and $192.50 per hour in person. These are the languages with only a handful of qualified interpreters in the United States, listed below.
• 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 within minutes, four business hours at most, 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 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:

• 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.

• UK Permanent Committee on Geographical Names — Mauritania toponymic factfile (September 2023)
• UK Permanent Committee on Geographical Names — Mali toponymic factfile (2025)
• Glottolog — Soninke (classification)
• Anti-Slavery International — Descent-based slavery in Mali: current characteristics and recent responses (August 2025)
• ACLU — Immigrants’ rights organizations urge release of Mauritanian asylum seekers detained by ICE (July 20, 2023)
• Associated Press — Thousands more Mauritanians are making their way to the US (August 18, 2023)
• Ohio Immigrant Alliance — Cleveland Immigration Court: Poulaar interpreter issues, citing TRAC (December 27, 2024)

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