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Tamil Interpreters

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

Spoken Tamil and written Tamil are different languages in practice

Tamil is strongly diglossic: the literary variety used in writing, formal speech and documents differs from spoken Tamil in vocabulary, verb endings and pronouns to a degree that goes well beyond register. A witness speaks one and the document on the table is in the other.

So a Tamil interpreter in a hearing is doing two jobs — rendering colloquial testimony into English, and sight-translating formal Tamil documents that the witness themselves may follow only partially when read aloud. Say in advance whether documents will be read, because it changes who we send.

Sri Lankan Tamil, and why the interpreter's origin matters

Sri Lankan Tamil differs from Indian Tamil in pronunciation and vocabulary, and the difference is audible immediately. In an asylum matter arising from the Sri Lankan civil war, a Tamil applicant may be uneasy giving a full account through an interpreter they place as Indian, or as from the wrong community.

They will rarely say so. Ask the client whether they have a preference and tell us — the Tamil pool is large enough that we can usually match, given notice.

Names, initials and the caste question

Tamil naming frequently uses an initial for the father's name or a village placed before the given name, so R. Kumar on one document is Rajendran Kumar on another with no change behind it. Many Tamils have no inherited family name at all.

Some surnames also carry caste information, and a person may have dropped or changed one for exactly that reason. It is not a discrepancy and it is not a topic for the interpreter to raise; it is a thing to brief for so it is not discovered mid-hearing.

Tamil is a limited-availability language

There are comparatively few qualified Tamil interpreters working in the United States, and the ones there are get booked. That is why Tamil 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 and Bengali. 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.

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.

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, depositions and signings.

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.

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.

How it works

Upload a photo or a scan of your document, pick the language pair and check out online. You never have to mail originals: a legible copy is all we need.

A professional human translator, never machine translation, translates the document word for word and mirrors the layout of the original. Every certified translation ships with a signed Certificate of Translation Accuracy that meets the requirements of USCIS, courts and universities.

Your translation is delivered digitally, usually within 24 hours for documents of one to three pages, and same-day delivery is available. If anything needs adjusting, we revise it.

Frequently asked questions

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