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Tshiluba Interpreters

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

Tshiluba is not Kiluba, and “Luba” on a form can mean either

Is Tshiluba the same as Kiluba? No: Tshiluba (also written Ciluba, and called Luba-Kasai or Luba-Lulua) is the language of the Kasai provinces of the DR Congo, while Kiluba (Luba-Katanga) is a related but separate language of Katanga. Glottolog and the ISO standard treat them as two languages, lua and lub, and so does the Census Bureau’s own language code list. An intake form that says only “Luba” has not told you which; ask the province.

Tshiluba is one of the four national languages named in Article 1 of the DRC’s constitution, with Kikongo, Lingala and Swahili; French is the only official language. Within Tshiluba itself there are regional varieties — the Ciluba of Mbuji-Mayi (Lubilanji), the Lulua variety of Kananga, and others — close enough for one interpreter, different enough that the client will notice.

Most Congolese refugees speak Swahili; Tshiluba speakers come from the centre of the country

US resettlement guidance expects Congolese refugees to be disproportionately Swahili speakers, because North and South Kivu in the east have borne the heaviest burden of the conflict in recent years. Tshiluba speakers come from the Kasai, in the centre: after the customary chief known as Kamwina Nsapu was killed in August 2016, the violence there killed more than 3,000 people and displaced 1.4 million, and the UN recorded at least 752 people killed in the Kasai in 2017 alone, according to the Guardian’s report of the UN’s figures.

So a Congolese client is not automatically a Swahili speaker. A family from Kananga or Mbuji-Mayi, or one that lived in Kinshasa, may speak Tshiluba at home and Lingala or French outside it. Ask which province they are from and what they speak with their parents.

French is the official language, the language most taught in school and the language of Congolese documents, and many Tshiluba speakers have some. Whether it is enough for an asylum account is the client’s call, not the booker’s. A direct Tshiluba–English interpreter is hard to find in the United States; Tshiluba–French–English relay is often the realistic option, and we confirm whether we can staff it before you book.

Ethnicity is part of many Congolese accounts, and part of the interpreter choice

Resettlement guidance for providers working with Congolese clients is explicit: because of the long history of interethnic tension in the DRC, ask clients about their language preference and, where relevant, the interpreter’s ethnic background. Luba people have been on the receiving end of it outside their home regions: in April 2020 the leader of the Bundu dia Kongo movement urged followers in Kongo Central to chase out “every Muluba”, along with people from other regions, according to Human Rights Watch.

A client describing violence in the Kasai, or ethnic hostility elsewhere, may hold back with an interpreter they place in the wrong camp, and will not tell you so. Ask privately, and tell us; with a pool this small, an interpreter outside the local community, by video, may be the better choice.

When you book, give us every name the client uses for the language. Tshiluba, Ciluba, Luba-Kasai and Luba-Lulua are the same; Kiluba and Luba-Katanga are not. That one line on the request is what prevents the most common wrong booking.

Tshiluba is a limited-availability language

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

• Digithèque MJP (Université de Perpignan) — Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 18 February 2006, Article 1
• Glottolog — Luba-Lulua (Tshiluba); see also Luba-Katanga, luba1250
• US Census Bureau — American Community Survey language code list
• Wikipedia — Tshiluba language (dialects)
• Switchboard (International Rescue Committee) — Congolese: An Introduction for Service Providers (June 2026)
• The Guardian — Congo “state agents” murdered hundreds in 2017, says UN report (January 25, 2018)
• Human Rights Watch — DR Congo: Bloody crackdown on political religious group (May 19, 2020)

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