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Tzotzil Interpreters

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

Tzotzil is a Mayan language of highland Chiapas, and a Spanish interpreter does not cover it

Can a Spanish interpreter cover a Tzotzil speaker? Not for testimony or a medical history unless the person is genuinely at ease in Spanish: Tzotzil (Tsotsil in Mexican official spelling; speakers call it bats'i k'op) is a Mayan language of the Chiapas highlands, unrelated to Spanish. Chiapas has the second-highest share of Indigenous-language speakers in Mexico (28.2 percent in the 2020 census), and nationally 11.8 percent of Indigenous-language speakers do not speak Spanish.

The common error has a specific cause: a Tzotzil speaker's documents say Mexico, and every form downstream assumes Spanish. If the person is from Chiapas, ask what language they speak at home before booking anything. Do not substitute Tseltal, either. It is Tzotzil's closest relative, in the same Tseltalan branch, but INALI catalogues the two as separate languages.

Seven catalogued variants, and the municipality tells you which

INALI's catalogue lists seven Tzotzil variants: of the Altos (around San Cristóbal de las Casas), of the center (including Chamula), of the east (high and low), of the north (high and low) and of the northwest. Neighboring variants are close; whether a given interpreter follows a speaker from another region comfortably is something to check rather than assume, because INALI's own catalogue notes that the difficulty between variants differs case by case and can even be one-sided.

So the booking information we need is the municipality in Chiapas the person comes from, and whether they also speak some Spanish. With that we can say whether we have a match, a near match we would ask you to test briefly before the real appointment, or nothing.

The pool is very small, and relay through Spanish is the usual arrangement

There is no reliable US count of Tzotzil speakers: the American Community Survey folds all Mayan languages into one line (7,650 speakers nationwide for 2009–2013), a figure hard to square with Mam, K'iche' and Q'anjob'al each ranking among the 25 most common languages in immigration court. Interpreters who work in Tzotzil and English are rare. Courts handling Indigenous languages commonly use relay, English to Spanish to the Indigenous language and back, book those interpreters weeks or months ahead, and often fall back on the telephone.

Honest expectations, then: the pool is very small, lead time matters more than for almost any other language we offer, and relay through Spanish is the realistic option for most appointments. In relay, the Spanish leg should be a professional interpreter rather than a relative. We confirm whether we can staff Tzotzil for your date and municipality before you book, and if we cannot, we say so.

Tzotzil is a rare language

Only a handful of qualified Tzotzil 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 Tzotzil 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.

• INALI — Catálogo de las Lenguas Indígenas Nacionales: Variantes Lingüísticas de México (Diario Oficial, January 14, 2008)
• INEGI — Estadísticas a propósito del Día Internacional de los Pueblos Indígenas, press release 430/22 (August 8, 2022)
• New York Times via WRAL — Anyone speak K'iche' or Mam? Immigration courts overwhelmed by Indigenous languages (March 19, 2019)
• U.S. Census Bureau — Detailed Languages Spoken at Home, ACS 2009–2013 (October 2015)

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