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Interpreters for Focus Groups and User Research
Research in another language depends on hearing what participants actually said — their words, their hesitations, the thing they almost said. Here is how to set up a focus group or an interview with an interpreter, what goes wrong, and how to book one.
Verbatim, not a summary
Research needs the participant's words rendered as said, hedges and all.
Two setups
A moderator in the participants' language with an interpreter for observers, or an English moderator working consecutively.
$480 for six remote interviews
Six one-hour sessions booked as one block by video at $80 an hour.
Who arranges the interpreter
The researcher does: the agency, the in-house research team or the investigator running the study. Participants are recruited to speak, not to bring their own language help, and nobody should ask a participant's relative to interpret a session about their opinions or their use of a product.
One rule does apply to some research. Where a study falls under the federal Common Rule — research involving human subjects conducted or supported by a federal department or agency that has adopted it — the information given to participants for informed consent shall be in language understandable to the subject. For a covered study with participants who do not read English, the consent process needs a translated form or an interpreter, and the institution's review board will have its own requirements. Commercial market research that no federal agency conducts or supports falls outside that scope, but the practice of explaining the session and the recording in the participant's language is worth keeping anyway.
Two ways to set up a session
A moderator who speaks the participants' language, and an interpreter for the observers. The group runs naturally in its own language, and the interpreter renders it simultaneously into English for the client team in the back room or on the stream. This keeps the group's pace and dynamics intact, and it is the usual setup for focus groups. The interpreter needs a clean audio feed from the room and a channel to the observers; for remote sessions, a platform with a separate interpretation channel or a second call for observers.
An English-speaking moderator working through a consecutive interpreter. The moderator asks, the interpreter renders, the participant answers, the interpreter renders the answer. It works well for one-to-one interviews and usability tests, and lets the researcher probe directly, but every exchange takes twice as long, so a 60-minute guide becomes a 30-minute one. It is a poor fit for a group of eight, where crosstalk cannot be rendered consecutively at all.
What goes wrong
- Summarizing. "She says she likes it" is not data. Brief the interpreter to render in the first person and in full, including hedges, false starts and the words the participant chose, and to say "inaudible" rather than fill a gap.
- Helping the participant. In a usability test, an interpreter who explains the screen or hints at the next step has ruined the task. The interpreter renders the moderator's prompts and nothing more.
- Crosstalk. When three participants talk at once, the interpreter can render one. Ask the moderator to manage turns, and have participants use first names or numbers so observers know who is speaking.
- Quotes in the report. What observers heard is the interpreter's English, not the participant's words. Label interpreted quotes as such, and check important ones against the recording before they go into a deck.
- Brand and product names translated. Tell the interpreter which names, features and taglines stay in English.
What to send before the sessions
The discussion guide or test script, the stimulus — concepts, ads, packaging, prototype screens — the product glossary, and the schedule with participant counts per session. If the interpreter will be reading on-screen English text aloud to a participant, send the screens. Ask for a short debrief after the sessions if you want the interpreter's notes on cultural references or regional expressions, and keep that separate from the interpreting itself so observers know which is which.
Booking a study
Virtual is $80 an hour with a one-hour minimum: six back-to-back one-hour interviews booked as one block are $480, with no travel. Time is billed per interpreter from the scheduled start, so sessions spread across a day with long gaps cost more than the same sessions grouped. In person is $110 an hour with a two-hour minimum: an evening facility booking from 6 to 10 p.m. for two groups is $440, plus travel at $0.70 per mile from the interpreter's location, confirmed before you book. Four hours of simultaneous interpreting for observers may need two interpreters taking turns, which makes it $880.
Recordings, transcripts and translated verbatims in writing are not part of the interpreting booking; written translation is a separate service.
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.
Languages
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.
Each language has its own page on what to watch for — dialects, names, dates, who the speakers usually are: see interpreters by language.
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 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.
Thank you — we have your request
We will reply the same business day with the interpreter, the exact price and the travel figure if there is one, before you commit to anything.
Sources
What this page says about the rules was checked against these official sources on October 21, 2026. Rules change; the source is always the authority.
- 45 CFR 46.101(a) — Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects: to what the policy applies (eCFR)
- 45 CFR 46.116(a)(3) — General requirements for informed consent: language understandable to the subject (eCFR)
Frequently asked questions
Should a focus group use simultaneous or consecutive interpreting?
Simultaneous, for observers, with a moderator who speaks the participants' language. Consecutive works for one-to-one interviews and usability tests but halves the content per hour and does not work with a group talking over each other.
Can the interpreter join a remote user interview?
Yes, on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or by phone. For observers to hear only the English, use a platform with a separate interpretation channel or a separate observer call, and test it before the first session.
Do research participants need consent information in their own language?
For research covered by the federal Common Rule, yes: consent information must be in language understandable to the subject (45 CFR 46.116). Commercial studies outside the rule should still explain the session and the recording in the participant's language.
How much does an interpreter cost for a focus group evening?
In person is $110 per interpreter per hour: two groups from 6 to 10 p.m. are $440 plus travel at $0.70 per mile, or $880 if four hours of simultaneous interpreting needs two interpreters.
Will the interpreter give us a translated transcript?
No — interpreting covers the live sessions. Written translation is a separate service; ask when you request if you need it.
Is the price per person or per interpreter?
Per interpreter, per hour, billed from the scheduled start time. One interpreter covers a meeting; a full-day hearing may need two working in relay.
How is travel charged?
$0.70 per mile from the interpreter's location — a 20-mile round trip is $14. We confirm the exact figure before you book, and virtual assignments carry none.
Need an interpreter?
Tell us the date, the language and the setting and we will confirm the interpreter and the exact price.