Assyrian Interpreter Services

Prism Linguistics arranges Assyrian interpreter services UK-wide, by video, telephone or in person, in the spoken Aramaic of Assyrian and Chaldean families from Iraq, Iran and Syria. Asylum interviews, tribunal appeals, NHS care and solicitors' meetings make up most requests. Interpreters are few, so tell us early where the speaker grew up.

Get an Assyrian interpreter quote or call +44 (0) 20 3880 6688

• UK-wide Assyrian cover
• Face-to-face, telephone or video
• Fixed quote, usually within the hour (office hours)
• Published price ranges
• Since 2017

Settings we interpret in NHS and private healthcare · courts and tribunals · police · local authorities · solicitors · businesses · private appointments

How we work UK GDPR · client terms · published price ranges · purchase-order invoicing for NHS and public bodies

In Iran, the recognised Assyrian and Armenian churches are not allowed to hold services in Persian; the liturgy has to be in their own languages. That comes from the Home Office's June 2026 country note on Christians in Iran, the document caseworkers use when they decide protection claims, and it explains a great deal about Assyrian interpreting here. For someone raised in Tehran or Urmia, Persian was the language of school, work and officials. Assyrian was the language of the kitchen table and the church. Which of the two they want in a GP surgery or before a judge is a genuine choice, and it should be theirs.

Swap Persian for Arabic (and sometimes Kurdish) and the same applies to Christians from Iraq, where the Home Office's note on religious minorities in Iraq records that Chaldean Catholics are the largest Christian group and that Chaldeans speak a version of Aramaic. Britain has no comparable official record. The 2021 Census main-language table gives Assyrian no row of its own, so nobody can honestly tell you how many speakers live in England and Wales. What is clear is that the interpreter pool is small and thinly spread.

Assyrian interpreting services: face-to-face, telephone and video

Assyrian interpreting services put a trained interpreter between an Assyrian speaker and an English speaker, so each hears the other's words in full, whether the three of them share a room or meet on a phone line or video call. Nearly every assignment is consecutive: question, pause, interpretation, answer.

Personal names cause more trouble than grammar. One family name can be spelt one way on an Iraqi identity card, another on an Iranian passport and a third way by the client, and village names often have an Assyrian form alongside an Arabic, Persian or Kurdish one. A careful interpreter flags the difference rather than quietly picking one. Our wider interpreting services page explains how we run bookings in every language.

English to Assyrian interpreter (and Assyrian to English)

An English to Assyrian interpreter works in both directions in the same session, so one person covers the questions going in and the answers coming out. In asylum work the direction that carries the risk is Assyrian into English, because that is what ends up in the interview record.

The Home Office's guidance on conducting asylum interviews says the interview must be held in a language the claimant can communicate in, and it accepts that someone screened in one language may ask to be interviewed in another. It also allows a caseworker who cannot find an interpreter in the preferred language to fall back on the screening language. For an Assyrian claimant first screened in Arabic or Persian, that fallback is real. Solicitors should put the preference for Assyrian in writing early, and if the claimant and interpreter plainly do not understand each other, the same guidance tells the caseworker to suspend the interview.

Assyrian court interpreters and HMCTS work

An Assyrian court interpreter renders everything said in a hearing, both ways and without comment, so that the speaker follows the proceedings and the court hears their evidence exactly. According to GOV.UK's interpreter rules for courts and tribunals, criminal defendants are given one; family courts supply one where the case involves children, domestic abuse or forced marriage; civil courts do so in possession and committal cases. For some tribunals the appellant asks for an interpreter on the appeal form, which is the moment to write Assyrian rather than leave the box blank. Family members can interpret only if the judge agrees in advance.

An interpreter booked by the court is usually there for the hearing itself, not the preparation around it. That gap is where most private Assyrian legal work sits: conferences with counsel, witness statements, medico-legal appointments and the long sessions an immigration solicitor needs to take a full account. Our legal interpreting team books court-experienced interpreters for this, and an Assyrian interpreter who knows the difference between the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church will not blur them in a statement. Prism Linguistics is a private language-services provider and does not present itself as a court-appointed supplier.

Assyrian interpreters for NHS, police, solicitors, councils and business

Asylum and healthcare interpreting account for most Assyrian bookings, with police and council work behind them and very little business demand.

Assyrian NHS interpreter: GP surgeries and first registration

A newly arrived family often meets the NHS through a GP registration and a first health check. NHS England's primary-care guidance says patients should not pay for interpreting there, so the practice books it rather than the family.

Assyrian medical interpreter: mental health and trauma

Psychological assessments, talking therapies and tribunal reports, where a patient may describe displacement or violence. One interpreter across the whole course helps, and video makes that possible.

Family members and children

Teenagers in Assyrian households are often fluent in English and are asked to help. GOV.UK migrant health guidance says a professional interpreter should always be offered instead of family or friends, and that using children is inappropriate; it also asks clinicians to check the patient's preferred dialect.

Assyrian police interpreter

Victim statements, witness accounts and interviews under caution, including hate-crime reports (more on police interpreting). We confirm the force's vetting requirement before naming anyone.

Councils, housing and schools

Housing and homelessness assessments, care reviews for an elderly parent who never learned English, and school meetings where a mother is more confident in Assyrian than in Arabic.

Business and charities

Occasional work for community organisations, churches holding public events and employers inducting new staff (our business interpreting page has more).

Face-to-face, telephone or video: which one fits?

For Assyrian, the realistic answer is often video or telephone, because the interpreters who speak it live in a handful of places and travel adds hours and cost. Use a telephone interpreter for short practical calls, video interpreting for therapy and solicitor conferences, and face-to-face interpreting when the person is frail, distressed or giving evidence that will be tested.

Assyrian interpreting modes at a glance

Mode	Best for	Typical notice
Assyrian telephone interpreter	Appointment changes, housing repairs, a pharmacist explaining a new medicine.	Sometimes the same day, subject to availability
Assyrian video interpreter	Counselling, statement-taking, remote Home Office interviews, matching a dialect from far away.	One to three working days
Assyrian face-to-face interpreter	Tribunal and court hearings, capacity and safeguarding meetings, maternity.	About a week, longer outside the larger cities

Lead times for Assyrian bookings

Assyrian is a rare language in UK terms, and the lead times reflect that. Remote work can sometimes be covered within a day; an interpreter in the room usually cannot, and for a hearing the earlier we hear the listing date the better the chance of a dialect match. If cover falls through late, ask whether a video link is acceptable before settling for another language.

Qualified, professional Assyrian interpreters: what to look for

For a rare language like Assyrian, formal credentials may be harder to find than for Arabic or Persian, so the questions you ask matter more. These are fair things to ask of an interpreter, or of the agency sending one:

DPSI (Diploma in Public Service Interpreting)

A Level 6 qualification from CIOL Qualifications, regulated by Ofqual. CIOL's DPSI page notes that some languages run only when minimum candidate numbers are met. Find out which language and option the interpreter passed in, and if it was not Assyrian, what assessment proves their Assyrian.

A place on the NRPSI

The National Register of Public Service Interpreters lists interpreters who meet its entry criteria and renews each language registration every year. Ask whether the interpreter is registered for Assyrian specifically.

Enhanced DBS

Often needed for custody, hospital wards and work with children; which jobs can lawfully ask for the higher check is set out in the DBS eligibility guidance.

Asylum and tribunal experience

Ask how many protection interviews or appeals the interpreter has done, and whether they are comfortable with church terminology.

Dialect and independence

Check that the interpreter's Assyrian matches the speaker's region, and that they have no link to the speaker's family or parish.

Every Assyrian interpreter we put forward is professionally qualified and background-checked. For hearings we choose court-experienced people, and where the setting requires an Enhanced DBS, we confirm one is held.

Assyrian dialects and varieties: why it matters at booking

Assyrian is not one uniform speech, and the speaker's home region is the most useful detail you can give us. Iranian Assyrians, most now living in Tehran with a smaller community in Urmia according to the Iran note, grew up speaking it alongside Persian. Iraqi Christians, most of whom the Iraq note places in the Nineveh Plains and the Kurdistan Region, speak Chaldean and Assyrian varieties alongside Arabic and Kurdish; the same note mentions 48 Syriac-language schools in the Kurdistan Region alone. Families with roots in south-east Turkey or north-east Syria may speak differently again. For evidence, a close match is worth waiting for.

Check the language itself, too. Some Syriac Christian families speak Turoyo, which linguists catalogue as a separate Aramaic language from Assyrian, and others use Arabic at home. Ask the person which language they speak with their parents; that one question saves a lot of wasted bookings.

How to book or hire an Assyrian interpreter

Tell us the brief

Send the kind of appointment, its date, start time and likely length, the venue or video link, the speaker's home region and preferred language, and whether they would prefer a woman or a man, by phone, email or the quote form.

We match and price

We look for an Assyrian interpreter whose dialect and experience fit the setting, and come back with a fixed price, normally within the hour during UK office hours. If only remote cover is realistic, the quote says so.

Confirm and the interpreter attends

When you accept the quote, the interpreter gets a short briefing and attends or joins remotely; individuals pay by card, while NHS services, solicitors and councils are invoiced.

Book an Assyrian interpreter

Find an Assyrian interpreter near me: cities and towns across the UK

An Assyrian interpreter near you can be arranged in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, but in-person cover depends on where our interpreters happen to live, not on a map of demand. With no Census row for Assyrian, there are no official local figures, and we won't invent any. A venue several hours from the nearest interpreter is quoted with travel, with video offered alongside. The pages below cover individual towns and cities.

How much does an Assyrian interpreter cost in the UK?

What an Assyrian interpreter costs in the UK turns on five things: whether it is remote or in person, how long it lasts, how much warning we get, travel, and the kind of setting. In person, our 2026 interpreting price guide runs from £40 to £75 per hour, travel on top, for at least two hours (three in court). Phone calls are charged at £1.10 to £2.50 per minute, and each half-hour of video at £60 to £120. Rare languages sit towards the upper end, and Assyrian is one of them. For a fixed figure, complete the quote request; most replies arrive within the hour during UK office hours.

Before you pay privately, check whether someone else should. NHS appointments should come with interpreting provided by the service. Criminal defendants get an interpreter from the court, and in some tribunals you request one on the appeal form. If the matter is legally aided, mention that in your quote request.

Confidentiality and GDPR for Assyrian interpreting

Assyrian interpreting is confidential from start to finish, and personal data is handled in line with UK GDPR. In a small community the bigger worry is often social: an asylum claimant may fear that the interpreter attends the same church, or knows relatives back in Iraq or Iran. Tell us, and we will choose someone from a different part of the country, working by video if necessary.

Need an Assyrian translator instead?

Interpreting covers the spoken word only. For written material, such as a church record or a letter that needs putting into English, see Assyrian translation services, Assyrian document translation, or the Assyrian language services overview.

Assyrian interpreting FAQs

How much does an Assyrian interpreter cost in the UK?

Under our published 2026 guide, an Assyrian interpreter in person is 40 to 75 pounds per hour, travel extra, for at least two hours, and telephone work is 1.10 to 2.50 pounds per minute. As a rare language, Assyrian usually prices towards the top of those ranges. Share the appointment details and we reply with a fixed price, normally within the hour during UK office hours.

How quickly can you book an Assyrian interpreter?

Remote Assyrian interpreting by phone or video may be possible on the day you ask, subject to availability. Attendance in person usually needs several days to a week of notice because there are few Assyrian interpreters in the UK and travel is often involved.

Are your Assyrian interpreters qualified for court and tribunal work?

They are. For hearings and appeals we choose court-experienced Assyrian interpreters, all professionally qualified and background-checked, and it is fine to ask about an interpreter's qualifications or NRPSI status in advance. No court appoints Prism Linguistics; we work as a private agency.

Do you provide Assyrian interpreters for NHS appointments?

Yes. GP practices, hospitals, maternity units and mental health services can book an Assyrian interpreter through us and be invoiced. Patients should ask the surgery or hospital to arrange it, because NHS patients should not be charged for interpreting.

Can I book an Assyrian interpreter by telephone or video?

For Assyrian, remote is often the most practical choice. It draws on Assyrian interpreters anywhere in the UK, which makes it faster to arrange and easier to match the speaker's dialect than an in-person visit.

Can I request a female Assyrian interpreter?

You can. Mention it in your first message and we'll say at once whether a female Assyrian interpreter is available for that date, since the pool is small. Video often widens the choice when nobody suitable lives nearby.

Do you cover Assyrian interpreting across the whole UK?

Yes. Telephone and video Assyrian interpreting is available anywhere in the UK, and in-person interpreting is arranged in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland wherever an interpreter can travel to the venue, with travel included in the quote.

Should an Assyrian speaker be interviewed in Assyrian, Arabic or Persian?

The speaker should choose. Many Assyrians from Iraq also speak Arabic and many from Iran also speak Persian, but they often explain personal or religious matters best in Assyrian. Record the preference at the start, and use the same language throughout a case.

About the Assyrian language

Assyrian, which many speakers call Sureth, is a modern form of Aramaic, part of the Semitic family, and it is written from right to left in the Syriac alphabet. Its speakers belong to an ethnic group found mainly in parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, in the words of a report quoted in the Home Office's Iran note. Iran's constitution gives Assyrian and Chaldean Christians one jointly elected seat in parliament, and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq funds Syriac-language public schools. No reliable UK speaker total exists.