Bajuni Interpreter Services

Prism Linguistics arranges Bajuni interpreter services UK-wide for people from the Bajuni Islands and the southern Somali coast, mostly by video or telephone, and in person where an interpreter can reach you. Immigration solicitors, NHS clinics, police and councils can book through us, and each request starts by finding out how the client really speaks.

Get a Bajuni interpreter quote or call +44 (0) 20 3880 6688

• UK-wide Bajuni 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 July 2022 the Upper Tribunal accepted expert evidence that Bajuni is, in effect, a dying language. Its country guidance decision, ASA (Bajuni: correct approach; Sprakab reports) Somalia CG, records a linguist's study of 155 Bajuni refugee cases in which 95% no longer spoke Bajuni; they had replaced it with Swahili, keeping only bits of Bajuni built into it. The younger the speaker, the fewer Bajuni features remained.

For anyone booking, that changes the question. A request for a Bajuni interpreter can mean an older islander who speaks the full dialect, a man in his twenties whose speech is close to standard Swahili, or a woman who is more comfortable in Somali. Our job is to establish which of them is coming to the appointment before anyone is assigned.

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

Bajuni interpreting services provide a trained interpreter who carries a conversation between a Bajuni speaker and an English speaker, turn by turn, in the same room, on a phone line or over a video link. It sits within our wider interpreting services, and in almost every Bajuni booking it is consecutive: a few sentences, a pause, then the rendering.

Much of the Bajuni work we see touches on where a person comes from, so detail counts for more than fluency. Island names such as Chula, Koyama and Chovaye, the words for fishing gear and boats, a family's trade, a local landmark: an interpreter who smooths these into general Swahili, or guesses at a spelling, can change what the English record appears to say. Local names should stay exactly as spoken.

English to Bajuni interpreter (and Bajuni to English)

An English to Bajuni interpreter works both ways in one booking, voicing the client's Bajuni in English and the other side's English in Bajuni. In legal work the heavier direction is usually into English, because the client's answers become a statement or a transcript. In a clinic it flips: a midwife's instructions on a scan date or a medicine need to land in the variety the patient uses at home, not in a textbook form of Swahili she half follows.

Families sometimes suggest a cousin who knows some English. GOV.UK guidance on interpreting in healthcare says a professional interpreter should always be offered instead of family or friends, that children should not interpret, and that staff should check the preferred dialect or variety.

Bajuni court interpreters and HMCTS work

A Bajuni court interpreter renders every question and answer in full, adds nothing and drops nothing, and keeps out of the argument. Whether HMCTS supplies the interpreter depends on the jurisdiction. Under the GOV.UK rules on court and tribunal interpreters, a criminal defendant is given one, family courts provide one where children, domestic abuse or forced marriage are involved, and civil courts do so for possession and committal cases; for some tribunals you ask on the appeal form. A relative can interpret only if the judge agrees before the hearing.

For Bajuni clients most hearings are immigration appeals, and a lot of the interpreting happens before anyone reaches a courtroom: conferences with counsel, witness statements. Solicitors book that legal interpreting privately. One distinction matters here. The 2022 guidance says expert evidence on whether someone speaks Bajuni should analyse their speech by morphology, syntax, phonology and vocabulary. An interpreter is not that expert, and we do not write linguistic reports. Prism Linguistics is a private language-services provider and does not present itself as a court-appointed supplier.

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

Asylum and immigration work produces most requests for Bajuni interpreters, and healthcare interpreting is the other main source.

Home Office asylum interviews

The Home Office books its own interpreter for the interview. Its caseworker guidance on asylum interviews says that if none can be found in the claimant's preferred language, another language the claimant is judged proficient in may be used, and that immigration advisers may bring their own interpreter to attend. Solicitors can book a Bajuni interpreter from us for exactly that role.

Bajuni NHS interpreter: GP and maternity

GP registration, antenatal care and children's checks. NHS England guidance for commissioners says interpreting in primary care should be free at the point of delivery, so the practice books it, not the family.

Bajuni medical interpreter: mental health and trauma

Assessments where a patient describes events from Somalia or a Kenyan camp. Keeping the same interpreter across sessions helps.

Bajuni police interpreter

Witness statements, victim care and interviews under caution (see police interpreting). Requests are occasional, and we confirm the force's vetting rules before naming anyone.

Councils and schools

Housing applications once leave is granted, children's services meetings and school admissions, where a parent may manage everyday English but not the procedure.

Business

Rare. Commercial meetings with Bajuni speakers almost always run in Swahili or English, which our business interpreting team can arrange instead.

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

For Bajuni, remote interpreting is often the realistic choice rather than the fallback. The pool of interpreters with genuine Bajuni is small and scattered, so a video interpreter lets you use the best-matched person wherever they live. A telephone interpreter suits short calls. Keep face-to-face interpreting for long, sensitive sessions, and plan for the travel.

Bajuni interpreting modes at a glance

Mode	Best for	Typical notice
Bajuni telephone interpreter	Appointment reminders, a caseworker update, a short GP or pharmacy call.	One to two working days; same day subject to availability
Bajuni video interpreter	Solicitor conferences, statement taking, mental health sessions, remote hearings.	Two to three working days, sooner subject to availability
Bajuni face-to-face interpreter	Asylum interviews with an adviser, tribunal days, assessments with a vulnerable adult.	A week or more, as the interpreter may travel a long way

Lead times for Bajuni bookings

Expect longer lead times than for Somali or Swahili. In-person cover is limited, and for some parts of the country the nearest suitable interpreter is several hours away. If an asylum interview or hearing date arrives with little warning, send it anyway; we will say honestly whether a Bajuni speaker can attend or whether a remote link, or a Swahili interpreter the client is comfortable with, is the better option.

Qualified, professional Bajuni interpreters: what to look for

A qualified, professional Bajuni interpreter is hard to judge from a CV alone, so the useful checks are about evidence of training and of the dialect itself. Questions worth putting to any interpreter or agency:

DPSI

The Diploma in Public Service Interpreting is a Level 6 qualification awarded by CIOL Qualifications and regulated by Ofqual. It runs only in some languages and specialisms, so ask which specialism and language the interpreter passed in; CIOL's DPSI page explains the structure.

NRPSI registration

The National Register of Public Service Interpreters lists interpreters who meet its registration requirements, renewed each year. Ask which language the registration covers, since it may be Swahili rather than Bajuni.

Enhanced DBS

Needed for many roles with children or vulnerable adults; the DBS eligibility guidance sets out which.

How they speak Bajuni

Where they grew up, which island or town their family is from, and whether they use Bajuni at home or learnt it later. Age matters too, given what the tribunal found about younger speakers.

Asylum and tribunal experience

How many interviews or appeals they have interpreted, and whether they understand that their role is to interpret, not to comment on the client's origin.

For our part, the Bajuni interpreters we put forward are professionally qualified and background-checked. Tribunal and court bookings go to court-experienced interpreters, and an Enhanced DBS is arranged where the setting requires it.

Bajuni dialects and varieties: why it matters at booking

Bajuni is a coastal variety of Swahili, and the gap between it and the Swahili most interpreters learn is wide enough to cause problems. In LS (Bajuni - Kibajuni Speaker) Somalia CG, a 2002 decision, the Immigration Appeal Tribunal held that Kibajuni and the Swahili of neighbouring parts of Kenya were only mutually understandable to a limited extent. Somali is a different language altogether, although Bajuni elders quoted in the same case said most Bajuni speak some Somali, younger exiles less so.

Getting this right has consequences beyond comfort. Where a person's claimed origin is in doubt, the Home Office may use language analysis, a conversation of roughly 20 to 30 minutes in which an analyst listens to the person speak in their own language and dialect. A client who has been interviewed through the wrong interpreter may have answers on file that read oddly against that analysis. Tell us what the client speaks with family, and with whom they learnt any Somali or standard Swahili.

How to book or hire a Bajuni interpreter

Tell us the brief

Send the date, time and venue or video link, the type of appointment and its likely length, plus whatever you know of the client's home island or town, their age and the other languages they use, and any preference for a woman or a man.

We match and price

We search for an interpreter whose Bajuni fits the client and the setting, then send a fixed price, normally within the hour during UK office hours, with a short note on the match and on whether attendance or video is realistic.

Confirm and the interpreter attends

Once you confirm, the interpreter is briefed on the venue and the contact on the day and then attends or joins the call; individuals pay by card, and solicitors, NHS services and local authorities can be invoiced.

Book a Bajuni interpreter

Find a Bajuni interpreter near me: cities and towns across the UK

You can book a Bajuni interpreter near you in any part of the UK, though we can't point to an official map of where Bajuni speakers live. The 2021 Census main-language table for England and Wales has no Bajuni category, so no published figure exists, and we will not guess one. In-person cover depends on where the nearest suitable interpreter lives; video reaches every UK nation. The links below lead to our city pages.

How much does a Bajuni interpreter cost in the UK?

A Bajuni interpreter is priced on the mode, the length of the booking, the notice you give, travel and the setting. Our 2026 pricing guide sets face-to-face work at £40 to £75 an hour plus travel, with a two-hour minimum (three for court), telephone interpreting at £1.10 to £2.50 a minute and video at £60 to £120 for a 30-minute session. Bajuni is a rare language, so expect the upper end of each range.

Travel is usually the biggest variable. If the best-matched interpreter lives far from your venue, a video session can cost much less than an attended one with the same person. For an NHS appointment, the service should arrange and fund the interpreter. Use the quote form for a fixed price, normally within the hour during UK office hours.

Confidentiality and GDPR for Bajuni interpreting

What a Bajuni interpreter hears stays confidential, and personal data is processed under UK GDPR. Bajuni speakers in Britain are a small group, and an asylum claimant may be anxious that the interpreter knows relatives or will repeat what was said about the family's history. If so, say so when booking; we can look for someone with no local ties, often working by video from another region.

Need a Bajuni translator instead?

Interpreting covers speech only. For a letter, a statement or a medical record, see Bajuni translation services and Bajuni document translation, and tell us which language the paper is actually written in. The Bajuni language services page lists everything else we offer.

Bajuni interpreting FAQs

How much does a Bajuni interpreter cost in the UK?

A Bajuni interpreter costs according to the mode, length, notice, travel and setting. Our 2026 guide is 40 to 75 pounds an hour plus travel in person, 1.10 to 2.50 pounds a minute by telephone and 60 to 120 pounds per 30-minute video session, and Bajuni, as a rare language, sits towards the top of each range. Send the details for a fixed price, normally within the hour during UK office hours.

How quickly can you book a Bajuni interpreter?

A Bajuni interpreter by telephone or video can usually be arranged within one to three working days, and sometimes the same day, subject to availability. In-person attendance normally needs a week or more because few interpreters speak the dialect and many have to travel.

Are your Bajuni interpreters qualified for court and tribunal work?

Yes. Hearings and appeals go to court-experienced Bajuni interpreters who are professionally qualified and background-checked, and you may ask about DPSI or NRPSI standing and the language it covers. Prism Linguistics is a private provider, not a court-appointed supplier, and does not write linguistic expert reports.

Do you provide Bajuni interpreters for NHS appointments?

Yes, for GP practices, maternity, hospital clinics and mental health teams, often by video given how few Bajuni interpreters there are. NHS services book and are invoiced, and patients should not be charged, since NHS England guidance says primary-care interpreting should be free at the point of delivery.

Can I book a Bajuni interpreter by telephone or video?

Yes, and for Bajuni it is often the best route. Remote work lets us use the best-matched interpreter anywhere in the UK, which matters more for a rare dialect than having someone close by. Telephone suits short calls; video suits statements, conferences and longer appointments.

Can I request a female Bajuni interpreter?

You can, and we will look for one, but the pool of women interpreters with genuine Bajuni is very small, so raise it at the first contact. Home Office asylum interview guidance also lets claimants ask for a male or female interviewer, and a female interviewer and interpreter can be requested as an adjustment.

Do you cover Bajuni interpreting across the whole UK?

Yes. We take Bajuni bookings in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Video and telephone work anywhere, and in-person attendance depends on where a suitable interpreter is based and how far they need to travel.

Will a Swahili or Somali interpreter understand a Bajuni speaker?

Sometimes, but not reliably. A tribunal found in 2002 that Kibajuni and the Swahili spoken in neighbouring parts of Kenya are only partly mutually understandable, and Somali is an unrelated language that some Bajuni speak well and others hardly at all. Younger Bajuni often speak something close to standard Swahili, so ask the client what they use at home before choosing.

About the Bajuni language

Bajuni, called Kibajuni by its speakers, is the Swahili variety of the Bajuni people, whose islands run in a chain of about 145 miles from Kismayo in Somalia down to Pate Island in Kenya; Koyama, Chovaye and Chula lie on the Somali side. After 1991 many islanders fled south to relatives in Mombasa and Malindi or to Kenyan refugee camps, where, the tribunal heard, they tended to speak Kenyan or camp Swahili with other refugees. There is no official count of Bajuni speakers in the UK.