Neapolitan Interpreter Services

Prism Linguistics arranges Neapolitan interpreter services UK-wide, though UK demand is thinly evidenced and no official count of Neapolitan speakers in Britain exists. Neapolitan lives alongside Italian, the official language of Italy, so the realistic booking is often an Italian interpreter who follows Neapolitan well, by video or in person. Ask the speaker which they prefer first.

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

• UK-wide Neapolitan 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 Campania, the region around Naples, 75.2% of people aged six and over used dialect at home in 2015, either mainly or mixed with Italian. No Italian region scored higher. Only 20.7% of Campanians spoke only or mainly Italian in the family, the lowest share in the country. Both come from ISTAT's report on Italian, dialects and other languages (Italy's statistics office, December 2017). ISTAT does not name the dialect, so this is no Neapolitan headcount, but it shows how much family life there still runs outside standard Italian.

The British evidence is much thinner. Neapolitan has no row of its own in the 2021 Census main-language table for England and Wales. Italian does, at 160,010 usual residents aged three and over, but nothing in that number says how many grew up with Neapolitan, and we will not guess. In short, Neapolitan by name is an unusual request, a specialist can take time to find, and an Italian interpreter who understands the speaker is often the workable answer.

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

Neapolitan interpreting services give someone who is most at ease in Neapolitan a spoken link to English-speaking staff, in person or over a phone or video connection. Most of it is consecutive, as with our wider interpreting services: each side speaks, pauses, and the interpreter relays it.

Neapolitan usually comes with a second language, Italian, to fall back on. ISTAT found that outside the North-west and Centre of Italy, no more than about three-quarters of people spoke mainly Italian even with strangers. Dialect, or a mix, can follow a person right into the formal conversations where an interpreter is booked.

English to Neapolitan interpreter (and Neapolitan to English)

An English to Neapolitan interpreter is also your Neapolitan to English interpreter, covering both directions from start to finish. The two directions are not equally hard. Coming into English, the interpreter has to catch local words and idioms that an Italian-only listener might half-understand. Going into Neapolitan, a drug name or a legal term may simply be given in Italian, and a careful interpreter tells the professional when that happens.

A bilingual son or niece may offer to step in. The GOV.UK guidance on language interpretation for health professionals advises offering a professional interpreter every time rather than leaning on relatives, and says children should not be used to interpret.

Neapolitan court interpreters and HMCTS work

A Neapolitan court interpreter carries questions, answers and the judge's directions across in full and stays impartial. Under the GOV.UK rules for court and tribunal interpreters, criminal defendants are given one; in the family courts one is supplied when children, domestic violence or forced marriage feature; civil courts supply one for possession and committal hearings. A relative may interpret only if the judge agrees first.

If a hearing has been set up with an Italian interpreter but your client gives evidence noticeably better in Neapolitan, the solicitor should tell the court in writing well before the date. Conferences outside those categories are booked privately through our legal interpreting team. Prism Linguistics is a private language-services provider and does not present itself as a court-appointed supplier.

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

Evidence of Neapolitan demand in Britain is thin. These are the settings where Neapolitan versus Italian tends to matter.

Neapolitan NHS interpreter

A patient who asks for Neapolitan or struggles with standard Italian. The NHS England guidance for commissioners on primary-care interpreting states that interpreting should be free at the point of delivery. See also healthcare interpreting.

Neapolitan medical interpreter for older patients

Across Italy, ISTAT found that 32.5% of people aged 65 and over with no more than lower-secondary schooling spoke mainly dialect in the family. By that measure, an older patient facing a diagnosis is the person most likely to prefer Neapolitan to Italian.

Neapolitan police interpreter

Custody clocks leave little room to source a rare language, so it is usually quicker to start with Italian; if the detainee says they cannot follow, record it and ask us straight away. More on police interpreting.

Solicitors, research and business

Statement meetings with a solicitor, recorded oral-history interviews, and commercial work through business interpreting.

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

For a genuine Neapolitan booking, start with video interpreting: the interpreter can be anywhere and still see the speaker. Telephone interpreting covers a quick appointment change. Face-to-face interpreting in Neapolitan is hard to arrange; in Italian it is far easier.

Neapolitan interpreting modes at a glance

Mode	Best for	Typical notice
Neapolitan telephone interpreter	Rebooking a clinic, a pharmacy question.	A few working days; Italian cover may be sooner, subject to availability
Neapolitan video interpreter	Outpatient reviews, therapy, remote hearings.	About a week where possible
Neapolitan face-to-face interpreter	Trials, or an elderly speaker who copes badly with screens.	Weeks, and not always achievable

Lead times for Neapolitan bookings

Send the date as soon as you know it. A Neapolitan specialist can take time to source, and one diary clash may leave a date uncovered. If we cannot cover a date, we say so early, leaving time to ask the speaker about Italian.

Qualified, professional Neapolitan interpreters: what to look for

Fair questions for anyone offering Neapolitan, us included.

DPSI (Diploma in Public Service Interpreting)

A Level 6 qualification from CIOL Qualifications, regulated by Ofqual, described on CIOL's DPSI page. Ask which language and specialism it covers: a diploma in Italian says nothing about Neapolitan.

A place on the NRPSI

The National Register of Public Service Interpreters lists each interpreter's languages. Ask which.

Enhanced DBS

Often needed where children or vulnerable adults are involved; the DBS eligibility guidance on GOV.UK sets out which roles qualify.

Where the Neapolitan was learned

Growing up in Naples or its province is different from having heard it from grandparents abroad. Ask.

The Neapolitan and Italian interpreters we place are professionally qualified and background-checked. Hearings get court-experienced interpreters, and an Enhanced DBS is in place where the setting requires one.

Neapolitan dialects and varieties: why it matters at booking

"Neapolitan" covers more than the speech of one city. Glottolog files the language under the name Continental Southern Italian and marks it threatened, citing UNESCO's 2010 atlas of endangered languages. The name points to a spread of southern mainland speech, so a speaker from a village in the hills and one from central Naples may not sound the same.

The GOV.UK health guidance cited above asks clinicians to record a patient's preferred language including dialect, and to check before the session that the interpreter's language and dialect match the request. Do the same here: tell us where the speaker grew up, and let them, not the booker, decide whether Italian will do.

How to book or hire a Neapolitan interpreter

Tell us the brief

Give us the date, time, length, venue or video platform, the type of appointment, the speaker's home town, and whether Italian is acceptable as a fallback.

We match and price

We look for an interpreter who handles that speaker's Neapolitan and your setting, and quote a fixed price, normally within the hour during UK office hours, saying plainly if only video or Italian is realistic.

Confirm and the interpreter attends

Once you approve the quote, the interpreter is briefed and joins the call or arrives at the venue; NHS bodies, councils and law firms are invoiced, private clients pay by card.

Book a Neapolitan interpreter

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

Official statistics do not show where in Britain Neapolitan is spoken, so this page names no town as a hub for it. A Neapolitan interpreter near you will in most cases join by video. For an in-person Italian interpreter, London is the easiest place: it held 81,293 of the 160,010 Italian main-language residents counted in England and Wales.

How much does a Neapolitan interpreter cost in the UK?

Mode, session length, notice, travel and setting decide what a Neapolitan interpreter costs. Our 2026 interpreting price guide lists face-to-face work at £40 to £75 an hour plus travel (two-hour minimum, three in court), telephone at £1.10 to £2.50 a minute, and video at £60 to £120 per 30-minute session. A named Neapolitan interpreter sits towards the top of those ranges; an Italian interpreter, where the speaker is happy with one, usually costs less.

For an NHS appointment the service itself should arrange and pay for interpreting. Everyone else can use the Neapolitan interpreter quote form and receive a fixed price, normally within the hour during UK office hours.

Confidentiality and GDPR for Neapolitan interpreting

Anything said during a Neapolitan interpreting session stays confidential, and personal data is processed under UK GDPR. With a language this specialised, a family booking more than once may meet the same interpreter again; if the speaker would rather not, we find someone else or an Italian interpreter instead.

Need a Neapolitan translator instead?

For letters, wills or recordings that need a written English version, go to Neapolitan translation services or Neapolitan document translation, and see Neapolitan language services for everything we offer in the language.

Neapolitan interpreting FAQs

How much does a Neapolitan interpreter cost in the UK?

As a 2026 guide: 40 to 75 pounds an hour plus travel face to face, 1.10 to 2.50 pounds a minute by telephone and 60 to 120 pounds per 30-minute video session, with Neapolitan near the top of each range. We quote a fixed price, normally within the hour during UK office hours.

How quickly can you book a Neapolitan interpreter?

Allow a few working days for telephone, about a week for video and a number of weeks for an in-person interpreter, which cannot always be arranged. An Italian interpreter can usually be found sooner, subject to availability.

Are your Neapolitan interpreters qualified for court and tribunal work?

For hearings we assign court-experienced interpreters, each professionally qualified and background-checked. Ask any interpreter which language their qualification covers, since an Italian diploma does not test Neapolitan. Prism Linguistics is a private provider, not a court-appointed supplier.

Do you provide Neapolitan interpreters for NHS appointments?

Yes, for GP surgeries, hospital clinics and mental health services, with video usually the practical route. The NHS service should book and pay for the interpreter, and patients should not be asked to bring a relative to interpret.

Can I book a Neapolitan interpreter by telephone or video?

Yes, and for Neapolitan these are usually the practical routes.

Should I book a Neapolitan or an Italian interpreter?

Ask the speaker. Many Neapolitan speakers also use Italian, and Italian interpreters are much easier to find. If the person asks for Neapolitan, or clearly follows better in it, book Neapolitan and allow extra notice, or ask for an Italian interpreter from Campania who understands it.

Do you cover Neapolitan interpreting across the whole UK?

Yes. We take bookings from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, by video or telephone anywhere and in person where an interpreter can reach the venue.

Do you interpret both Neapolitan to English and English to Neapolitan?

Yes. One interpreter works both ways throughout, so nothing either side says is missed.

About the Neapolitan language

Neapolitan is a Romance language of southern Italy, coded nap in the ISO 639-3 code tables, where it is listed as a living individual language. It has no legal status as a minority language: Article 2 of Italy's Law 482 of 15 December 1999 protects twelve groups, among them Albanian, Greek, Friulian and Sardinian, and Neapolitan is not one of them. The same law names Italian as the official language of the Republic.