Medical, USCIS and court interpreting for families from Cebu, Bohol and Mindanao across the US, in Cebuano rather than Tagalog, plus certified translation of the Cebuano paperwork behind a PSA record.
Prism Linguistics provides Cebuano interpreters for medical appointments, USCIS naturalization and adjustment interviews, court hearings and depositions anywhere in the United States, in person, by phone or by video, assigned as Cebuano rather than Tagalog, together with certified English translation of the affidavits, barangay certifications and letters that go with a Philippine civil record.
Last reviewed September 2, 2026 by Sarah J, Prism Linguistics
Cebuano is the second language of the Philippines by a wide margin and the first language of Cebu, Bohol and most of Mindanao, yet almost every Filipino interpreter booked in the United States is a Tagalog interpreter. That gap is the reason this page exists. Our office is in New York; our Cebuano interpreters and translators work across the country, in person for hospitals and courts where one is based nearby and by phone or video everywhere else.
The 2020 Philippine census logged 1.72 million households speaking Cebuano and another 4.21 million speaking Bisaya or Binisaya, and most of that second group are Cebuano speakers using their own name for it. In the United States the working-age generation from Cebu or Davao seldom needs an interpreter. Their parents do: the mother petitioned over on a family visa, the retired father at a cardiology appointment, the grandmother whose Tagalog stalled at what she picked up from television.
Bisaya is a clue, not an answer. A patient or a witness described as Bisaya may speak Cebuano, Hiligaynon or Waray, and those are separate languages. We ask the province before we assign. A Cebuano interpreter sent to a Waray speaker from Samar is a wasted afternoon, and a Tagalog interpreter sent to an elderly Cebuano speaker gets nods that mean nothing.
A hospital that receives federal funds owes a Cebuano-speaking patient an interpreter at no charge, and the case that goes wrong is nearly always the one where a bilingual adult child stood in. The child summarizes. The physician hears a tidy version of a symptom that was described in detail, or a consent that was never quite given. Video serves most clinic visits; we send an interpreter in person for a surgical consent, an oncology consultation or a home health assessment where an older patient will not talk to a screen.
Naturalization interviews under the age-based English exemption and adjustment interviews for parents petitioned by their US-citizen children are the routine Cebuano USCIS work. The applicant brings the interpreter, and the interpreter has to be someone the officer will accept: an adult, fluent in both languages, with no stake in the case. Bringing a relative is allowed on paper and unwise in practice. Our Cebuano interpreters know the interview format, render each answer as given, and do not help.
No state offers a court certification exam in Cebuano, so a court uses a qualified interpreter, and Cebuano is scarce enough that Prism is often the call after the court's own list came up empty. Depositions in personal injury and family cases, guardianship hearings for an elderly parent and the occasional criminal matter make up most of it. Prism is a private agency and not a court-appointed vendor; the attorney books with us, and we confirm the interpreter's Cebuano rather than a general Filipino label.
The birth certificate itself is usually not the job. The Philippine Statistics Authority issues civil records in English on security paper, and USCIS wants that PSA copy, so a Cebuano birth certificate translation is rarely needed. The Cebuano translation is everything the PSA copy cannot supply: the affidavit of two disinterested persons filed when the PSA has no record, a barangay certification, a baptismal record from a parish in Bohol, a late-registration affidavit sworn by an aunt, and the messages and letters in a fiancé or spousal petition that show the relationship is real. We translate those in full, keep the register the officer will read for credibility, spell every name to the passport and sign a Certificate of Translation Accuracy. Details at certified translation.
Tell us the date, the city and the setting, or send a clear scan of the document. We reply with a fixed price and, for interpreting, a named linguist. Call +1 (833) 282 8883, email info@prismlinguistics.com, or use the quote form and you will hear back within 60 minutes during business hours.
Our only office is in New York, and our Cebuano interpreters work nationwide. For in-person work we assign someone based in or near the city. These are the areas where Cebuano work is concentrated; the full list of 288 cities is below it.
Prism Linguistics is rated 4.6 out of 5 across 67 client reviews for its interpreting and translation work in the United States. That is the company-wide figure; we do not publish a separate rating per language because there is no honest way to measure one. If a Cebuano assignment ever falls short, tell us and we put it right.