Asylum, immigration court and hospital interpreting in Djerma across the US, by phone, video or in person, plus certified translation of the French civil records and birth judgments from Niger.
Prism Linguistics provides Djerma interpreters, Djerma being the Zarma language of Niger, for USCIS asylum interviews, immigration court hearings, state court matters and medical appointments anywhere in the United States, by phone, by video or in person, together with certified English translation of the French acte de naissance, marriage record and jugement supplétif that Nigerien applicants hold.
Last reviewed September 2, 2026 by Sarah J, Prism Linguistics
The honest description of Djerma demand in the United States is immigration. Nigeriens are few here, concentrated in New York around Harlem and the South Bronx with a smaller community in Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Djerma speakers among them who need an interpreter are mostly in the asylum system: at the asylum office, in immigration court, and in the hospital visits that come with it. Our office is in New York, which for this language is where the community is. Elsewhere the interpreter joins by phone or video, and courts come to us for Djerma because almost nobody else can supply it.
Zarma, Djerma, Dyerma: the spelling changes with who is writing, and Niger itself now writes Zarma. It is the country's second language after Hausa, spoken across the west around Niamey, and it belongs to the Southern Songhay group alongside Kaado and Dendi. A Djerma interpreter can usually work with those, but usually is a word we check at booking, not one we rely on in a hearing. Hausa is not a substitute, and neither is French, however well the applicant manages daily life in either.
Spoken, not written. Djerma has an official Latin spelling, and most of the people we interpret for were never taught it. So there is no Djerma form to hand out and no Djerma letter to translate; the written record of a Nigerien life is in French. What is in Djerma is the account itself, and that is what the interpreter is for.
The asylum interview is where a Djerma interpreter earns the assignment. An applicant who has been asked to describe events in Niger in French will give the outline; asked in Djerma, they give the detail, and the officer's credibility finding rests on detail. The interpreter renders every answer as spoken, hesitations included, and does not tidy or explain. We match the variety, Djerma, Kaado or Dendi, before the interview, and we never let a relative or a friend from the community fill the chair.
The immigration court arranges its own interpreter for the merits hearing, and Djerma is a language where that arrangement can fail on the day. Attorneys book us for what the court does not cover: preparing the client, reviewing the declaration line by line in Djerma, and depositions or state court matters that run alongside. No state certifies court interpreters in Djerma, so a qualified interpreter is what any court will use. We are a private agency, not a court-appointed vendor, and we work for courts, attorneys and law firms.
A hospital that takes federal funds must supply a Djerma interpreter at no cost, and a Nigerien patient is often handed a French speaker instead and left to cope. For a routine visit that may do. For a diagnosis, a consent conversation or anything involving an older patient, we place a Djerma interpreter by video with the clinic, or in person in New York, and brief them to render the patient's words rather than the family's summary of them.
There is almost never a Djerma document to translate, and saying so up front saves a family money. Niger keeps its civil registry in French; the 2025 Refoundation Charter made Hausa the national language, kept French as a working language and lists Zarma as a spoken one, and the paperwork has not moved. So what arrives is the French acte de naissance, the marriage record and, very often, a jugement supplétif d'acte de naissance, the judgment a tribunal issues when a birth was never registered. For many Djerma speakers that judgment is the only birth record they will ever hold, and the most common translation error is to label it a birth certificate. It is not; it is a court order, with a court, a date and named witnesses, and USCIS reads it as one. Our translators render it as the judgment it is, keep every name and the court as printed, spell the applicant's 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 Djerma interpreters work nationwide. For in-person work we assign someone based in or near the city. These are the areas where Djerma 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 Djerma assignment ever falls short, tell us and we put it right.