Immigration court, asylum office and clinic interpreting across the US in K'iche', Mam, Q'anjob'al, Q'eqchi' and the other Guatemalan Mayan languages, direct into English wherever the setting allows.
Prism Linguistics provides Mayan language interpreters, meaning K'iche', Mam, Q'anjob'al, Q'eqchi', Kaqchikel and the other languages of Guatemala and southern Mexico, for immigration court, asylum interviews, state court hearings and medical appointments anywhere in the United States, in person, by phone or by video, together with certified translation of the Spanish civil records and Mayan-language evidence in the file.
Last reviewed September 2, 2026 by Sarah J, Prism Linguistics
Nobody speaks Mayan. The word on a booking form is an umbrella for K'iche', Mam, Q'anjob'al, Q'eqchi', Kaqchikel and two dozen other languages that differ from each other as much as English differs from German, and the first job is to find out which one the person actually speaks. Our office is in New York and our Mayan language interpreters are placed near the communities that need them, in California, Florida, Texas, the Southeast and New England, so we assign one based near the court or clinic, and by phone or video we can usually connect the same day.
Mam and K'iche' are among the ten languages most used in US immigration courts, and Q'anjob'al sits not far behind. The speakers arrived from the western highlands over forty years, and the map of where they live reads like a map of the departments they left: Mam speakers from Huehuetenango and San Marcos in Oakland and the Bay Area, K'iche' speakers from Quiché and Totonicapán in Los Angeles, Providence and Houston, Q'anjob'al speakers in Palm Beach County and Omaha, Q'eqchi' speakers from Alta Verapaz in Florida and the Southeast.
Ask the town, not the language. Many speakers will say Spanish because that is what officials expect to hear, or will name the language by a local word an intake officer does not recognize. The municipality and department settle it: San Marcos means Mam, Nahualá means K'iche', Cobán means Q'eqchi', Santa Eulalia means Q'anjob'al. We match the interpreter to that town's language and, where the language has strong regional variants, to the region, because a Mam speaker from Todos Santos and one from San Pedro Sacatepéquez do not always follow each other.
Government figures cited by advocacy groups show that for most of the ten most requested Indigenous languages, immigration courts managed to provide an interpreter less than half the time, and the usual result is a continuance or a hearing pushed through in Spanish. Both harm the respondent. We supply K'iche', Mam, Q'anjob'al and Q'eqchi' interpreters direct into English for master and individual hearings, and a relay through Spanish only where the judge insists and you agree. No state certifies court interpreters in any Mayan language, so for state criminal, family and dependency hearings the court works from registered or otherwise qualified interpreters. Prism is a private agency, not a court-appointed vendor.
A credible fear interview conducted in Spanish with a K'iche' speaker produces a thin, contradictory record, and the contradictions follow the applicant into court. Done in the right language, the same interview produces dates, names and places. Mayan languages mark possession and who did what to whom in ways English and Spanish do not, and an interpreter who flattens those into a Spanish-shaped sentence changes the claim. We brief every Mayan language interpreter to render literally, to keep the pauses, and to flag a word with no English equivalent rather than pick a near one.
Federally funded hospitals must provide an interpreter at no cost in the patient's language, and Mayan-speaking patients are routinely given a Spanish interpreter instead because the intake form says Guatemala. Prenatal care, pediatrics and farm or construction injuries are the common settings. Video reaches a rural clinic in Georgia or Nebraska with no K'iche' or Mam speaker; for a surgery consent, a mental health evaluation or a diagnosis the patient must understand, we send a Mayan medical interpreter in person.
Guatemalan civil records are Spanish, so the certified translation of a RENAP birth certification, marriage certificate or DPI card is Spanish to English, and what a Mayan translator adds is the explanation around it: a name a Spanish-speaking registrar respelled, a birth registered late from memory, a Spanish given name on the record that the applicant has never used. The document goes across as printed; a translator's note explains any point where the applicant's own K'iche' or Mam account differs, so the officer meets the explanation before the discrepancy. Evidence in the Mayan language itself, a recorded threat or a community authority's letter, is transcribed in that language using the Academia de Lenguas Mayas spelling, translated, and certified with the language and municipality named. The full document service is 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 Mayan interpreters work nationwide. For in-person work we assign someone based in or near the city. These are the areas where Mayan 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 Mayan assignment ever falls short, tell us and we put it right.