Prism Linguistics provides certified English translation of the Romanian, Hungarian and Slovak civil records that Romani speakers actually hold, and Romani interpreters for asylum interviews, court hearings and medical appointments in Chicago and across the United States.
Romani Interpreters in Chicago
Our Romani interpreters in Chicago are professional, experienced linguists who work in asylum offices, immigration and state courts, hospitals and clinics, and who are booked by dialect, Vlax or otherwise, which is what makes a Romani interpreting assignment right.
Ask which Romani. Romani has many dialects and no single standard. In the United States the Vlax dialects dominate, Kalderash and Machvaya among them; a Roma speaker from Slovakia or Hungary may use a non-Vlax variety that a Vlax Romani interpreter follows only partly, so we ask the family's country and group before assigning anyone. Roma have historically avoided census takers, so there is no count of Romani speakers in the United States; estimates have run as high as one million people, concentrated in Texas, Florida, California, the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast. Roma from Romania have been among recent asylum seekers at the southern border, and the recurring failure there is a Romanian interpreter booked for a Romani speaker, or the reverse. No state runs a court certification exam in Romani, so courts use a qualified Romani interpreter; Romani is the kind of rare language courts come to us for. At an asylum interview the Romani interpreter renders the answer as given.
For an in-person assignment in Chicago we assign a Romani interpreter based in or near the city. Telephone and video interpreting can usually be arranged the same day. We serve courts, attorneys, hospitals, USCIS applicants and private individuals; we are a private agency, not a court-appointed vendor, and we say so up front.
Romani Court, Medical and USCIS Interpreters in Chicago
Prism Linguistics supplies experienced Romani interpreters in Chicago for asylum interviews, court hearings, depositions and medical appointments, in person, by phone or by video, matched to the family's dialect, together with certified Romani translation of the statements filed with those cases.
Chicago is the seat of Cook County, and Illinois runs one unified trial court, so there is no separate municipal court. The Circuit Court of Cook County hears felonies in its Criminal Division and larger civil suits in its Law Division, while its Municipal Department, First District, covering the city, takes misdemeanors, traffic offences, evictions, small claims and felony preliminary hearings. Our only office is in New York; a linguist near Chicago covers in-person work.
The most common languages among Chicago Public Schools families are Spanish, Polish, Arabic and Chinese, and the district also publishes in Tagalog, Ukrainian, Urdu and Vietnamese. Beyond that list the city holds one of the world's largest Assyrian communities, speaking Neo-Aramaic, and a Rohingya community with its own culture center. Illinois courts have been documented falling short on Q'anjob'al interpreters, with Mam and K'iche' also in demand and thousands of Mayan speakers living downstate. Rare languages like these are why courts approach Prism.
Local Romani Interpreting Services in Chicago
Local Romani interpreting services in Chicago and the cities around it come from the same nationwide network, so a court, attorney or clinic in any city below books a Romani interpreter the same way, and gets a Romani speaker rather than a Romanian one.
Our only office is in New York. For in-person work in Chicago we assign a Romani interpreter who is based in or near the city, and the same Romani linguists cover the surrounding area:
Romani to English Translation Services in Chicago
Certified Romani to English translation at Prism is reserved for the document actually written in Romani, a declaration or a family letter, while a qualified Romanian, Hungarian or Slovak translator prepares the certificate; a professional Romani translator makes sure the official name and the Romani name are reconciled across the file.
Romani is not Romanian. Romani is the language of the Roma; Romanian is the language of Romania. A Roma family from Romania holds a certificat de naştere from the local starea civilă office, in Romanian. A family from Hungary holds a születési anyakönyvi kivonat from the anyakönyvi hivatal, in Hungarian. A family from Slovakia holds a rodný list from the matričný úrad. Romani itself is almost never the language of the paperwork, so we quote for the language on the page and use a Romani translator only for a declaration actually written in Romani.
The trap is the name. A Roma applicant may carry a Romanian or Hungarian official name on the certificate and use a Romani name in daily life; we show the official name spelled to match the passport and note the Romani variant, or the asylum file and the birth record look like two people.
Every certified Romani translation is a complete, word-for-word rendering with a signed Certificate of Translation Accuracy, prepared to meet USCIS requirements. It is done from a clear scan, so a client in Chicago gets the same translator, the same price and the same turnaround as one anywhere else in the country. See certified Romani translation for the document service in full.
How to Book a Romani Interpreter in Chicago
- Send the document or the appointment details. A phone photo is fine for a quote; a clean scan is needed for the certified copy. For interpreting, tell us the date, the setting and where the speaker is from.
- Get a fixed price within 60 minutes during business hours, and a named Romani linguist for interpreting work.
- Receive the translation by email as a signed PDF, with a paper copy by mail on request, or confirm the interpreter and the time.
Get a free Romani interpreting quote or call +1 (833) 282 8883
About the Romani Language
Romani is the language of the Roma people, with around 4 million speakers distributed across Europe, particularly in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Serbia, and Spain, plus US diaspora communities. It's an Indo-Aryan language descended from ancestral languages of northern India, brought west during medieval Roma migration. The US Romani-speaking community is small but distinctive, with concentrations in California, Texas, and parts of the Midwest. Our Romani translation work is occasional and typically tied to cultural, asylum, or community-association documents.
Romani Interpreting in Chicago: FAQs
Is a Romanian interpreter the same as a Romani interpreter?
No. Romanian is the national language of Romania; Romani is the language of the Roma. A Roma applicant from Romania may need both: a Romanian translator for the birth certificate and a Romani interpreter for the interview. Tell us the country and the family's group and we assign accordingly.
Can you translate a Roma family's birth certificates from Romania, Hungary or Slovakia?
Yes. Those certificates are in Romanian, Hungarian or Slovak rather than Romani, so the translator for that language prepares a full English translation with a signed Certificate of Translation Accuracy to meet USCIS requirements.
Do you have an office in Chicago?
No. Our only office is in New York. Romani translation is done remotely from a scan, so location makes no difference to the document work. For in-person interpreting in Chicago we assign a Romani interpreter who is based in or near the city, and phone or video interpreting is available anywhere in the United States.
Related Romani Services
Why Choose Us
We Are Committed to Excellence
Every assignment follows our TEP workflow for written work – translation, editing, proofreading – with a free revision policy, and every interpreting booking is managed by a dedicated coordinator to meet regulatory and client requirements.
Professional Romani Linguists
Our Romani interpreters are vetted for fluency, subject-matter expertise and professional ethics, and certified translation work is handled by certified translators who are members of provincial bodies under CTTIC.
We Provide Excellent Customer Service
We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year – including American statutory holidays. Confidentiality is protected in line with HIPAA on every assignment.