Prism Linguistics provides certified English translation of the French civil records and UNHCR papers that Sangho speakers from the Central African Republic actually hold, and Sangho interpreters for refugee, asylum, medical and court appointments in Charleston and across the United States.
Our Sangho interpreters in Charleston are professional, experienced linguists who work in resettlement clinics, asylum offices, hospitals and state courts, and who know when a family from Bangui would rather use French and when a Sangho interpreting assignment is the only thing that will reach an older relative.
Sangho demand in the United States is almost entirely refugee resettlement and asylum: medical screening, school enrollment and later the naturalization interview. Sangho is the lingua franca of the Central African Republic, spoken by a few hundred thousand people as a first language and several million as a second, so a Sangho interpreter covers most Central Africans whatever their home language. Educated Sangho speakers from Bangui often prefer French for formal matters; children and older relatives from the interior usually do not, and a French interpreter alone will lose them. No state runs a court certification exam in Sangho, so courts use a qualified Sangho interpreter, usually by phone or video; Sangho is the kind of rare language courts come to us for. At USCIS the interpreter renders the answer as given.
For an in-person assignment in Charleston we assign a Sangho 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.
Prism Linguistics supplies experienced Sangho interpreters in Charleston for refugee medical screenings, asylum and USCIS interviews, court hearings and school enrollment, in person where possible and otherwise by phone or video, together with certified Sangho translation of the documents in the file.
Charleston is the seat of Charleston County. The Circuit Court is South Carolina's court of general jurisdiction and sits in two divisions, the Court of Common Pleas for civil matters and the Court of General Sessions for criminal ones, and it hears appeals from the summary courts below: the city's municipal court, which takes ordinance and misdemeanor charges but no civil work, and the county magistrate courts. Prism Linguistics works from a single head office in New York and assigns a linguist based near Charleston for in-person work.
Charleston County School District runs a Department of Multilingual Services with its own Office of Translation and Interpretation Services and an International Welcome Center publishing its services in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Gullah, the English-based creole of the Sea Islands, is still spoken here. The Medical University of South Carolina, Roper St. Francis Healthcare and the College of Charleston generate steady work, and courts come to Prism for rare languages.
Local Sangho interpreting services in Charleston and the cities around it come from the same nationwide network, so a resettlement agency, clinic or court in any city below books a Sangho interpreter the same way, usually by phone or video.
Our only office is in New York. For in-person work in Charleston we assign a Sangho interpreter who is based in or near the city, and the same Sangho linguists cover the surrounding area:
Certified Sangho to English translation at Prism means the affidavit of birth or letter actually sworn in Sangho, handled by a qualified Sangho translator, alongside certified French to English translation of the acte de naissance, the UNHCR refugee certificate and the camp registration card, each delivered with a signed Certificate of Translation Accuracy.
Sangho speakers hold French documents, if they hold any. Sangho (also written Sango) is an official language of the Central African Republic alongside French, but the state writes in French: the acte de naissance, the marriage record and the school certificate come in French, so the certified translation a Sangho-speaking family needs for USCIS is French to English. Many families hold nothing at all. A 2018 study found that in Bangui and Berbérati a birth certificate was the exception for much of the younger population, and that 162 of the country's 182 magistrates sat in Bangui, where a jugement supplétif for a missing birth record must be obtained.
So the paperwork a resettled Sangho speaker brings is often a UNHCR refugee certificate, a camp registration card, a vaccination card and an affidavit of birth sworn in French or in Sangho. We translate all of it, state what each document is, and spell names to match the travel document.
Every certified Sangho 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 Charleston gets the same translator, the same price and the same turnaround as one anywhere else in the country. See certified Sangho translation for the document service in full.
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Sangho (Sango) is a Ngbandi-based creole and the national language of the Central African Republic, where it serves as the everyday lingua franca alongside French (the country's official administrative language). Around 5 million people speak it. The US Sangho-speaking community is small, concentrated in areas that received CAR refugee resettlement. Our Sangho translation work is occasional and typically tied to USCIS asylum and family-court paperwork.
No. Central African civil records are issued in French, so we translate the French document in full with a signed Certificate of Translation Accuracy prepared to meet USCIS requirements. If an affidavit or letter is written in Sangho, a Sangho translator handles that part.
Yes, usually by phone or video, because in-person Sangho interpreters are scarce in the United States. Tell us whether the speaker also uses French. No state certifies court interpreters in Sangho. We are a private agency, not a court-appointed vendor.
No. Our only office is in New York. Sangho translation is done remotely from a scan, so location makes no difference to the document work. For in-person interpreting in Charleston we assign a Sangho interpreter who is based in or near the city, and phone or video interpreting is available anywhere in the United States.
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.
Our Sangho 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 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.