When it is spoken
Remote interpreting
Video or telephone, in half-hour blocks, often the same day.
By the half hour, one block minimum.
When it is spoken
On-site interpreting
One interpreter in the room, taking turns with the speaker.
Consecutive interpreting: the speaker says a passage, stops, and the interpreter renders it. It roughly doubles the length of a meeting and it is the right mode for anything where precision matters more than pace — a clinic appointment, a closing, a deposition, a meeting with a school. The preparation is the job: names, documents, the subject and the purpose, sent in advance.
Where our answers stop. Nothing on this site is legal or immigration advice and nobody here may give you any. We can describe what a document is and what offices have usually asked for; we cannot tell you what to file, what your case needs, or what a document means for you.
The two lists
What you are buying, and what you are not
The second column is the more useful of the two. Most of what goes wrong in this trade is somebody paying for a thing they believed they were getting and were never told they were not.
What this includes
- The briefing pack read before the day, and a terminology list agreed where the subject is narrow
- Travel within the city included in the hourly rate
- Interpreting everything that is said, including the parts nobody wanted said
- Staying in the interpreter's role — not advising, not summarising, not answering for anybody
- A note afterwards of anything that could not be rendered and how it was handled
What this is not
- Court proceedings in this state, where the court appoints its own interpreters and we are not among them
- The interpreter is not a witness, an advocate, a support person or a party's representative
- We do not sign anything on anybody's behalf and do not explain a document somebody is signing
What it costs
By the hour, two-hour minimum.
On-site interpreting is quoted by the hour, with a minimum of two hours. All three modes are on the one table below rather than only this one, because for anything short or anything urgent the cheaper mode is frequently the right one, and you should be able to see that without ringing to ask.
| Mode | What it is | Rate | Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| On site, consecutive One interpreter, in the room, taking turns with the speaker. |
A meeting, a clinic appointment, a closing, a deposition where the parties are instructing us rather than the court. Two hours is the minimum because a booking shorter than that costs an interpreter the same half-day. | $115 the hour | two hours, $230 |
| Remote, video or telephone The same work down a line, in half-hour blocks. |
Often available the same day, and the right answer for anything short. What it is not good for is a room with more than about four people in it, because the turn-taking stops working and everybody talks over the interpreter. | $65 the half-hour | one half-hour, $65 |
| Simultaneous, with equipment Two interpreters in a booth, working in twenty-minute turns. |
Two, always, and this is not a way of charging twice: simultaneous interpreting cannot be sustained alone beyond about twenty minutes without the quality falling away, and a supplier who offers you one interpreter for a three-hour conference is selling you the third hour of a tired person. | $190 the hour | three hours, $570 |
Simultaneous work is always two interpreters, so the smallest real booking is $1,140 rather than $570. A supplier quoting the smaller figure is quoting one tired person.
Straight talk
Where this is bounded
These straight answers bear directly on the work above: Court interpreting is not ours to offer and We do not give legal or immigration advice. The rest of the ten are below — they are one argument in ten parts and each links to the others.
When it is spoken
The rest of this half of the office
Sorted by who is going to read the result, which is the only question that changes what the work has to be.
When it is spoken
Simultaneous and conference interpreting
Two interpreters in a booth, working in twenty-minute turns.
By the hour, per interpreter, three-hour minimum.
Tell us about the room
The preparation is most of the job: the names, the documents, the subject and the purpose, sent in advance. Ring to talk it through, or work the figure out first.