Portuguese Court Interpreting Service In London

Qualified and experienced Portuguese court interpreters

The Crown Prosecution Service states on their website: “The right to an interpreter is an integral part of the right to a fair trial. It is a principle of English common law that the Defendant must be able to understand the charges made against them and be able to properly defend themselves. The right is also enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.”

Our court interpreters will help those individuals who do not understand or speak English well, to communicate in English and understand the proceedings within a legal environment. They are bound by confidentiality and will provide interpretations of what has been said of such a quality as to safeguard the fairness of the proceedings.

This sort of interpreting support can be delivered in person at courts within and/or via video link. How the service is delivered depends on the requirements of the court and appropriate availability at the time of booking. Just let us know what you need, and we’ll do the rest!

We provide Portuguese court interpreters for:

• Solicitors and barristers
• Lawyers
• UK law firms
• Police interviews
• Private individuals
• Witness preparation
• Solicitor/client meetings
• Direct to UK courts

Our Portuguese court interpreters in London

Our vetted interpreters can speak at least two languages, they understand the need for punctuality and compliance with any security or other matters when attending court.

Our court interpreters must have appropriate qualifications and depending on the sensitivity of the subject matter, we are also able to provide interpreters with various levels of security clearances:

• Counter terrorist check
• DBS enhanced certificate
• DBS standard certificate
• Disclosure Northern Ireland certificate enhanced
• Disclosure Scotland enhanced
• Disclosure Scotland standard
• Home Office security clearance
• MoD security clearance
• Police clearance

Just let us know how we can help you.

How to book a Portuguese court interpreter

So that we can book an appropriate court interpreter for you, what do we need to know?

• The date(s) of the court hearing
• The time of hearing and expected duration
• Court reference number/case ID
• Whether “in person” or “remote” via video link
• If onsite, then full address details
• Outline details of case

Once we have the details, one of our experienced project managers will establish availability of a suitable interpreter as close to the court as possible. If you are happy to proceed with the booking, leave the rest to us!

How is the cost for court interpreting calculated?

• The cost depends on the language(s)
• The cost depends whether the interpreter will need to attend on-site or via video link.
• The cost depends on availability of particular interpreters on date and time in question.

While you’re here… some quite interesting facts about the Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language spoken by about 220 million people mainly in Portugal and Brazil (Brasil), and also in Angola, Mozambique (Moçambique), Cape Verde (Cabo Verde), Guinea-Bissau (Guiné-Bissau), São Tomé e Principe, East Timor (Timor-Leste), Equatorial Guinea and Macau. There are also communities of Portuguese speakers in Goa, Daman and Diu in India, and in Malacca in Malaysia. Portuguese is a descendent of Latin, which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by Roman soldiers, settlers and merchants from 218 BC. The earliest records of a distinctly Portuguese language appear in administrative documents dating from the 9th century AD. In 1290 King Denis decreed that Portuguese, then simply called the “Vulgar language” should be known as the Portuguese language and should be officially used. A reformed Portuguese orthography (nova ortografia), in which words were spelled more in accordance with their pronunciation, was adopted is Portugal in 1916. A slightly modified form was adopted in Brazil in 1943 and revised in 1970. A new orthography which aims to unify the written Portuguese of all the lusophone countries was adopted in Brazil in 2009. Dates have yet to be set for its adoption in the other Portuguese-speaking countries.

Where is Portuguese most widely spoken?

Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Timor-Leste, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and China (Macau).