Certified Sorani Kurdish translation and interpreting in Ottawa and across Canada, for IRCC and refugee claims at the IRB, Canadian legal matters, and hospital and clinic visits.
Our Sorani interpreters cover IRB hearings, IRCC interviews, court and tribunal settings, and medical appointments under PHIPA and PIPEDA in Ottawa. A Sorani speaker and a Kurmanji speaker often cannot follow each other, so asking for Sorani specifically avoids a wasted appointment.
A Sorani speaker and a Kurmanji speaker often cannot follow each other, so asking for Sorani specifically avoids a wasted appointment. There are also differences between Sorani as spoken in Iraq and in Iran, and some speakers move between Sorani and Arabic or Persian, so telling us the speaker's background helps us assign the right interpreter.
Our Sorani interpreters work in IRB refugee hearings and IRCC interviews, Canadian court and tribunal settings, hospital and clinic appointments covered by PHIPA and PIPEDA privacy rules, settlement and school meetings, and trauma-sensitive sessions where careful, neutral interpreting matters. Interpreting is available in person in Ottawa and by phone or video for appointments anywhere in Canada.
For an in-person assignment in Ottawa we assign a Sorani interpreter based in or near the city. Telephone and video interpreting can usually be arranged the same day. We serve courts, lawyers, hospitals, IRCC applicants and private individuals; we are a private agency, not a court-appointed vendor, and we say so up front.
Sorani interpreters in Ottawa attend IRB refugee hearings, IRCC interviews, Canadian courts, and hospital and clinic appointments. A live interpreter carries testimony in trauma-sensitive sessions where careful, neutral interpreting matters.
Ottawa, the national capital, is officially bilingual and increasingly multilingual, with a large and growing newcomer population. After English and French, Arabic is the most common non-official mother tongue, spoken by roughly three per cent of residents, followed by Spanish, Mandarin and other Chinese languages. Refugee resettlement and skilled migration have brought sizeable Arabic, Somali, Mandarin and Spanish speaking communities to neighbourhoods across the city.
Demand for translation and interpreting is strong across government, healthcare, education and legal services. Newcomers preparing IRCC and citizenship applications need accurate certified document translation, and hospitals such as The Ottawa Hospital and CHEO rely on interpreters for patient care. Legal matters are heard at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice at the Ottawa Courthouse, with minor claims handled by Small Claims Court. Settlement agencies including the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization help families integrate.
The same network arranges Sorani interpreting in and around Ottawa, in person for a local hearing or by phone and video anywhere in Canada.
For in-person work in Ottawa we assign a Sorani interpreter who is based in or near the city, and the same Sorani linguists cover the surrounding area:
Prism also serves Sorani speakers in nearby communities such as Clarence-Rockland, Carleton Place, Mississippi Mills, Russell, North Grenville and Arnprior — on site across the Ottawa area and by telephone or video anywhere in Canada.
We provide certified Sorani to English translation of civil status and family registration records, Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional Government birth, marriage and death certificates, national identity and residence cards, and school and court papers. Records issued in Sorani or in Arabic are both translated and kept beside the original for a protection or permanent residence claim.
Sorani is the Central Kurdish variety spoken mainly in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and in western Iran, and it is written in an Arabic-based script that reads right to left. This sets it apart from the northern Kurmanji variety, which is usually written in Latin letters, so a Sorani document needs a translator who reads this specific script and variety rather than Kurdish in general.
Records from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and from Iran are often issued in Sorani or in Arabic, and we translate both. Common documents include civil status and family registration records, Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional Government birth, marriage and death certificates, national identity and residence cards, school and university records, and court or police papers, along with the sworn declarations that support a claim. Each translation can be issued by a certified translator or, where asked, accompanied by a sworn affidavit of accuracy.
We keep the translation formatted beside the original so an officer can compare them for a protection claim, permanent residence or family reunification. Acceptance ultimately depends on the receiving institution, so where a record is incomplete we translate only what appears on the page.
Every certified Sorani translation is a complete, word-for-word rendering with a signed Certificate of Translation Accuracy, prepared to meet IRCC requirements. It is done from a clear scan, so a client in Ottawa gets the same translator, the same price and the same turnaround as one anywhere else in Canada. See certified Sorani translation for the document service in full.
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Sorani is the dominant Kurdish language of Iraqi Kurdistan - the language of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, and Kirkuk - and the official Kurdish standard of Iraq. About 9 million people speak it. Sorani is written in a Perso-Arabic script (unlike Kurmanji, which uses Latin script in Turkey and Syria), so its written form is closer to Persian or Arabic than to Latin-alphabet Kurdish. Most of our Sorani translation work is IRB refugee-hearing paperwork from Iraqi Kurdistan, alongside the IRCC civil and family-sponsorship documents that have followed the long Iraqi conflict timeline, serving Kurdish communities concentrated mainly in Toronto and Vancouver.
No. Sorani is the central variety written in an Arabic-based script, while Kurmanji is the northern variety usually written in Latin letters. The two are often not mutually understood, so we assign a Sorani translator and interpreter specifically.
Yes. We translate records issued in Sorani or in Arabic from the Kurdistan Region and from Iran, keeping the layout so entries can be checked against the original.
Yes. We provide Sorani interpreters for medical and refugee hearing settings in person in Ottawa and by phone or video across Canada.
Sorani translation is done remotely from a scan, so location makes no difference to the document work. For in-person interpreting in Ottawa we assign a Sorani interpreter who is based in or near the city, and phone or video interpreting is available anywhere in Canada.
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 Sorani 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 Canadian statutory holidays. Confidentiality is protected in line with PIPEDA on every assignment.