Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese differ enough in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar to cause real problems under oath. In the New York metro area the demand is overwhelmingly Brazilian — Astoria and Long Island City in Queens, plus the large Brazilian community in Newark and the Ironbound across the river. There are also Portuguese and Cape Verdean communities with their own varieties.
The commonest failure is assigning a Spanish interpreter to a Portuguese speaker on the assumption the languages are close enough. They are not. The overlap creates false friends that produce confident, wrong renderings — which is worse than an obvious gap.
Common contexts
Construction and labor injury claims, workers’ compensation, depositions, 50-h hearings, IMEs, and medical appointments.
Coverage and availability
- In person: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, and Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk). We also take in-person assignments in New Jersey and Connecticut
- Remote: phone or video interpreting, available nationwide
- Short notice: accepted
- Hours: 8am to 8pm, 7 days a week
Why firms keep calling us
- 25+ years interpreting in New York legal and medical settings
- NAJIT member — National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators
- 5.0 stars on Google across 17 reviews
- Trusted by attorneys, carriers, SIU teams, and healthcare providers
Book an interpreter
Call (718) 496-9129 or email inquiries@interpret.agency — available 8am to 8pm, 7 days a week. Most bookings take under two minutes.
Related services
- Deposition interpreters in NYC
- Examination under oath (EUO) interpreters
- 50-h hearing interpreters
- Independent medical examination (IME) interpreters
- Field investigation interpreters
- Asylum interpreter services
Other languages we interpret
Spanish · Mandarin · Cantonese · French · Korean · Arabic · Russian · Haitian Creole · Polish · Ukrainian · Albanian · Punjabi · Wolof · Uzbek · Hindi · Croatian · Soninke