Soninke is spoken across Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, and the Gambia. New York’s Soninke-speaking West African community is concentrated in the Bronx — particularly Highbridge and Concourse — and in Harlem.

Soninke speakers are very frequently booked a French interpreter, since French is the official language of most of their home countries. But French literacy varies enormously, and among people who left school early or grew up rurally, French may be limited to basic transactional use. Someone who can order lunch in French cannot necessarily describe a workplace injury or an asylum claim in it.

Qualified Soninke interpreters are rare in the New York market.

Common contexts

Asylum interviews and immigration hearings, delivery and construction workplace injuries, 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

Other languages we interpret

Spanish · Mandarin · Cantonese · French · Korean · Arabic · Portuguese · Russian · Haitian Creole · Polish · Ukrainian · Albanian · Punjabi · Wolof · Uzbek · Hindi · Croatian