| AFGHANISTAN |
The official languages are
Dari and Pushto. Dari is the Afghan version of Farsi. An Iranian
Farsi speaker can communicate easily with an Afghan Dari
speaker. However, Pushto is a completely different
language. A Farsi/Dari interpreter will not be able to
communicate with a client who speaks Pushto. |
| ALBANIA |
The official language is Albanian.
As a result of the proximity of the countries, some Albanians
may be fluent in Italian. |
| ALGERIA |
The official language is Arabic. However, many Algerians
will be fluent in French. |
| ANGOLA |
The official language is Portuguese.
A client from Angola may be more comfortable with the accent and
vocabulary of an interpreter from Portugal than from
Brazil. |
| ARGENTINA |
The official language is Spanish. |
| AUSTRIA |
The official language is German. |
| BANGLADESH |
The official language is Bengali.
However, a large majority of individuals of Bangladeshi origin
resident in the U.K. are speakers of the Sylheti dialect
from the North Eastern corner of the country. Some Sylhetis may
be comfortable conversing in Bengali. You should never use a
Bengali interpreter for a client who only speaks Sylheti. Older
Bangladeshis who were educated in the days of East Pakistan may
also speak Urdu. |
| BELGIUM |
The official languages are Dutch,
French and German. |
| BRAZIL |
The official language is Portuguese.
The Portuguese spoken by Brazilians is broadly the same as that
spoken in Portugal. However, there may be subtle differences on
occasion. If possible, it is ideal to use a Brazilian Portuguese
speaker for a Brazilian client. |
| BULGARIA |
The official language is Bulgarian. |
| CAMEROON |
In common with most African
nations, the number of distinct extant languages is immense
(ethnographers have identified nearly 300). However, the
official languages are English and French. The
most commonly spoken non-European languages are Arabic, Bamoun,
Ewondo, Fulfulde and Bamiléké. |
| CANADA |
The official languages are English
and French. |
| CAPE VERDE |
The official language is Portuguese. |
| CHILE |
The official language is Spanish. |
| CHINA |
The official language is Chinese
(Mandarin dialect) . 50 million people in the
southern provinces speak the Cantonese dialect as their
mother tongue. The dialects are radically different. A Cantonese
interpreter from Hong Kong may be suitable for a Cantonese
client from the mainland but should never be used for a Mandarin
client. |
| COLOMBIA |
The official language is Spanish. |
| CONGO |
The official language is French.
Four other languages have official status: Kinkongo, Lingala,
Swahili (Kingwana dialect), and Tshiluba. |
| CUBA |
The official language is Spanish. |
| CYPRUS |
This partitioned island has
two official languages: Greek and Turkish. |
| CZECH REPUBLIC |
The official language is Czech.
Many Czech speakers may also be fluent in Slovak.
Although the two languages are very closely related they are not
identical. For this reason, you should always endeavour to use a
native Czech speaker for a client of Czech origin. |
| DENMARK |
The official language is Danish. |
| DJIBOUTI |
The official languages are Arabic
and French. A number of individuals from the south of the
country speak Somali. |
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