Pashto and Dari Conference and Diplomatic Interpreters

Conference interpreting is interpreting at meetings with an audience, usually simultaneous from a booth or through a remote platform. Diplomatic interpreting is interpreting for officials in talks, visits and negotiations, usually consecutive or whispered, where the interpreter works for one side and protocol, discretion and exact wording carry the weight. Most engagements mix both: a plenary in the booth, a bilateral in consecutive, a press statement at the end.

Choose simultaneous for plenaries, panels and any meeting with more than two languages or a fixed schedule; it needs booths or a remote platform. Choose consecutive for bilateral talks, press statements, site visits and small meetings where precision and rapport matter more than speed; it roughly doubles speaking time. Whispered interpreting suits one or two listeners in a meeting held in another language. Send us the agenda and we will recommend the mode for each session.

For simultaneous interpreting, at least two interpreters per booth, and three when a booth works into both languages, following AIIC's professional standards; we also put three in any booth that feeds relay. A working day is at most two sessions of two and a half to three hours; longer days need more interpreters. Consecutive and whispered interpreting also need two interpreters for anything beyond a short session. Remote meetings need larger teams or shorter turns.

No U.S. certification exists for conference interpreters in any language, Pashto and Dari included. So we set the standard ourselves. Every interpreter is tested in the exact language combination, mode and level they will work at, using the three levels the U.S. Department of State's Office of Language Services uses for its contract interpreters: liaison, seminar and conference. Every interpreter is briefed on the meeting before the assignment. We also train Afghan-language interpreters beyond our own team, including interpreters from the Afghan diaspora.

Yes. Under rule 53 of the General Assembly's rules of procedure, and rule 44 in the Security Council, a representative may speak in a language other than the six official languages. The representative must then provide interpretation into one of them, and UN interpreters work from that interpretation into the other official languages. We provide the Pashto or Dari interpreter, normally into English, prepared on the text in advance.

Dari is the Afghan variety of Persian. Speakers of Dari and Iranian Persian (Farsi) understand each other, but vocabulary, official terms, pronunciation and idiom differ: an Afghan official says pohantun for university where an Iranian speaker says daneshgah. In a diplomatic room those differences carry meaning. We staff Afghan Dari interpreters for Afghan delegations, matched to the speakers' region where it matters.

Many of our interpreters work in both, and Afghan meetings often switch between them mid-session. In simultaneous interpreting we staff by direction, Pashto into English and Dari into English, with enough interpreters in the booth that no one works alone or covers both for a full session. In consecutive talks, one interpreter can cover both when speakers alternate.

In relay, one booth interprets from a language the other booths do not cover into a shared language, usually English, and the other booths interpret from that version. It lets a Pashto speaker reach Chinese, Russian or Arabic listeners. We use relay only where no direct combination is available, name every relay route in the staffing plan, and put our strongest interpreters in the booth that feeds relay.

Yes. On Zoom, hosts can add Pashto and Dari as custom interpretation languages; on Webex and Microsoft Teams we confirm how the channels are labelled before the meeting. Interpreters work from professional setups or interpreting hubs with wired connections and backup lines, and every channel is tested with your technician the day before. For sensitive meetings we advise which platform settings to use.

ISO 17651-1:2024 for permanent booths, ISO 17651-2:2024 for mobile booths, ISO 17651-3:2026 for interpreting hubs, ISO 20109:2025 for equipment and sound, and ISO 24019:2022 for remote interpreting platforms, with ISO 23155:2022 for conference interpreting services. We check the booths, sound feed and relay set-up with your venue or audiovisual provider before the meeting.

Every interpreter signs a non-disclosure agreement and is held to strict secrecy for any meeting not open to the public. We honour the convenor's rules, including the Chatham House Rule. Interpreters' notes are shredded at the close of each session or collected by your security office, nothing is recorded without consent, no third-party AI touches closed-session audio, and preparation documents are destroyed with a written record.

Yes, when a government or an international organization convenes or commissions the meeting. Our interpreters work for the convenor, render every speaker with the same fidelity and take no instructions from any party. Engagements involving listed individuals are screened against U.S., UN, EU and UK sanctions lists and accepted only where the applicable rules allow. We never route documents or communications through channels controlled by the de facto authorities.

Yes. We match interpreter gender when you ask, including for women's delegations, women-only consultations and testimony sessions. We also match dialect and region, such as Kandahari or Peshawari Pashto, or Kabuli, Herati or Hazaragi Dari, when it changes how speakers are understood.

For conference teams, two to three weeks is best, with speeches and background sent at least five working days before the meeting. Liaison and escort interpreters can often be confirmed within 48 hours. Short-notice requests are possible when a tested team is available, so call us rather than waiting on email.

We quote per engagement: the number of interpreters and days, the mode, preparation, travel, and any equipment or platform support. Team size follows the professional standard for the meeting, not the budget, and preparation is included. You receive a written proposal with the staffing plan within one business day of a complete brief.

Testimony about the Afghan war and its aftermath can carry moral trauma, including moral injury and vicarious trauma, for speakers and interpreters alike. We brief interpreters before such sessions, staff them so no one works alone, and debrief afterward under a protocol set by Diana Ayubi, Psy.D. It protects the interpreters and the accuracy of what the room hears.