Does the English interview record match what your client said in Arabic?

The English record of an Arabic interview is only ever as reliable as the interpreting behind it. Where a case turns on what a client said — an asylum credibility assessment, a PACE interview, a disputed account sitting behind a Gulf Red Notice — that record is read as fact. But between the Arabic that was spoken and the English that was written sits a series of choices, and some of them quietly change the meaning.

A record review compares the two. I listen to the original recording and read it against the English record line by line, and set out every rendering that alters meaning: an omission, an addition, a mistranslation, a shift in the strength of what was said, a dialect term rendered loosely, or a passage the audio does not actually support.

Dialect is where this bites hardest. In Kuwaiti and Gulf Arabic, شرد means fled or ran away, not “wandered”; لزموه means they arrested him, not “they needed him”; and تعميم may be a domestic circular rather than an Interpol Red Notice. Each of those, mis-rendered, changes the account a decision-maker or a foreign authority relies on.

What you receive

A structured written note. Each point of difference is set out with its timestamp, the Arabic as spoken, the English as recorded, a suggested rendering, and a plain-English explanation of why it matters. The note closes with a short summary of the points most capable of affecting how the account is understood.

Fixed fee: £475 per hour of recording, written note within 7 working days. Longer or multi-part matters are quoted individually, and a free 30-minute scoping call is available before you instruct.

When a review is worth it

• A credibility assessment turns on “inconsistencies” between a screening interview, a substantive interview and a witness statement.
• A PACE account or a disputed confession rests on what was interpreted in the police station.
• A Gulf or GCC Red Notice, or an extradition file, rests on an Arabic interview or statement — particularly bounced-cheque and financial allegations.
• A transcript was prepared by someone without the client's specific dialect — Yemeni, Gulf including Kuwaiti, or Sudanese.

The status of this work

This is provided as independent linguistic analysis for the instructing party's consideration. It is not offered as expert evidence unless I am separately instructed on that basis, and I do not interpret in any matter in which I have provided this analysis.