Thai Interpretation

Thai Interpreters for Legal and Business Work

Spoken language support for depositions, arbitration and attorney meetings, and for supplier negotiations, factory audits and executive visits. We check with the speaker whether they are most precise in standard Thai, Isan or Lao, and we settle names, dates and contract terms with the linguist before the session opens.

Ask About Coverage (833) 547-7770

What should I send when booking a Thai interpreter for a deposition or meeting?

The date with its time zone, the venue or platform, the setting, and the names of everyone who will speak. Add the agreement, the exhibit list or the meeting agenda if one exists. We use those to match the subject matter, to check whether the speaker uses Isan or Lao rather than standard Thai, and to confirm in-person or remote coverage before you commit.

Where Thai Work Comes From

Legal and Commercial Settings

Requests arrive as sworn testimony, contract disputes, supplier meetings and the occasional clinical visit tied to a claim. Remote work reaches witnesses in Thailand.

Depositions

Sworn Thai testimony, on site or with a witness abroad

View Depositions coverage

Arbitration

Contract and distribution disputes heard in arbitration

View Arbitration coverage

Corporate Interpreters

Supplier negotiations, audits and executive visits

View Corporate Interpreters coverage

Legal Interpreters

Attorney meetings, hearings and recorded statements

View Legal Interpreters coverage

Why Kaplan

Matched to the Contract and the Speaker

Depositions, Arbitration and Contract Disputes

Sworn testimony and the commercial disputes that produce it: supply and distribution agreements, joint ventures, employment claims, and the arbitration a contract routes them into. Defined terms and the exhibit list go to the linguist ahead of time, so one English word stays attached to one Thai term from the first question to the last.

Standard Thai, Isan and Lao

Standard Thai is the language of schooling, courts and contracts in Thailand. Speakers from the northeast may have grown up with Isan, which sits close to Lao, and some are more exact in it under pressure. Lao is the national language of Laos and a separate booking. We ask first, and if the answer changes who should attend, you hear it before anyone is confirmed.

Registered, Not Certified

California lists Thai among its registered spoken languages rather than its twelve certified ones, and the federal certification exam is limited to Spanish and English. No Thai interpreter is therefore court certified in California or in federal court, and we state exactly which credential a proposed linguist holds.

FAQs

Common Questions About Thai Interpretation

Are Thai court interpreters certified in California?

No. The Judicial Council lists Thai as a registered spoken language. Registration requires the written exam, an oral proficiency exam in English and an oral proficiency exam in the target language where one is offered. Certification is reserved for twelve designated languages, and Thai is not one of them. See court-certified interpreters for how the two tiers compare.

Do Thai documents need their dates converted?

Usually. Thai official documents generally carry the Buddhist Era year, 543 years ahead of the Gregorian calendar, so 2569 on a certificate is 2026. A translation for a court or an agency should show the converted date. That is written work, handled through certified legal translation and separate from the interpreter.

Can you staff Thai for supplier meetings and factory visits?

Yes. Walk-throughs, quality audits and negotiations run in consecutive mode with one linguist. A larger session in simultaneous mode is a two-person team with equipment, because simultaneous work cannot be sustained by one person. See corporate interpreters for how business assignments are planned.

How should Thai names be handled on the record?

Thai speakers are normally addressed by given name, often with the polite title Khun, and many also go by a short nickname. Romanized spellings differ between a passport, a contract and an email thread. Give us every spelling in the file and the interpreter, counsel and the reporter will use one form throughout.

What if the witness is in Thailand?

Video is routine. Bangkok is 14 hours ahead of Pacific time while the United States is on daylight saving and 15 hours ahead the rest of the year, so a witness's morning is the previous evening in California. Tell us where each participant sits and we propose a start time that works for all of them.

Can a Lao interpreter cover a Thai speaker, or the other way round?

Not as a substitute. The two are related and partly understandable to each other, and that is exactly where errors hide on technical or legal vocabulary. Our post on the risks of overlooking dialects explains why a near match is still a mismatch.

Where can a Thai interpreter attend in person?

Most of our Thai network is in California, so on-site work there is the most straightforward. Elsewhere in-person attendance is arranged per assignment, with video and phone covering the rest, and we say which applies before you book.

Explore More

Confirm Thai Coverage for Your Matter

Tell us the date, the location or platform, and the kind of session, and we will set out the coverage before you commit.

Check Availability Confirm Coverage by Phone