Kurdish (Sorani) medical interpreters

Opalite uses the same underlying interpretation techniques for Kurdish (Sorani) as it does for Spanish, Mandarin, and Cantonese. In Opalite’s published validation study, those three languages were evaluated in clinical conversations, with over 90% fewer errors than certified medical interpreters across the conversations studied.

Healthcare providers covered by Title VI or Section 1557 must provide meaningful language access for patients with limited English proficiency, including Kurdish (Sorani)-speaking patients. Depending on the communication, that can involve qualified interpretation or translated documents. Opalite is designed to support those obligations.

About 25,050 U.S. residents age five and older speak Kurdish (Sorani) at home. Of that group, 9,682, or 39%, report speaking English less than very well. These are 2017-2021 American Community Survey 5-year estimates. The Census records Kurdish (Sorani) as Central Kurdish.

Yes. Opalite supports Kurdish (Sorani) for spoken medical interpretation during in-person visits, telehealth appointments, and phone calls. It runs on phones, tablets, and computers.

Kurdish (Sorani) typically places the object before the verb and uses prepositions. English arranges these parts differently, so interpretation involves restructuring the sentence while preserving the relationships between the people, actions, and objects being described. The WALS profile on this page describes the underlying language feature.