Mandarin interpreter for UK commercial, LCIA arbitration and HMCTS courts.

Same-day confirmation is standard for scheduled Mandarin interpreting during UK business hours. Urgent Chancery Division, County Court commercial, LCIA emergency arbitrator, PACE Code C custody suite or A&E requests are typically confirmed within 60 to 90 minutes across London and major cities. Out-of-hours PACE and A&E call-outs are handled individually: contact us directly and we will respond quickly.

Remote (phone or video) Mandarin interpreting starts at £49.99 per 30 minutes. On-site business or commercial is £69.99 per hour with a 2-hour minimum. Court and legal (Crown, County, Chancery, Tribunal) is £79.99 per hour with a 2-hour minimum. Police station attendance under PACE Code C is £95 per hour. Half-day mediation, arbitration or deposition (up to 4 hours) from £380; full day (up to 8 hours) from £680. LCIA and ICC arbitration rates set per matter. All rates fixed in writing before the assignment. Travel outside London quoted upfront.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (Crown Court, County Court, Chancery Division, Family Court, First-tier Tribunal IAC), the LCIA and ICC (arbitration hearings, tribunal-appointed interpreting), the Home Office (UKVI BN(O) casework, skilled worker, student visa interviews), NHS trusts (mental health, CAMHS, geriatric care, obstetrics), the PRC Embassy consular section (notarisation and authentication paperwork), Companies House filings and HMRC compliance for Chinese-owned UK entities, the police under PACE Code C, and local authorities (children's services, EHCP reviews for Mandarin-speaking families). Commercial coverage includes private banking due diligence, M&A negotiations, factory audits and board meetings for PRC and Taiwan counterparties.

Yes. Cantonese is a separate spoken language from Mandarin, not a dialect, and it needs a Cantonese interpreter. Many Hong Kong Chinese who arrived under the BN(O) visa route are Mandarin-competent but Cantonese-first; for a Cantonese-first speaker, book Cantonese specifically. We source Cantonese interpreters on request at the same rate card as Mandarin. Confirm the setting (family court, NHS mental health, commercial mediation, BN(O) casework) when you book so we match the specialism.

Yes. Chinese parties are heavy users of LCIA and ICC arbitration seated in London, and Mandarin is the most-called interpreter pair on cross-border commercial disputes involving PRC counterparties. We cover tribunal-appointed interpreting, party-appointed interpreting for witness evidence, emergency arbitrator applications, procedural hearings (case management conferences), full-day evidentiary hearings, and post-hearing brief consultations. Consecutive on-site is standard; simultaneous conference interpreting for large evidentiary hearings is rated per matter. Interpreter under NDA; legal professional privilege attaches where the interpreter attends as agent of counsel.

Yes. Around 200,000 Hong Kong Chinese arrived in the UK under the BN(O) visa route between 2021 and 2024, and BN(O) casework is a growing share of our Chinese interpreter workload. We cover UKVI substantive interviews, credibility interviews, ILR-related sessions after the five-year qualifying period, EUSS-adjacent family reunion casework, and First-tier Tribunal (IAC) refusal appeals. Most BN(O) applicants are Cantonese-first, so confirm at booking whether you need Mandarin or Cantonese; we source both at the same rate card.

Simplified and Traditional are a written distinction, not a spoken one. Simplified characters are used in the PRC and Singapore; Traditional characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. For interpreting (spoken work), both PRC Mandarin (Putonghua) and Taiwan Mandarin are mutually intelligible, so the same Mandarin interpreter can handle a PRC party, a Taiwan party or a Singapore party in the same hearing. For document translation the distinction matters: Simplified for PRC filings, Traditional for HK, Macau and Taiwan filings. Our Chinese translation desk covers both.

Yes. See our Chinese translation page for certified Chinese document translation (birth certificates, marriage certificates, criminal records, PRC diplomas, corporate documents, notarised powers of attorney) covering both Simplified and Traditional Chinese, accepted by UKVI, HM Courts, NHS trusts and local authorities. We also handle the PRC MoFA authentication chain for non-Hague documents originating in the PRC. Same team, same rate card in sterling, invoiced together if you need both interpreter and translated documents on one matter.