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Multilingual Interviews
Conduct interviews directly in the participant's language or support the client's researcher through professional interpretation.
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Research and language access services for organizations.
Shama connects you with the people, stories and insights that matter, across language and cultural barriers.
Work with usWe work in seven languages
- Arabic
- Amharic
- Tigrinya
- Somali
- Swahili
- French
- English
Additional languages may be mobilized through Shama's professional network for selected assignments, subject to availability.
Why language access matters
What gets lost in translation is evidence.
Research is only as good as what participants were able to say, and what the team was able to hear. Language access is not a courtesy at the end of the process. It decides the quality of the data you end up analysing.
A translated answer is not the same answer
Nuance, hesitation and idiom are where meaning lives. When they are lost in the room, no amount of careful analysis afterwards puts them back.
Participants say more in their own language
People being interviewed through a barrier give shorter, flatter, more guarded answers. Removing the barrier changes what you are able to hear.
Local knowledge is a research input
Who to approach, how to ask, when to come back. Field staff who know the community produce data that a visiting team cannot.
Our services
Flexible services.
Greater insight.
From conversations to compelling stories, we provide end-to-end support for your research and communication needs.
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Transcription & Translation
Transform multilingual audio, video, and research materials into accurate, usable content.
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Field Research Support
Provide practical local support for research assignments in Ethiopia.
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Case Study Support
Capture experiences, programme results, and community perspectives as credible case-study and impact-story content.
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Visual Documentation
Photography, video, interviews and field documentation for powerful storytelling.
Learn moreCustom solutions
Multilingual Research Packages
Need multiple services? We'll build a tailored package around your assignment, combining the right skills, languages and support.
Get in touchWhy choose Shama
More than language.
It's about people.
- 7 core languages, with additional specialists when needed
- Experienced, culturally aware interpreters and field staff
- Human-led, quality-assured delivery
- Ethical, confidential and safeguarding focused
- Flexible and responsive to your needs
Visual documentation
Real stories. Lasting impact.
Our visual documentation services capture authentic moments and powerful stories, using photography, video and interviews to bring your work to life.
- Professional photography
- Video interview recording
- Field documentation
- Participant portraits
- Short-form impact videos
- Subtitling and multilingual video content
Interview models
Who asks the questions is your call.
Two ways to run a multilingual interview. The difference is simply whether Shama leads the conversation, or makes your researcher's conversation possible.
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Shama Interviewer
A trained multilingual professional conducts the interview directly in the participant's language.
Choose this when: You need the conversation to happen in the participant's language, start to finish.
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Shama Interpreter
The client's researcher leads the interview while a Shama-appointed interpreter facilitates communication.
Choose this when: Your own researcher leads, and needs the language barrier taken out of the room.
How it works
From first email to delivered work.
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Tell us about the assignment
Send the brief or TOR, or just describe it. Languages, participants, location and deadline are enough to start.
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We scope it with you
We come back within two working days with the approach, the team we would put on it, and what it costs.
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We assemble the team
Interviewers, interpreters, transcribers, field staff and documentation, drawn to fit the assignment rather than a fixed package.
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Delivery, with the work checked
Transcripts, translations, case studies or visual material, quality-assured before they reach you.
Let's get started
Tell us about your project
Share your needs and we'll get back to you with the right solution.
Research institutions, INGOs, development organizations and other partners.
Prefer to email? shama.cultural@gmail.com