When do you need an interpreter, and when is a Koine Station enough?
If the conversation carries legal, medical or financial weight, or the law says so, you need a qualified interpreter, and no software changes that. Norway's Interpreting Act puts that duty on public bodies, and IMDi, the national authority for interpreting in the public sector, says AI tools can be a responsible choice for simple, informal enquiries and short conversations at a counter or on the phone, as long as legal certainty is not at stake. A Koine Station is for exactly those everyday conversations: the ones a school or a municipality could never have booked an interpreter for, because there are too many of them, they are too short, and nobody knew they were coming.
What each one is for, and what it costs.
The legal facts are from the Interpreting Act and from IMDi, the Norwegian Directorate of Integration and Diversity, which is the national authority for interpreting in the public sector. The prices are what three Norwegian interpreting services publish, excluding VAT, checked on 17 September 2026. A dash means we could not find it published.
| What | A qualified interpreter | Koine Station |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A trained person listed in the National Interpreter Register, in the room or by phone or video, who carries professional responsibility for what is said. | A tablet paired to one room. Machine translation of a conversation across the table, in both directions, labelled as machine translation. |
| When it is the right tool | Whenever the Act requires it: when another law says so, or when it is necessary for legal certainty or for proper help and service. IMDi: only a qualified human interpreter can secure legal certainty in those situations. | What IMDi describes as simple and informal enquiries and short conversations at a counter or on the phone, where it says using AI is not in conflict with the Act as long as legal certainty is not at stake. |
| Languages | The register lists qualified interpreters in over 70 languages. IMDi: in many languages qualified interpreters are scarce. | 70 languages, 57 with translated voice. |
| Lead time | IMDi: book well in advance; it can be hard to find qualified interpreters at short notice. Trondheim municipality's interpreting service normally covers the cost for the municipality's own units, but not for bookings made later than 7 days ahead (3 weeks for larger meetings). One agency treats three working days or less as a rush order at plus 50 percent. Another advertises a qualified interpreter at a few minutes' notice. | None. The tablet is already in the room; one tap starts the conversation. |
| Cost | Bergen municipality's interpreting service: NOK 1,052 per hour in person, by phone or by screen, one hour minimum, then NOK 526 per started half hour; NOK 1,578 per hour on weekends and public holidays. Private agencies publish from NOK 600 per hour by phone with a one-hour minimum, and starting prices of NOK 1,499 to 2,649 per started hour depending on certification and attendance; one of them usually charges double before 08:00, after 17:00 and at weekends. All excluding VAT. | The same language-hours as every Koine session: one per language, only while the microphone is on, on the organization's plan. The tablet, stand and microphone kit are quoted per room. |
| Who is in the room | A third person, or a voice on the phone or a face on a screen. The Act allows remote interpreting, and requires the public body using it to ensure satisfactory technical solutions, staff training and privacy. | Only the two of you and a tablet lying flat between you, or each person's own phone. |
| What is kept afterwards | Nothing, unless you take minutes. The interpreter is bound by confidentiality. | Nothing, unless the organization chooses to keep the conversation in its library. A school's default is live-only with no recording. |
| Responsibility for the words | A professional with a qualification category from A to E, who can ask, clarify and flag a misunderstanding. | A machine. It can be wrong, it is labelled as machine translation on every screen, and the people at the table remain responsible for checking anything that matters. |
| Where it wins | Every conversation that matters. Nuance, tone, dialect, the ability to stop and ask. And it is the only lawful choice where the Act applies. | The hundreds of short, unplanned conversations a year that no one would book an interpreter for, and the parent or resident who otherwise gets a shrug or a family member pressed into service. |
Sources: the Interpreting Act (Lov om offentlige organers ansvar for bruk av tolk mv., in force 1 January 2022), IMDi on the Act and artificial intelligence, when an interpreter must be used, booking an interpreter and the National Interpreter Register; Bergen municipality's interpreting service prices (from 1 January 2025); Diction and Tolk 24 price lists; Trondheim municipality's interpreting service; Salita. All checked 17 September 2026. Koine figures are from the Station page and pricing. If a figure is out of date, tell us.
When an interpreter is the only right answer
The Interpreting Act applies to public bodies in Norway that order and use interpreters, and its purpose is legal certainty and proper help and service for people who cannot communicate adequately with a public body without one. Where another law requires an interpreter, or where one is necessary for legal certainty or for proper service, the body must use a qualified interpreter, meaning one who meets the requirements of the National Interpreter Register. The Act forbids using children to interpret, with narrow exceptions, and IMDi says family members, friends and bystanders must not be used either.
IMDi's guidance on artificial intelligence, published in September 2025, draws the line plainly. In the situations the Act's duty covers, "only a qualified human interpreter can secure legal certainty and proper service". That includes the meeting about a child's welfare, the conversation with a caseworker about benefits, the medical consultation, anything with a decision at the end of it. If you are unsure whether a conversation is one of those, treat it as one and book the interpreter.
Two things are worth knowing when you do. Qualified interpreters are, in IMDi's words, a scarce resource in many languages, so book early: one municipality stops covering the cost of bookings made inside seven days, and one agency adds 50 percent for three working days' notice or less. And the Act explicitly allows interpreting by phone or screen, with a duty on the public body to ensure satisfactory technical solutions, staff training and privacy. Bergen's service and Diction publish prices for interpreting in person, by phone and by video; Tolk 24 publishes prices by phone and in person.
When Koine Station is
Between the conversations that require an interpreter sit hundreds that never get one. A parent asking which day the class goes swimming. A resident at the counter asking which form to fill in and where to hand it. A visitor after the service asking when the next one is. A new pupil's mother trying to explain that her son is allergic to nuts. These are short, unplanned and constant, and the honest description of what happens today is a shrug, a bilingual colleague pulled away from their own work, or a phone passed across the desk.
IMDi's own guidance names this category: simple and informal enquiries, short conversations at a counter or on the phone, and written translation of less critical information, where, as long as legal certainty is not at stake and the conversation can be handled responsibly, using AI "is not in conflict with the Interpreting Act". That is the conversation the station is built for. The tablet is already in the room, paired to it, and one tap opens a split screen with each person's language on their side. Nobody books anything, nobody's personal phone changes hands, and the conversation costs the organization the same language-hours as any other session, only while the microphone is on.
A station also does something an interpreter cannot: it is there at 08:15 on a Tuesday when the question is small and the person asking it would otherwise have walked away.
What the table cannot show
Machine translation is wrong sometimes, and the station says so on its screens. That is manageable for a question about swimming days and unacceptable for a decision about a child, which is the whole point of the line IMDi draws. The person running the conversation decides which side of the line it is on, and the station cannot make that decision for them.
The requirement to use a qualified interpreter, as opposed to any interpreter, has a transitional dispensation until 31 December 2026, which the Act lets the government extend by regulation, and IMDi recommends using qualified interpreters even during that period. Nothing about the dispensation changes the duty to use an interpreter at all.
Finally, the prices in the table are examples, not a market survey. One municipal service and two agencies publish their rates; two well-known agencies do not. If you have a real quote in front of you, use that number rather than ours.
Common questions.
Is it lawful for a school or municipality to use machine translation with a parent or resident?
According to IMDi's guidance, yes for simple and informal enquiries and short conversations at a counter or on the phone, and no wherever the Interpreting Act's duty applies, which is whenever legal certainty or proper service requires an interpreter. The public body decides which category a conversation falls into, and a Koine Station does not change that duty.
Can a pupil interpret for their parents?
No. The Act forbids public bodies from using children to interpret or otherwise convey information, with an exception only for emergencies and cases where it is justifiable for the child. IMDi adds that family members, friends and bystanders must not be used either.
What does an interpreter cost in Norway?
Published examples, excluding VAT: Bergen municipality's service charges NOK 1,052 per hour with a one-hour minimum and NOK 1,578 per hour on weekends and public holidays; private agencies publish from NOK 600 per hour by phone to a starting price of NOK 2,649 per started hour for a certified interpreter in person, and one of them publishes surcharges for evenings, weekends and short notice. Other agencies, such as Hero Tolk and Salita, publish no prices.
Does the Station replace telephone interpreting?
No. They serve different conversations. Telephone and video interpreting are lawful ways to meet the duty to use an interpreter; IMDi suggests phone interpreting mainly for shorter conversations. The station covers the informal conversations that were never going to be interpreted at all.
Is a Station conversation recorded?
Only if the organization turns that on. By default nothing is kept, and a school's default is live-only with no recording. A qualified interpreter is bound by confidentiality and keeps nothing either.
Can we use the Station to arrange the interpreted meeting itself?
Yes. Agreeing a time, a room and which language the family needs is exactly the kind of short, practical exchange where IMDi says AI tools can be a responsible choice. The meeting itself then gets the interpreter.