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About Bridging the Gap Interpreting

Bridging the Gap Interpreting was born in 2007 out of Nabil Cherif’s passion for helping people communicate effectively across language and cultural barriers. Nabil spent several years working for other interpreting agencies. He encountered heartbreaking situations that increased his passion for helping people feel understood, respected, and valued despite cultural and linguistic barriers.

Our aim is simple – to bridge the gap between what is communicated and what is understood.

“Few things will pay you bigger dividends than the time and trouble you take to understand people. Almost nothing will add more to your stature as an executive and a person. Nothing will give you greater satisfaction or bring you more happiness." – George Kienzle and Edward Dare

Meet Our Team

We make every client feel valued, respected, confident, and understood.

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Nabil Cherif

Founder, Interpreter/Coach

Nabil Cherif was born in Tunisia and migrated to France, Germany, Italy, Malta, England, Switzerland, and Cyprus before landing in Kansas City in 2000 to attend college at Johnson County Community College and later the University of Kansas. He is fluent in French, Arabic, and English. Over the years Nabil worked a variety of jobs, from security officer to interpreter to karate instructor to bus driver. He spent every penny he could to travel and experience other cultures and countries. He also visited roughly 30 states in the U.S. to understand more of American culture. Nabil fell in love with the world of interpreting because of the opportunity to help people communicate and overcome cultural barriers. His passion for people and solving problems through language services spawned a desire to start his own language services company. He worked multiple jobs while tirelessly working to build a company. His determination was his cornerstone to push through the challenges of building a business, and Bridging the Gap Interpreting was born in 2007.

Emily Cherif

Emily Cherif

Interpreter/Trainer

Emily Cherif was born in Iceland. Her mother is Costa Rican and her father is American. Her father was in the Air Force, so their family moved cross-culturally multiple times: from Iceland, to North Carolina, to California, to Costa Rica, and in 1992 permanently to Kansas City. Emily is fluent in Spanish and English. In 2013 Emily resigned her job of 12 years and started freelance interpreting. She became certified as a Missouri State Court Interpreter and soon after was hired by BTGI for several interpreting sessions, which turned into more sessions, training interpreters, meeting the owner four months later, and then getting married to him four months after that! She has currently been accepted into two different Universities to pursue a Master's Degree in Conference Interpreting and is making plans with her husband to see which one is the best fit for their lives and the company!

Development & Support

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Sarah Schumacher

Sarah provides consulting and website support to BTGI. As the founder of cyclone press, she helps startups, soloproneurs, and small businesses tell a story about what they do, then turn that story into a well-designed website, optimized for lead generation and process automation. BTGI appreciates this support as they continue to grow, and Sarah has enjoyed helping them communicate their passion for bridging barriers through language services and cultural awareness.

Our History

  • 2007

    Inspiration

    One day while Nabil was in San Francisco, looking at the Golden Gate Bridge, the phrase “nothing better than being understood” came to mind. This became the cornerstone of the company’s identity. With business cards, a car for an office, cold calls, and hours upon hours of work, Bridging the Gap Interpreting was born.

  • 2012

    Partnership

    In 2012 Emily joined our network of interpreters. Within a few months of meeting, the two were married. Together they are a passionate powerhouse to lead the company, combining their shared vision and complementary gifts to take the company to a new level.

  • 2020

    Present Day

    In the past 8 years, our company has grown to a network of 250+ interpreters and translators speaking 100+ languages in a variety of settings, ranging from medical to legal to social services. Our interpreters consistently find themselves in situations that not only require interpretation of words but of cultural differences as well. Because of this, we have branched out to offer cultural awareness training, consulting, and coaching as well.

Do You Need Interpreting or Translation Services?

Request translating, interpreting or cultural awareness services online at any time. You can also call us at 913-204-0230.

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