Having recently been involved in helping a family member navigate their way through the various certification requirements of probate, we totally understand how bewildering it can be when an authority demands that you find and employ a certified translation services provider. Don’t worry, help is at hand.
UK Government rules for certified translation service documents
If you go to the Gov.uk website, they make it sound simple enough:
“If you need to certify a translation of a document that’s not written in English or Welsh, ask the translator to confirm in writing on the translation:
- that it’s a ‘true and accurate translation of the original document’
- the date of the translation
- their full name and contact details”
What they don’t spell out is that the translation can’t be completed by you if you happen to be bilingual, or by your friend who has a “flair for languages”. The translation needs to be completed and certified by a linguist who is a translator by profession and has the necessary qualifications and experience.
This is why when anybody approaches us regarding our certified translation services, we always provide a clear declaration that the translation has been completed by a linguist qualified for the task.
Notarisation
When simple certification of a translation is not enough, we also work with a number of Notary Publics who are able to notarise our translations. The Notary Public is able to do this, not because s/he is fluent in the language that the document has been translated into, but because our team’s identity has been verified and our certified translation service is trusted. One of our Project Managers is able to certify that the translation has been completed by a linguist qualified to do so. This declaration enables the Notary Public to apply his or her notarisation stamp.
Legalisation and Apostille
If an organisation in another country has requested a legalised translation, then an Apostille certifies what is usually a notarised document so that the document can be used legally in another country. Are you keeping up? Don’t forget that in order for a translated document to be notarised, we have to certify it. So, certification followed by notarisation, apostille and finally legalisation is achieved… Check out this government website page for details of which documents can be legalised. Remember that most organisations in the UK do not insist on the highest level of certification.
I hope we haven’t complicated matters further. It isn’t (quite) as labyrinthine as it sounds. As long as you know which level of certified translation services the authority in question will accept, one of our Project Managers will do the rest. Do head over to our page dedicated to this service for more information: Certified, Notarised and FCO Legalised Translation, call us on 01544 388040 or use the contact form on our site – we’d love to hear from you.
