Certified Translation

Certified TranslationLinguaVox is a certified translation services company with a certified quality management system according to ISO 9001, and a translation service compliant with EN-15038, the European standard specific for translation service providers.

LinguaVox provides excellent translation services that are specific to your needs, whether you need a certified or a sworn translation. Whatever your requirements, LinguaVox has the expertise to translate your documents with accuracy and full compliance. LinguaVox works in close cooperation with our in-house certified translation team in Europe and the USA, and with officially recognized certified or sworn translators and thus is in a position to offer you official translations that comply with the requirements in whichever may be your target country – United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Portugal, Germany, The Netherlands, Turkey, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Romania, Turkey, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Russia, China, Japan, etc.

LinguaVox has certified translators throughout the world and because of this we are able to provide certified and sworn translations in more than 150 languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Japanese, Arabic , Czech, Danish, Finnish, Flemish, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croat, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish, Turkish, Urdu, Afrikaans, Albanian, Bengali, Byelorussian, Bosnian, Croatian, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Hindi, Icelandic, Indonesian, Latvian, Macedonian, Maltese, Persian, Punjabi, Serbian, Thai, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Farsi, Moldovan, Swahili, etc.

The certified translation requirements may vary according to the companies, institutions, or governments requiring the translation.





Official or certified translations in the USA

In the United States, sworn translations are known as “certified translations”. The certification usually consists of a statement, in some cases notarized, that is added to the document affirming the accuracy of the translation. The statement, with or without a notary seal, transforms it into a court approved document for the intended purposes. It is important to point out that requirements can differ from one department to another within governments, between governmental agencies and private businesses, and according to the document usage. Also, the notary statement requiring either a stamped or an embossed seal will vary according to destination use. In the case of certified sworn translations in the United Kingdom, the Notary Public does not play a role in the certification of a sworn translation.

Usually, the statement in the form of a paragraph with signatures and dates includes the following information:

“The translator [name of the translator] declares s/he is familiar with the English and [source] languages and that the translation of the documents pertaining to [name of client], the originals of which are in [source language], is an accurate and correct translation.

____________________________________________

Translator/Agent’s Signature

Date________________________________________

This may be accompanied by the company’s signature and corporate seal and printed on the translation company’s stationary with its logo. Afterwards, the notary public certification is added. Once the notary public’s certification is affixed to the translation, the client will be in a position to present both the original document and the certified translation to the pertinent bodies or authorities.

Documents that require a certified translation in the United States, for example, may be the following:

  • All documentation for the Department of US Citizen and Immigrations Services, and other government agencies;
  • Academic degrees, records, diplomas, transcripts;
  • Adoption documentation and records;
  • Legal personal records such as birth certificates, marriage licenses and certificates, divorce certificates and decrees, certificates of death, driver’s license, court and penal records, wills, passports, visas, powers of attorney, property and other similar documents;
  • Personal documents such as medical records and transcriptions, parental consent letters, bank records, résumés and related materials, business and corporate documents, and similar records.





Official (sworn translations) in Europe: differences depending on the country

In Europe, certified translations are usually known as “sworn translations”. The designation comes from the oath that the sworn translators, who are those in charge of swearing the translations, must take when performing a translation task. Usually, each sworn or official translator has his/her own seal, which must be registered with the corresponding authorities, together with his/her signature. The seal and signature must be included on every page of the translated document. Notwithstanding, this requirement may vary from one European country to another.

The body appointing sworn or official translators varies from country to country. For instance, in Spain sworn translators are appointed by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. In Romania, however, it is the Ministry of Justice’s task to appoint sworn translators. In Poland, sworn translators are designated by the different Courts and Tribunals. The French case mirrors the situation in Poland and thus we have sworn translators (traducteurs assermentés) authorized by the different Courts (and even for the French Overseas Territories). Moreover, in France sworn translators may be authorized either to perform written sworn translations or spoken sworn interpreting (to assist in a trial, for instance, as linguistic experts) or both.

In Northern Europe, more specifically in the Scandinavian countries, there is a difference between authorized translators and interpreters, and thus you may find authorized language specialists who only perform sworn translations, while others who only have the right to carry out sworn interpreting tasks and, finally, others who are authorized to handle both.

In some countries, this matter becomes highly specialized. In Sweden, for instance, authorized translators are members of the Federation of Authorized Translators (FAT) but only after passing an extremely demanding evaluation set by the Swedish Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (Kammarkollegiet). This evaluation consists of three parts: a general, a legal and a financial text. Candidates who pass the examination become authorized translators (auktoriserad translator). This authorization must be renewed every five years. The authorized translator may be appointed in one linguistic direction or be bidirectional. This means, for example, that a translator may be an authorized translator either from Swedish into English or from English into Swedish depending on the abilities, or both, if the abilities are bidirectional.

In Denmark, on the other hand, authorized translators and interpreters are appointed by the Danish Department of Companies and Commerce, which establishes a difference between sworn translators and interpreters and sets out the requirements to be met by them.

The case of the United Kingdom is, in some respects, similar to that of the United States, in that the translator must include a closing paragraph that serves as certification to the translation (must be signed and dated), by means of which s/he acknowledges to have sufficient knowledge in the source and target languages. However, no notary certification is required.

In Italy, sworn translators are also appointed by the Courts and Tribunals and are organized by regions. The sworn translator’s signature must be authenticated by the Courts as well.

The appointment of sworn or official translators in other countries may vary and demand specific requirements. Do not hesitate to contact us if you are unsure as to what those requirements may be.

Documents issued from any government agency or department, any type of organization, or from any business for the purpose of being used within any legal context within the area of Continental Europe and which must be translated from one language into another shall require a sworn translation. Examples of these types of documents would be the following:

  • Legal documents such as marriage and birth certificates, divorce papers, powers of attorney, adoption, and similar documents;
  • Academic records such as the ones listed previously;
  • Resident status records, visas, passports, permits, medical records, and the like;
  • Contractual documents, real estate and property records, and similar documents;
  • Financial documentation required in other countries.

It is important to note that by its very nature, a sworn translation is a legal document and is considered valid for all purposes deemed necessary by the respective courts.