Certified Translation: When It Is Required?

How can you be sure that your translation work has been carried out accurately and that it will pay dividends in a foreign land?  The only way you can ensure this is by delegating the task to a certified translation agency. Such agencies issue an approval on the correctness and accuracy of the translation work, via a statement and signature to that effect.

However, there’s a lot of confusion about when to and when not to avail to avail certified translation. With this in mind, let’s begin by understanding the situations that demand certified translation-

Certified translations are often needed for copies of document that are intended for use by authorized entities, such as a governmental agencies, insurance companies or civil-law notaries. Official documents ranging from marriage, birth and death certificates to papers related to wills, study certificates, court rulings, marks sheets, contracts, and judicial summons from the municipal records or related authorized agency are some of the other documents that require certified translations.

Immigration is another key area that generally require certified translation. In case you are applying for permanent residency or a temporary visitor’s permit in a foreign land, you are required to submit documents in the country’s official language — and this calls for the services of certified translations.

And finally, applications to educational institutions in a foreign land also demands certified translations. Depending on the college’s document policies, individuals are required to submit the original grade report along with a certified translation.

However, certified translation may not be necessary when you need to translate documents that would not be produced for any court proceedings, such as your family records. Translation of web content is another noticeable example of documents that do not necessarily require certified translation.

Conclusion

When in doubt about whether or not to opt for certified translations, it is advisable to consult a competent authority or a reliable agency. And finally, do bear in mind that necessities will vary depending on the nature, type and objective of the document.