Why Do You Need a Certified Translation?
Certified Translation
Official translation services are typically required when dealing with a formal document in another language, such as a birth certificate, death certificate, marriage certificate or other vital record. The translation must be authenticated and certified by the agency in order to be legally recognized by the appropriate government entities here in the United States. But what exactly is an official certified translation? Why do you need one? And who can perform it? Those are the questions we’ll be addressing today.
Why do you need a certified translation?
There are many reasons why you may need a certified translation of vital records. Government entities may demand certified translations of vital records such as birth certificates, marriage certificates or death certificates.
Legal proceedings may require certified translations of vital records in order to be used as evidence. Government entities may also demand certified translations of vital records for immigration purposes.
If you want to immigrate to another country like the United States, the government will require all kinds of personal documents. If these documents are not in English, they will need to not only be translated to English, but also certified. This is to make sure that the translated truly deflects the content of the original document, and that they are translated legitimately and accurately.
Translation Services
If you need to obtain an international driver’s license, then you will also need to obtain certified translations of vital records. In fact, translation services are not limited to just government entities. A variety of private institutions may require certified translations for legal or other purposes as well.
For example, you may want to get into business with another person in your home country and need certified translations of vital records for ownership transfer purposes. Or maybe you want to marry someone from abroad and need certified translations of vital records before going through with the ceremony.
Whatever the reason, certified translations of vital records can prove to be invaluable. That’s why it’s important to make sure they’re done by professional translators who know what they’re doing! Professional translation agencies have the resources and employees to translate to and from any language efficiently and accurately.
Their translators have been trained to look for any discrepancies between the text on the page, meaning there will be no mistranslations. It’s always better to use professionals when translating something that requires accuracy, especially when it needs to be submitted to official authorities. Professional translation agencies do certifications on a daily basis. They know exactly what to do to make sure your certified translation is done right.
Who might demand a certified translation and why?
Government entities such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Department of Defense all require certified translations for certain transactions. Certified translations are used most often for immigrations purposes and applications.
Legal proceedings also often rely on official translations to ensure that the parties are communicating accurately with one another and understanding any legal documents they may be signing. Finally, educational institutions such as colleges and universities typically only accept students who provide certified translations of their academic records from their home country’s school system.
As a rule of thumb
Foreign documents submitted to any of the above-mentioned entities will require to be translated into English. For example: To obtain U.S. residency or citizenship one needs their legal documents (birth certificate) translated and verified as accurate and valid.
Legal documents of foreign origin need to be translated and verified by a certified translator or translation company. Verifying accuracy and validity is essential for a wide variety of legal purposes, as well as for personal needs like applying for citizenship or residency in another country.
To make sure that your legal documents are valid you will need to submit them either:
1) through an embassy or consulate,
2) through an official government agency or
3) directly to any government entity.
The first step is getting the document translated into English, which can only be done by a professional certified translator or translation company. While hiring a certified translator may save you some money, the certified translations are usually rejected by an entity that requires the official translation.
Therefore, it is recommended to hire a professional translation agency that is experienced and specialized in certified translations. Quality translation agencies, like us, can offer you guaranteed acceptance.
This is important because you don’t want to risk having your visa application rejected. As a rule of thumb, to ensure accuracy and validity, any foreign document submitted to any of the aforementioned agencies will require an English-certified translation.
