Over the years, I’ve observed that many translators are somewhere between lukewarm and downright scornful of translating individual clients’ official documents: birth certificates, educational transcripts, diplomas, drivers’ licenses, you get the picture. I think that a lot of experienced translators view this as “beginner’s work” or not worth their time, so they take it off their range of services. Official documents are not a huge component of my freelance business, but they do total a few thousand dollars of income every year for me and the work is painless and gratifying. Here are a few reasons I think it’s worth including official documents in your range of services, and a few tips on how to do it successfully.
Translating official documents is appealing because:
- It’s lucrative. Admittedly, translating birth certificates is not a lot of things: it’s not creative, it doesn’t cry out for stylistic greatness… but it can pay up to a dollar a word and nearly always pays at least 50 cents a word because the standard billing unit is per page. In addition, official documents are a market that agencies really don’t want because the size of the projects does not justify their overhead, so freelancers are most individual clients’ best option.
- It’s gratifying. People who are applying for green cards, graduate school, marriage licenses etc. are really, really grateful to find someone who is experienced and professional to work on their documents.
- It’s easy to schedule. When you’re translating a driver’s license, it’s not as if you’re juggling other commitments in order to fit in 10,000 words. Most official document translations take less than an hour to complete, so they’re easy to schedule.
- The clients pay in advance, so you have no follow-up or collections hassles. I require all individual clients to pay in advance by PayPal or by check, so that I do not have to deal with any after-the-fact invoicing.
- Set a per-page fee and a notarized certification fee; it makes your life and your clients’ lives easier. Because of the time it takes to format official documents (especially diplomas and any kind of official certificate), I think that the per-page rate is important. In addition, if you get a lot of inquiries from people who want quotes, it can be helpful to put up a web page (here is mine) with your standard rates, turnaround time and procedures.
- Require advance payment. I cannot stress this enough; you do not want to be chasing after someone for $50, and most official document projects are small enough that your clients should not object to paying in advance. I know that a lot of people complain about PayPal, but I really like it. You receive your money immediately, any difficulties with the actual payment process are between your client and PayPal, and you can use PayPal’s free invoicing tool to set up an invoice template that looks professional and does all of the calculations for you.
- Use a screenshot or graphics program to enhance your translations. Many official documents include stamps, university logos, seals, etc. If you use a screenshot or image manipulation program, you can copy these over onto your translation for a truly official-looking translation.
- Find a free or low-cost notary. My bank provides free notary services to anyone who has accounts there, so my fee for the notarized certification simply reflects the time it takes to go obtain the certification.
And a few tips for setting your official document translations up for success:
In closing, I also think that there are a lot of opportunities to market your official document translation services. International credentials evaluation services, consulates, language schools, international exchange programs and other similar organizations could probably use your services. Thoughts?
Hi Corinne, thanks for bringing in the topic with a different point of you, rather than… oh no, another birth and college certificate! : ) I am curious about the second last point. I was always told at university (in Italy) not to copy/reproduce original screenshots of logos, stamps, ecc. because the translation is not issued on the official paper by the same institution, but it is rather attached to the document.
We were taught (and that’s what I do) to draw a blank shape similar to the stamp, seal, logo and then write underneath it in square brakets the description eg [circular logo, Montclair State University 1908].
I can’t speak for all translators translating into Italian, but this seems to be the rule. How different!
Ciao!
sorry, I meant “different point of view”, the morning coffee is not working yet! : )
Francesca, you make a very interesting point. When I did a translation university course (I’m in Poland), I was told that the main rule for translating official documents like birth certificates is that the final product must be text only. I’ve been taught how to translate seals, logos and stamps (e.g. “ink rectangular stamp with the following description: …”) and how to deal with page layout. There were additional requirements as well: no portion of the translated page could be left blank, so each line had to be filled with XXX or —.
Then again, for the translation of an official document to be ‘usable’ in a registry or a court, it has to be done by a certified translator (one that passed an difficult govenrment exam).
Dear LII
I really appreciate the points you make here,
I am a qualified interpreter and occasionally do translate basic documents.
I wonder if you could help me deal with basic guidance on formatting , the use of XXXX and the drawing of rectangulars or circles , to allude to a stamp or seal?
I would be very grateful to you or anyone who could shed some light on this.
A. Marcos
Working for an agency which still deals with a lot of certificate translations, I agree with most of your points. Although each individual project does not bring in a large amount of revenue, the sheer number (over 1,000 a year) of individual certificates, transcripts and official documents that we deal with makes it worth while. So too do the reactions of our customers – our private clients are always very happy with the service and grateful that we are able to help them with their translation needs, whatever their individual requirements. It is always nice to hear back from our private clients, because these kinds of translations can really be life changing- they make all the difference when people are organising visas, applying for jobs, professional recognition, the right to stay in the country or intending to get married either here or abroad, which makes it very rewarding work. It’s also especially gratifying when clients return to us with any further translations that they may need and we get to find out how their applications or weddings went!
As you said, they are easily scheduled and we can turn around a certificate translation, from receipt of the document and payment to delivery of the translation to the client, in 1-2 working days if necessary, and can fit them in easily around our larger projects.
The only point I wouldn’t agree with you on, as you may be able to tell, is that agencies do not want to deal with official documents – as an agency for whom certificates are a large part of our income, we love translating individual official documents! I have come across translators (even freelance translators) who will turn their nose up at such assignments and I think they’re missing out!
With regard to stamps and layout, we try to recreate the layout of the original document as much as possible. This includes embedding screengrabs or images of any stamps and logos which we translate underneath lilke this:
[stamp reads: TRANSLATION OF TEXT FROM STAMP].
Our certificate tranlsations look (as much as is possible) like a copy of the original document, just in a different language. They are accepted by all UK authorities and many overseas authorities and I’ve not heard anyone in the UK say that they should be test only – I guess there are different guidelines and rules according to which country you’re in. It’s interesting to see what they are!
Interesting topic, Corinne! I am in Germany but I only do what I think is right. I find it odd to use graphics, because a graphic is not a translation. I follow the layout as much as possible but everything I write is text.
Corinne, I just did quick job like this the other day for a direct client who came through my website, and like you I love jobs like this. Immediate payment by paypal, I can fit it in between other bigger jobs, higher per word rate…
I also think it’s a mistake to turn a nose up at “little” jobs. A little job done well for a new client could well turn out to be a very important connection or reference for the future.
I never get things notarized anymore. I’m incorporated, so I have a raised seal for my company (required by the state). I write my own little attestation. I include on it what the document is (type(s) of document(s) belonging to XXXX XXXX ), consisting of X pages, and at the end, “each page is affixed with the raised seal of Crown Point Translations. That is to help ensure that no one is going to make their own changes to it. If they insist it has to be notarized, I can take it to the bank and have it done, too, but I charge extra for that, and pretty much every one decides that my attestation is sufficient. I have never had anyone come back and say it wasn’t accepted.
Great summary and food for thought, Corinne! We do a lot of certified document translations, and I also thoroughly enjoy the human touch that comes with them. I’ve had nothing but great experiences, and have a notary at a mailboxes place down the street. My bank doesn’t notarize non-bank documents anymore. 🙁
While I am the queen of billing early and asking for advance payment, for certificates for some reason I’ve always gone with my gut, and I’ve been paid 100% of the time. However, probably a good idea to require payment in advance. We usually do stamps as described by @Ben, but I also like the graphics idea that you give.
Nice anecdote: a few weeks ago, we translated handwritten German documents for a customer who was adopted when she was a baby (by American parents). Her father was in the Army, and they lost all their papers in the big 1973 fire. Now she had no way of proofing her adoption and thus citizenship — just one piece of paper from Germany. Nevada wouldn’t even give her a driver’s license without an official translation of it. She was quite happy when she found us and we made this stressful situation easier for her. It’s great to help!
Hi Corinne,
I know of an instance where an American judge asked that translators stop scanning in the seals and logos on official documents (birth certificates, marriage certificates) because it could appear as though they were “counterfeit” – in the judge’s view, it should be clear that the translation is a translation and NOT an original document, and the more fancy logos/scans you add, the more it can appear that the English-language document was issued by the officials in the foreign country. My conclusion is that all this fancy scanning is (1) not necessary and (2) dangerous, because it can make the document look forged and (3) therefore should not be done.
Tom West
We always add a line of text at the top of our certified translations that says “translated from [source language=”language”][/source]”, this ensures that even though the official stamps have been copied across, there can be no mistaking it for an original certificate.
I do see what you (and the judge) are saying though and it is certainly something to think about!
I wish I could add my two cents, but in Switzerland you need a 5 year-experience to apply to be on the list of official documents’ translators. I’m still too young in the business to apply right now, and I really don’t understand why there is such a delay.
As you said, the translations are pretty standard and rather simple so it’s perfect for young translators.
Hi, Corinne,
Your posts are always very helpful.
I’m an official sworn translator here in Brazil, having passed a difficult exam back in 1999, when I was just starting out in this career.
We don’t have clear guidelines here, but I took a course after being approved and this issue about scanning the graphics/logos was raised and our instructor (a very experienced official translator) said that she wouldn’t recommend including them for the reasons that Tom West mentioned in his comment – appearance of counterfeiting – and also for a commercial reasons: you spend time doing those things, and time is money.
Other than that, I try to keep the original layout as much as possible. Modesty aside, the documents I deliver are very easy to read, and pleasant for the eyes.
I agree with you regarding these documents being nice to translate, usually people are very nice, except one or two rough cases I had in the past. And they are easy to fit in, and I have no problems accepting them.
By the way, I work in the Brazilian Portuguese / English pair.
Hello Adriana,
I also live in Brazil, Recife to be exact and I wouild like to know where I can find information and sample texts of doing official transcripts, diplomas, certificates etc. Is there a website page or a book that perhaps will help?
Your reply is appreciated. Thanks.
Hi again, Corinne! Would you mind if we included this great post in our upcoming NITA (Nevada Interpreters and Translators Association) newsletter? I will edit a tiny bit for length and also incorporate the update to this entry that you published. I’d send you the article for final approval. Please let me know if that works. 🙂
Of course, I would be flattered! I’ll e-mail you the details.
I really enjoyed this post. It proved to be Very helpful to me and I am sure to all the commentators here! Keep writing. Thanks…..
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hello all of you, i am a newcomer in translation work, it was a great pleasure to read your comments, i have a question about the way to translate the stamping seal, how should it be ?
thx so much for your support.
Hello friends, I am in Rwanda. This article including the comments has been so informative and give credits to everyone of you being here! I probably got everything I needed on formatting and certifying official translations!
Great, glad you found it helpful!