Certified translation

Translations intended to bear a stamp of an official court translator or sworn-to-court translator, i.e. certified/sworn/official translations, must comply with certain rules that don’t apply to “regular” translations. What makes this type of translation special is not just a round stamp print, but also a series of other characteristics, which will be further explained in this section.

Before getting into the details about the rules and characteristics, let’s see what kind of documents usually require certified translation.

No matter if you’re applying for a visa, citizenship, enrolling at a college, applying for a job, or taking your treatment abroad, be sure to check with the institution which you’re submitting your documents to whether you need a certified translation. In most cases, this information will be readily available in the application requirements.

It’s usually diplomas, birth/marriage/death certificates, passports, IDs, certificates, medical reports, contracts, etc. that require certified translation, in other words, official documents issued by public and private institutions. Certified translations are meant to be used either abroad (translation to a foreign language) or within the country (translation to Serbian).

How is certified translation different from non-certified translation?

Apart from the difference in form—certified translations are issued in hard copies, with the source document and translation bound together with a tricolour string, whose loose ends are attached with a sticker, they must bear the stamp and signature of the official court translator—they also differ in content. First of all, all pages of a certified translation must be numbered in the lower right corner if the translation contains more than one page.

What makes this type of translation stand out is the fundamental rule that everything has to be translated. And when we say everything, we mean EVERYTHING. All textual and non-textual elements present in the source document (i.e. the document to be translated) must be included in the translation, too, by providing their description in italic type in brackets to distinguish it from the main text, e.g. illegible handwritten signature, round stamp of the following content, logo of the X company, handwritten text, etc. If certain parts of the text are illegible, this also calls for a note.

Furthermore, in certified translation, the source text should be translated as closely as possible, because the translator certifies and is responsible for the accuracy and authenticity of the translation by affixing their round stamp. A sworn-to-court translator is not allowed to make corrections to the source text, and is required to translate it accurately.

As we’ve mentioned, an ideal translation is one which maintains a perfect balance between the source and target language, and the source and target culture. This approach renders a translation that is an accurate translation of the source text on one hand, but idiomatic and readable to native speakers of the target language, coming from the target culture. However, in practice, striking the exact balance is difficult, so translations often gravitate to either end of the scale. For instance, localization, obviously, tends to be closer to the target culture, and taking liberties when translating is not only allowed, but it’s preferable. Modifications, adaptation, and sometimes even omissions are completely justified if that’s going to produce the desired effect on the readers. However, with certified translations, the stress is not on the effect we want to achieve with the readership (e.g. for marketing purposes), but rather on the accuracy and functionality of the text at hand. For instance, it goes without saying that birth certificate won’t be translated literally to Serbian as potvrda o rođenju, but instead, we will use the name of the equivalent document in the Serbian legal system—Izvod iz matične knjige rođenih, because legal, administrative, and other terminology should be adapted to the target system to help the authority who is the end recipient of the translation understand what kind of document they’re looking at and thus make the right decision (e.g. whether to admit the applicant). That said, a translation should not be too loose, as at the end of the day, it’s also important to understand the system where the source document comes from. So, Ministarstvo spoljnih poslova certainly won’t be translated as State Department, but rather Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A good translator is able to assess when they’re supposed to lean to one end and when to the other. A good way to achieve this is by talking to the client, asking them about the purpose of the translation and the target country. After obtaining this information, it’s much easier to realize which purpose the translation is supposed to fulfill. A sworn-to-court translator is allowed to add notes/footnotes if needed to clarify any differences between two different systems (e.g. assessment systems in higher education) to avoid any doubt.

Certified translation rates

A standard translation page (1800 characters with spaces) is an important concept in this case too, which means that we come up with the total number of translation pages based on the total number of characters. However, the price of 1 standard translation page is also the minimum rate, which means that if a text contains less than 1800 characters, it’s still considered a standard translation page and the relevant rates apply. By default, translations are always issued in two copies, and every extra copy comes with additional charges.

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