If you have ever required certified translation services for any purpose whatsoever, you may have also come across notarised translations. What’s more, you probably wondered whether there was any real difference between the two, or whether you were in fact looking at two names for the same service.
Contrary to popular belief however, the two are in fact entirely different. Technically speaking, any translator at any level can offer a notarised translation service. Upon finishing a translation, it is simply a case of printing a copy of both the source document and the translated text, visiting a notary, signing a declaration that the translation is accurate and paying the required fee. This basically provides the client with a sworn guarantee on the part of the translator that the translation is both complete and accurate.
But how does this differ from a certified translation?
Well, in the simplest of terms it all comes down to the way in which only qualified certified translators can carry out and verify certified translations. You have to be a highly experienced, qualified and capable translator to work in certified translations, having earned the right to ‘rubber stamp’ documents for complete and total accuracy and completeness yourself. As such, when you work with a certified translation agency or service provider of any kind, you are automatically guaranteed the highest possible quality of service. In addition, you know that the document you receive is flawless in quality.
By contrast, notarised translations effectively give anyone working in the translation business the opportunity to stamp and sign-off their translations. What’s important to remember is that while they may sign a legal declaration that the translation is accurate and complete, this doesn’t actually guarantee that it is either. Instead, it simply affirms that the translator has claimed it to be accurate and complete.
In a nutshell therefore, when it comes to the most important translations for business, legal, educational or domestic purposes, it pays to work with established certified translation service providers. Where flawless results are the only acceptable standard, notarised translations do not always live up to expectations.