Translating documents? or leave them as is??

[lucyrich 20]

Yeah, babelfish is lousy. It may be the best automatic translator available for free, but translation can't be done well automatically. For a very interesting discussion of why machine translation is so bad, see this link, or this one, or here.

Back to this quote:

Birth certificates, marriage certificates, wills, diplomas, legal documents all need to be certified. Certified translations are governed by local laws in each country.

In a non-certified translation the translator is sometimes entitled to give a personal style and tone to the text, to make it more appropriate for the target audience.

Certified translations often must be an exact translation of the source and must always include a clause from the certifier together with a round seal affixed which only Certified Court translators may use, and must be certified by the translators signature, in order to be accepted by the courts and the authorities.

That is pure, absolute, 100% baloney, at least in the context of immigration translations prepared for the USCIS. I've seen those words before on some overpriced commercial translation service's website. I don't know whether they know that's false and yet say it in order to scare people into using their service, or perhaps they actually think it has some truth to it. Either way, there is NO WAY I would trust an important legal translation to a firm that either outright lies so badly in their marketing materials, or else has such a poor understanding of the USCIS requirements.

The USCIS does NOT recognize any certification seal or translator credentials. The USCIS translation requirements are available on their website, and say that the translaTION (not translaTOR) must be certified by the person doing the translation. The certification must include a statement certifying the translator's ability to translate, and certifying that the translation is true and correct.

I personally translated the birth certificate we submitted as part of our USCIS petition, and I certified it per the USCIS instructions. I have no formal language credentials, but lots of fluency. Plenty of others have posted similar experiences. We were approved without problems.

[Aussielad 37]

so i could just send the first page with our signatures and dates on it, then the last page with our signatures and dates on it aswell???? (all being translated of course!)

Because i doubt that it'll interest them in seeing 20+ pages of how you "cant have a cat/dog" or "have more people stay at the residence that arent on the lease"

[meauxna 15]

so i could just send the first page with our signatures and dates on it, then the last page with our signatures and dates on it aswell???? (all being translated of course!)

Because i doubt that it'll interest them in seeing 20+ pages of how you "cant have a cat/dog" or "have more people stay at the residence that arent on the lease"

I included partial copies of several multipage documents, just the way you suggest. Give 'em the meaty part, not the part that doesn't matter.

Gracias, lucyrich!

[sparkofcreation 0]

No offense..but I'm not 100% sure this is correct (and other simiar posts) - you/I can not (in most countries) translate documents and certainly not legal documents ourselves..regardless if we're fluent in the language... (In most countries.)

(This is the portion of the USCIS site you referred to that is just above the signature line you pasted in.....

Please submit certified translations for all foreign language documents. The translator must certify that s/he is competent to translate and that the translation is accurate.

The certification format should include the certifier's name, signature, address, and date of certification. A suggested format is:)

Birth certificates, marriage certificates, wills, diplomas, legal documents all need to be certified. Certified translations are governed by local laws in each country.

In a non-certified translation the translator is sometimes entitled to give a personal style and tone to the text, to make it more appropriate for the target audience.

Certified translations often must be an exact translation of the source and must always include a clause from the certifier together with a round seal affixed which only Certified Court translators may use, and must be certified by the translators signature, in order to be accepted by the courts and the authorities.

I would not do anything of the sort (translate myself, or use unofficial translation without first checking into it further..but it clearly says, Certified in the USCIS instructions).

I'm sorry, but I am a professional translator, and none of what you've said applies in the US.

A certified translation, in the US, is a translation where the translator certifies that he/she is competent and qualified to translate and has prepared a complete and accurate translation to the best of his/her ability.

As far as I know, there is no state that has such a thing as a Certified Court Translator, and the federal government certainly does not. Some states and the federal government certify court interpreters, but being a certified interpreter is in no way related to ability to prepare written translations.

There is no such thing as an official translator seal, and I'm sick of people saying "there must be." The only translators who have fancy seals to affix are the ones who went down to the local seal-making shop and had one made for $10. Such a seal is in no way indicative of any actual credentials.

When I have to prove my credentials, I photocopy my Certificate of Certification from the American Translators Association, but almost no one actually has such a thing and even fewer people care if you do.