So far you may have covered a major ground with your communication translation goals. You may have picked out what communication formats are ripe for translation, must have sorted out their priorities, have figured out target audience areas and have even scoped out good translators.
Most of the time, it seems and feels enough that the document or communication task you wanted to be translated has been done in time, without any cost overruns and as per the project planned. However, most countries have a trend and tendency to put thrust on certification of these translations also.
This is not to be confused with certification of translators, which by the way, is also a good hallmark of professional translation services since it bestows validity for the skills, professional stature and competencies of a given translator.
Translation-related certification, on the other hand, is all about giving an assurance that the given task has aligned well with the accuracy aspect of both sides of the language. It also trickles down to a conclusive indicator about the message staying intact in the outcome translation. The certification usually covers the following areas:
· The source document in the original language
· The translated document in the target language
· An affidavit by the translation company representative that they believe that the translated document wholly and fully represents the original source document. It bears the signature of the Notary.
Some of the documents that frequently require certified translation, include:
· Birth certificates
· School certificates
· College certificates
· Legal documents
· Financial contracts and agreements
· Filings with Tax authorities etc.
Most of the personal documents need certified translation. Some companies who are transacting across different countries, need to file certain types of pre-specified documents in that country’s language.
This is done through various means – like a signature or a notarization or someone attesting from the company’s or the translator’s behalf. The idea is to convey precision and completeness of the translation task. That does not necessarily imply that the company or translator involved would have to be certified too. But any rules or protocols to be followed by the given region’s or industry’s primary translation body or regulator would be adequate guidelines to follow.
Certified translations are usually requested by colleges, Universities and Government agencies like Tax authorities, Financial Regulators etc.
One may wonder about the purpose of this seemingly bureaucratic element in the translation process, but many times this has come in handy when the question around negligence in translation or misinterpretation or accountability of a wrong translation has surfaced in some cases. This becomes an intensive point when one is dealing with official documents. Or imagine the case of a legal set of translation work where any oversight or recklessness or wrong interpretation of key issues or even insufficient capabilities to undertake the translation properly can exponentially rise into huge problems.
The certification area allows for some sense of quality and accuracy to come in on its own and it also allows for identification of translators involved, should a mishap occur regarding the documents in the course of any legal procedure ahead.
Certification is not mandatory but it helps many times and distinguishes strong process-oriented translation providers from also-rans.