Translation services recommendations.

May 8, 2008 10:08 AM

Any recommended online language translation services? (for a foreign birth certificate).

I'm filing some USCIS forms and need to have a birth certification translated. It needs to be notarized also. Can anyone recommend services that they have used before?

I found jrlanguage.com on a search and they seem to be reputable, but I was not able to find any reviews on their service. I'd like some other members opinion before I send off a sensitive document like this.

posted by wongcorgi to law & government (2 comments total)

From what language to what language?
posted by creasy boy at 10:51 AM on May 8

The American translators Association has a directory of Translators. They are also the relevant body you should be asking advice from. I believe they are the only body in the United States that can award the translator the status they would need to give a certified translation.

Jrlanguage.com say they offer certified and notarised translations. However, speaking from my experience in the industry, those terms can be pretty loose. A good question to ask them would be certified and notarised for what?

That being said they seem to advertise themseleves as providing a kind of all-in-one service that will be appropriate to your needs and I have no reason to doubt there claims. However, when it comes to having these translations done, because they are for a bureaucratic purpose, the aim is to get the right stamp on them - the translation itself is relativly trivial. So you should ask them to provide the credentials of the translators they use and then you should check these credentials with the ATA or USCIS to make sure they are appropriate. (They may not be able to give you really specific information, but agreeing a "level" of translator should be no problem.)

I have project managed many similar translation projects to this and I can give you a few tips on buying translations.

1. Check the contract. Most likely you will find that T&Cs make it incumbent on you to be very clear what kind of translation you need. If you do that and they still give you something which is inapropriate you should complain untill you have either a refund or an appropriate translation. Your contract should also have a cost break down of all the services you are buying from the agency.

2. Make sure you understand exactly what service is being provided and how long it will take. It is common for a personal translation project like this to take 5-10 working days, longer with notarisation.

3. It is likely that they have a "minimum fee", this is because (suposedly) it wouldn't be worth a translator undertaking your project for less than this amount. If they do have a minimum fee (it should be in the contract, but if it isn't ask anyway). Find out how many words that fee is equivalent to, you maybe able to get something else translated at the same time for the same price if your document is significantly under this threshold.

4. Find out how much they charge to have certified copies made (it should be a lot less than having a new translation), if you think it's likely that you will need another one sometime, this is a good time to buy it.

5. Pay for secure postage.
posted by munchbunch at 11:32 AM on May 8