The firm translates and swears in person from and into English, French and Spanish, and from Serbian, Montenegrin and Amharic. For the other languages it relies on a network of native translators built over thirty years of work, which covers more than 180 languages and is chosen each time according to the subject of the document as well as the language. This page explains which languages are covered, how the oath works when a language is rare and what happens when a document must pass from one foreign language to another.
The languages translated and sworn in-house
| Language | Directions | Most frequent documents |
|---|---|---|
| English | From and into Italian | Degrees and transcripts, civil status certificates, contracts, judgments, company documents, documents for visas and citizenship, certified translations for the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada and Australia |
| French | From and into Italian | Civil status records, degrees, notarial deeds, documents for Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and French-speaking African countries |
| Spanish, including the Argentine and Latin American varieties | From and into Italian | Documents for citizenship by descent, birth and marriage certificates, degrees, notarial deeds from Argentina, Spain and Latin America |
| Serbian and Montenegrin | Into Italian | Civil status certificates, degrees, criminal records, documents for residence permits and family reunification |
| Amharic | Into Italian | Ethiopian civil status documents, degrees, documents for international protection and family reunification |
For these languages the same person receives the document, translates it, swears it and answers for it: that is why translations into English, French and Spanish are signed by the founder, entered in the register of court experts of the Court of Rome since 1995.
The languages of the network
For the languages that follow, and for many others, the firm entrusts the translation to a native translator of its network, verifies the translator’s qualification and rereads the text before the oath, which is taken by the translator who did the work, as the law requires. The list gives the languages requested most often, grouped by area.
Europe. German, Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese, Romanian, Albanian, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Bulgarian, Greek, Croatian, Bosnian, Slovene, Macedonian, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Moldovan, Turkish, Georgian, Armenian.
Asia and the Middle East. Arabic in its varieties, Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Tamil, Sinhala, Nepali, Persian, Dari, Pashto, Kurdish, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Malay.
Africa and the Americas. Tigrinya, Somali, Swahili, Wolof, Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Lingala, Oromo, African French and Portuguese, Nigerian and Ghanaian English, Spanish and Portuguese of the Americas, Haitian Creole, Quechua.
How the oath works for rare languages
The court receives the oath of any translator who takes responsibility for the translation, registered or not, provided the translator is not the person concerned or a relative. For rare languages, for which no registered translators exist, the firm identifies a competent native translator, verifies his or her credentials, agrees the terminology and accompanies the translator to the oath. The client receives a bundle identical to that of the more common languages, with record, revenue stamps and seals. Where the receiving authority expressly requires a registered translator, we say so in advance and look for the solution: in the less common languages it often happens that there is a single registered translator in the whole of Italy, and timing lengthens.
From one foreign language to another
Italian courts do not receive the oath of a translation between two foreign languages: the oath is taken from or into Italian. A diploma in Portuguese that must be presented in France therefore requires two sworn translations, from Portuguese into Italian and from Italian into French, joined in the same bundle with two records, and the apostille on the final translation. When the destination is a country that accepts a certified translation, such as the United Kingdom or the United States, a direct translation between the two foreign languages is possible with the certification of the official translator, without any step at the court.
Varieties, alphabets and proper names
The choice of translator takes the variety into account: an Argentine notarial deed is not a Spanish one, a Brazilian certificate is not Portuguese, and the Arabic of a Moroccan document differs from that of an Egyptian document in its administrative terminology. For languages with a non-Latin alphabet the firm applies the transliteration rules the receiving authority expects, and for proper names it follows the spelling of the passport, because a different letter between the translated certificate and the identity document is the most common cause of rejection by comuni and police headquarters. When the document contains stamps or annotations in a third language, for example an apostille in English on a document in Arabic, each language is translated and sworn separately, as the court requires.
Frequently asked questions
Does the price change according to the language?
Yes. The more widespread languages cost less than the rare ones, for which qualified translators are few. The quote always states the rate applied and separates the cost of the translation from that of the revenue stamps and of any legalisation.
My document is in a language that does not appear in the list: can you translate it?
In all likelihood yes: the list gives only the languages requested most often. Send us the document and we confirm within one working day whether we have the translator and in what time.
Who swears the translation in a rare language, if not the founder?
The native translator who made it, because the law requires the person who translated to swear. The firm verifies the translator’s credentials, rereads the translation, prepares the bundle and accompanies the translator to the court. The client still has a single contact and a single invoice.
How is my name written if it appears in Cyrillic or Arabic in the document?
Following the spelling of the passport or the residence permit, which is the one Italian offices compare. If there is no passport, we apply the transliteration standard in use for that language and state it in a note.
Do you translate bilingual documents, for example a Canadian certificate in English and French?
Yes. If the content is identical in the two languages it is translated from one only, stating so in the record. If the two versions contain different parts, both are translated, with one oath per language.
Do you have a document in another language?
Send us the scan: we confirm within one working day the availability of the translator, the timing and the written quote.
