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Official English Translation - sworn, official or certified?

16/6/2017

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When the phrase “official translation” or “official translator” is mentioned by an individual who is not him or herself a language professional, very often that person is thinking about hiring someone who is officially qualified, in other words, holds some form of qualification enabling the translator to undertake that task.  This is in contrast to the individual who claims to be a translator but has no formal training or education in the language or languages from which he or she translates or indeed any training or education in the task of translation. Nonetheless, many who think of an official translator in the sense mentioned above, often omit the concept of training from the process of translation, focusing solely on the perceived linguistic ability of the individual.

To a language professional, or indeed anyone who has experienced the formalities of dealings with overseas jurisdictions, whether in a professional or personal capacity, an official translation is one which is required for an official purpose either to be tendered in evidence or a personal document like a certified marriage certificate to be submitted to some authority. By this we mean required by a national or state body, educational establishment or court, or even a body such as an insurer.  Essentially, it is a translation carried out by a linguist with a particular level of qualification and accreditation that meets the requirements of the authority that has requested the translation.

It goes without saying for the most part that a translator who has a form of accreditation is likely to hold a formal qualification such as a degree or degree level qualification in his or her languages and/or a degree in a field relevant to the field in which he or she translates. Here this is typically a law degree. Becoming accredited by an institution in any sector implies a specific level of academic and/or professional achievement in order to receive that accreditation.

To explain the concept of official translator or translation it may be useful to compare what this means in a jurisdiction such as that of England and Wales with that of other countries, other EU ones in particular. In doing this the expressions “sworn translation” and “sworn translator” will no doubt seem familiar to many readers.  In French, the most commonly found equivalent of these are quite literally “traduction assermentée” and “traducteur assermenté”.  When searched for, other variants – agré (approved), official (official) and certifié (certified) - will return relevant results although many, if not most, will have references to the translator or translation being “assermenté(e)”, literally “sworn”.  In other EU civil jurisdictions like Spain reference is typically made to “traducciones juradas”, namely sworn translations. 
legal-document-specialist
This common terminology and form of reference to being sworn implies an entirely different level of formality compared to the UK where no reference to being sworn is ever made when considering translation services. In the UK an individual swears or takes an oath concerning the translated document and may involve either a signed affidavit before a solicitor or swearing on oath before a commissioner of oaths. Furthermore, the act of swearing in this context is also considered in the context of notaries. All of the aforementioned professionals can be and are frequently resorted to by official or certified translators in the UK when a higher level of formality in respect of a translation is required.

Nonetheless, the term certified translation is that most commonly referred to on British shores. Like its EU counterparts, the term reflects the process of certifying or making the translation sufficiently official to be accepted by the requesting authority. However, we can now see the primary difference between a sworn and a certified translation in relation to official translations within the English legal system. In countries like France, Portugal or Italy, translators become sworn by a court and are in turn authorised to provide an official translation even holding an official stamp to provide the literal seal of approval or at the very least confirmation by the translator him or herself that the work is up to standard. No approval, revision or checking of any sort is performed by the court.

Conversely, there is no such procedure or formality in the UK. The translator holding sufficient qualification refers to the accuracy of his or her work by means of a signed certificate or simply a certifying letter and may do so owing to his or her accreditation by an official UK body. In the UK the Chartered Institute of Linguists and the Institute of Translators and Interpreters are the only independent accrediting bodies for linguists. Again, the translator who is a legal document specialist, or sometimes the agency which has hired him or her, certifies the accuracy of the work. No stamp or seal is ever provided unless an official body or authority requests the higher level of certification that requires swearing before a legal professional.

Whether these variations in procedure, and certainly formality, are indicative of the legal and/or social systems in the respective jurisdictions or whether the differences reflect a difference in attitude generally, be it social, cultural or professional, therein is a matter for further discussion.

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Portuguese Distinctions

1/6/2017

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 Many people have been on holiday to a destination which becomes a regular, favourite haunt, their first choice for spending time away from home and a break from work. This place becomes like a second home, a home away from home, and they form friendships with other regular visitors as well as people who live and work there.Some visit so regularly that they start to pick up some of the local language spoken in that destination. It may be some general small phrases to express basic niceties or greetings or order a favourite dish or drink in their preferred restaurants. Others are so enchanted by their home from home that they sign up to a class to learn more of the language!

Informal travel encompassing positive experiences is one way to generate this interest in language. For others, this interest stems from the workplace and may be due to regular contact with speakers of the language, a professional necessity to know the language and eventually become a Portuguese language specialist, perhaps a desired skill or simply a preference with a view to development that will have some vocational and personal benefits

So far it is clear from this article that there are many reasons why people choose to learn a language other than as part of formal educational studies.

When language learners begin their learning they often learn and become familiar with the language spoken by the individuals with whom they come into contact or the variant or expressions, pronunciation and accent of the region to which they frequently travel. Once a certain confidence has grown, it can become frustrating for them or even come as a shock when they unexpectedly encounter a speaker from a different part of the country or even from a different country where the same language is spoken!

Portugal is like every other country where its national language has some differences particularly in how it sounds such as from the very north to the very south, for instance, or between cities such as Lisbon and Coimbra. Then there are the many African countries, former Portuguese colonies, where the language is structurally the same and considered the European variant of the language but sometimes spoken with a slightly different accent.

The most shocking differences encountered in the Portuguese language is found in Brazilian Portuguese.

It is very common in Portugal to visit a restaurant or coffee shop, for example, and hear a language being spoken which contains some elements that are recognisably Portuguese, but in other moments sounds like an entirely different language.

Let’s consider why suddenly hearing Brazilian Portuguese can be a shock to the Portuguese language learner’s ears. The Portuguese language has some quite “hard” sounds such as a hard “Z” which gives it almost a Russian sounding quality to non-Portuguese ears. There are some guttural sounds, or “throaty” sounds, which are when an “R” comes at the beginning of a word. These sounds are also surprisingly apparent in the middle of some words including in the European Portuguese pronunciation of “falar” (to speak) where it is heard between the first “A” and the “L”. Then there are some soft and hard “SH” sounds particularly where words end with an “S”. In European Portuguese “T” and “D” are pronounced as an anglophone or some other non-Portuguese speakers would expect.

The verb “falar” mentioned above is a great example to use to distinguish between European and Brazilian Portuguese. The first “A” is unexpectedly pronounced more like an “E” and overall this word sounds more like “fehr-lar”. Spoken by a Brazilian speaker the vowels are longer and pronounced more like “fah-lahr”.

A big difference between these variants is in the sound of the letters “T” and “D” in the Latin American variant since both of these are pronounced as a soft “ch” or “j” sound usually in the middle of a word. Take now the word “futebol”. The European speaker says this in much the same way as an English speaker whereas the American variant is “foo-cheh-ball”. Such differences can be heard in words similar to “liberdade”. European Portuguese is “lee-behr-dad” while its counterpart is “Lee-behr-dah-jeh”.

Pronunciation and accent are not the sole differences although they are significant. Structural changes in the language exist too. With some exceptions such as in questions, in Portugal pronouns normally follow the verb, for instance, “chamo-me” (I am called or literally, I call myself). The structure of the latin variant would be “me chamo”.

The above is not an exhaustive account of Portuguese differences but provides an insight. It is clear that language learning does indeed have its challenges, however, language learning should be fun and it would be no fun if little surprises didn’t turn up once in a while and make us think. Whether the learner chooses Brazilian or European Portuguese one tip for learning a language is to accustom the ear to the accent, pronunciation and intonations. Listening to TV shows regardless of how much is being understood is helpful allowing the learner to focus on the sounds. With some basic Portuguese vocabulary the learner will soon feel more confident about conversations with native Portuguese speakers when in their chosen Lusophone destination.

european portuguese and brazilian portuguese
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