Certified and sworn Italian translations
The word translation covers three different things in the files we prepare, and the office which receives the document decides which one it wants. The Italian consulates in Britain accept a plain, complete and accurate translation for the acts they transmit to the comuni. The Italian courts, the Prefectures, the universities and most comuni, when a document reaches them directly, want a sworn translation made in Italy. The British authorities want a certified translation, with the translator’s statement. Sending the wrong kind is the most common reason for a file to come back.
For the consulate
The Consulate General in London does not translate documents and does not certify translations, with two exceptions: the declarations of value of British qualifications, and the civil status records of Italian citizens which the consulate itself transmits to Italy for transcription. For a birth, a marriage, a divorce or a death to be registered through the consulate, the translation into Italian must be complete and faithful, typed, with the dates in day, month and year order, and it does not need the translator’s details, a declaration of conformity, a certification of the signature or an apostille. The consulate publishes a list of translators and institutions for reference, and it checks the translation against the original before transmitting it. A translation with an error in a name or a date is returned, and the error, once transcribed, follows the person into every later document.
The apostille attached to a British certificate does not need to be translated. The certificate itself is translated in full, including the headings, the registration district, the informants and the notes, because the comune transcribes the act from the translation and the officer must find every element of the Italian record in it.
The sworn translation in Italy
For every other use in Italy the translation must have legal value, and under Italian law it acquires it by an oath. The translator appears before the clerk of a court, a justice of the peace or a notary, signs a statement that the translation is faithful, and the clerk records the oath. The document, the translation and the record of the oath are bound together, with the stamp duty on the translation, and the bundle is the asseverazione. A translation sworn in this way is accepted by the comuni, the Prefectures, the Questure, the courts, the universities and the professional orders. The London consulate directs anyone who needs a translation of a British document for a purpose other than a consular transcription to a sworn translator in Italy, or to have a translation already prepared sworn before an Italian court, a comune or a notary.
The oath can be taken by any translator, in principle, but the courts keep lists of expert translators and many offices ask for a translation sworn by a translator on the list. Michela de Julio has been on the register of official translators of the Court of Rome since 1995 and on the register of expert translators of the Chamber of Commerce of Rome, and we swear translations in Rome for our clients in Britain whose documents are to be used before Italian authorities other than the consulate: a naturalisation application lodged with a Prefecture, a residence permit, a court proceeding, the recognition of a qualification, a succession, a sale.
The certified translation in Britain
British law knows no sworn translator. A certified translation is a translation accompanied by a statement signed by the translator or the translation company confirming that it is a true and accurate translation of the original, with the date, the translator’s name and contact details, and, where required, the translator’s credentials. The Home Office, the General Register Office, the courts, the universities and the employers in Britain accept it in that form, and the professional bodies, the Institute of Translation and Interpreting and the Chartered Institute of Linguists, allow their members to certify translations with their seal. An Italian birth certificate for a British passport application, an Italian degree for a British employer or university, an Italian judgment for a British court, are translated in this way.
Where the translation is to be used abroad, or where a British authority wants more than the translator’s statement, the signature of the translator is certified by a notary or a solicitor and the apostille is added to that certification. This is the case, for instance, of an Italian document translated into English for use in a country other than the United Kingdom.
Who may translate, and what we translate
A translation for the Italian consulate can be made by anyone competent, and the family often asks whether a relative who speaks Italian can do it. The answer is that the consulate will accept it if it is complete and correct, and that the transcription in Italy will reproduce every error. For a sworn translation the translator takes personal responsibility before a court. For a certified translation the translator signs a statement which a British authority can rely on. We translate in all three forms, from and into Italian, English, French and Spanish, and we translate the documents of the citizenship files ourselves, which is why a discrepancy in a name or a date is caught before the file is sent and not after.
A grandson of Italians in Leeds needs the long-form certificates of birth and marriage of his father, born in Leeds, and of his own, for a recognition by descent through the Consulate in Manchester. Four British certificates, each with the apostille, each translated in full into Italian: no oath and no certification are required, because the consulate transmits them to the comune. The same man, two years later, applies for a mortgage in Italy and the bank asks for a translation of his British tax returns: that translation is sworn before the Court of Rome. His Italian wife, meanwhile, applies for a British passport for their son and the Passport Office wants the Italian marriage certificate with a certified translation into English.
Send us the documents and tell us which office will receive them. We tell you which form of translation that office requires, and we prepare it in that form.