Global Lingua Services offers you a complete range of services with regard to sworn translations.

What is a sworn translation?

A sworn translation is carried out by a translator, registered at the district court. This means concretely that the translator puts his or her name and signature on the translation. By doing so, the translator certifies that the text is a true translation and gives it an official character.

The authentication:

It can happen that an additional stage is marked and then the sworn translation also has to be authenticated. An authenticated translation is a sworn translation stamped at the district court in order to declare the translation legal. At the court, the translator’s signature has to be compared with the one appearing in the register of translators. In other words, the authentication certifies the origin of a document. It is the authentication of the true nature of a signature by an official authority, the capacity of the signer and, if necessary, the identity of the stamp on the document that gives the authenticated translation its official character.
The authentication can take place in two ways:

1) If a State is signatory of the “Apostille Convention” (Hague Convention of 1961), then a court attestation – an ‘apostille’- suffices for the legal instances in all States that have committed to this International Convention.

2) In the case that the country is no signatory of the convention, your documents will have to go through a much longer process. Besides a court seal, it will be necessary to obtain the seal from the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the relevant Embassy.

The following States are currently signatories of the Apostille Convention:

Andorra, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, Colombia, Cyprus, Germany, El Salvador, Fiji, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Lesotho, Latvia, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Macedonia, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Namibia, the Netherlands, Dutch Antilles, Niue, Norway, Austria, Panama, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saint-Kitts-et-Nevis, Samoa, Saint-Marin, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain, Surinam, Swaziland, Tonga, Trinidad & Tobago, Czech Republic, Turkey, Venezuela, Great Britain, United States of America, South Africa, Sweden and Switzerland. (New States adhere regularly to the convention).