Foreign Language Docusments Part 3

This is the third and hopefully last installment of this discussion of foreign language documents. Here is my attempt at the language of a translator’s certification: “I, Joe Translator, hereby certify that the foregoing English language document is a true and accurate translation of the German language deed from Harry Seller to Mary Buyer dated May 6, 2005 and attached hereto. Signed under the pains and penalties of perjury this 6th day of May, 2005. /s/ Joe Translator.” The ever helpful Corporations Division at the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office sent me a couple of foreign language documents with English translations that might serves as models of this certification. One, written on the letterhead of “bli translations: a division of The Boston Language Institute” states “I, Joe Translator, certify to the best of my knowledge and belief that the following is a true and accurate translation of a document from Spanish to English done under my supervision this 31st day of March 2005. /s/ Joe Translator.” I think anything resembling these certifications should be sufficient to get on record at the registry of deeds. Of course, the more evidence of the reliability of the translation you can present on this certificate, the less likely you will get a Friday afternoon call five years from now questioning the validity of the deed. For example, the certification on the “Boston Language Institute” letterhead seems more reliable than the same thing printed on plain paper. Any additional facts that help establish the qualifications, training or experience of the translator could also be included in the certificate. On another note, we are working on a master index of our blog that will group our entries by topic, but more on that in the near future.