Jitka Trnková | Monday 3 August 2015
“I am a foreigner, and my employer needs a certified translation of my current statement from the criminal records. What actually is a certified translation?”
Before ordering a translation, always check to see if you really need a certified translation. If an ordinary translation will do without a certified translation, you will save up to 50 % of the total translation price.
A certified or court certified translation is a translation translated, in accordance with Act no 36/1967 Coll. on Experts and Interpreters, by a translator appointed by the competent regional court. In this case the translation is bound with the original or a certified photocopy of the original document and it is therefore in an exclusively paper form. For such a translation to be made, you must submit the original or a certified photocopy of the document to be translated. Photocopies can be verified at a notaries or municipal authorities. If you are a foreigner living in the Czech Republic, then you will definitely need a certified translation when dealing with the authorities. Whether it is a work permit, a statement from the criminal records or recognition of paternity at the registry office, a certified translation is imperative. Every office should always tell you precisely which documents you will need and what you should do in order to obtain them. We recommend our clients that they never bind the certified translation to the original document, because they never know when they will need it separately. If you are sure that you will never need the original, the certified translation can be bound to the original.
If you are a foreigner and your communication skills in Czech are not so good, we are more than happy to help with the “paperwork” at the offices as well as outside of them.