If you were born in Russia, Kazakhstan or Ukraine and you now need a document accepted by a British court, university, registrar or the Home Office, someone has probably told you to get a sworn translation. That is the first thing worth clearing up, because it will send you looking for something that does not exist.
There is no sworn translator in the UK
Russia, Kazakhstan, Spain, Italy, Poland and most of continental Europe have an official register of sworn or court-appointed translators. A translator takes an oath, gets a seal, and the seal is what makes the translation official.
England and Wales work differently. There is no register of sworn translators, no state seal, and no licence to translate. What matters here is who the translator is and whether they are willing to put their name to the work.
So when a British organisation asks for a certified translation, they are not asking for a seal. They are asking for a translation with a signed statement attached.
What a certified translation actually contains
A certified translation is the translation plus a signed statement of truth from the translator. The statement confirms that the translation is a complete and accurate rendering of the original, and it gives the translator full name, qualifications or professional membership, contact details and the date.
That is the whole mechanism. The translator is personally accountable for the accuracy, and the receiving body can contact them if anything is queried.
Each page is normally stamped or initialled and the translation is attached to a copy of the original, so nobody has to guess which document it belongs to.
This is what the Home Office, HM Courts and Tribunals Service, universities, the General Register Office, banks and the NHS accept. If you have been handed a quote for an apostilled, sworn, legalised translation for a straightforward UK purpose, you are being sold steps you do not need.
When you need a notarised translation instead
Sometimes a certified translation is not enough and you need a notarised one. The difference is narrower than it sounds.
A notary does not check the translation. A notary checks identity. They witness the translator signing the statement of truth and confirm that the signature belongs to the person named. The accuracy is still the translator responsibility.
You usually need notarisation when the document is going abroad rather than staying in the UK, when a foreign authority has asked for it specifically, or for some property, company and inheritance matters. For a UK visa application, a UK university or a UK court bundle, certification on its own is normally what is wanted.
If you are not sure which you need, ask the body that will receive the document before you pay for the heavier version. They will tell you, and the answer takes one email.
Apostilles and documents issued abroad
An apostille is a different thing again, and it applies to the original document rather than to the translation. It is a certificate confirming that the issuing authority and its signature are genuine, so that the document is recognised in another country under the Hague Apostille Convention.
A Russian birth certificate, a Kazakh marriage certificate or a court order from another jurisdiction may need an apostille from the authorities in the country that issued it. That is done where the document came from, not in London, and no translator can do it for you.
The usual order is apostille first in the country of origin, then translation in the UK. Doing it the other way round often means paying twice.
Documents for a court bundle
For family and civil proceedings I translate the documents that go into the bundle: marriage and divorce certificates, birth certificates, court orders and judgments from other jurisdictions, bank and company statements, property papers, correspondence and messages.
Two things matter here more than anywhere else. The translation has to be complete, including stamps, handwritten notes and anything crossed out, because a tidied translation is a gift to the other side. And the certification has to carry my name and qualifications, so the court knows who produced it.
Where a document is partly illegible, I mark it as illegible rather than guessing at it. A guess in a bundle is worse than a gap.
Which London courts this is for
Documents I translate are most often filed at the Central Family Court at First Avenue House, 42-49 High Holborn, which handles most of London family work, and at the Royal Courts of Justice and the Rolls Building for High Court and commercial matters. Opening times and the court own contact details are on the HMCTS court finder.
I am not appointed by or connected to any court. I am instructed by the solicitor, or by the client directly.
What I translate
Russian to English and English to Russian, from London. Civil status documents, educational certificates and transcripts, legal and court documents, financial and corporate papers, medical records, and personal correspondence for use in proceedings.
I am a member of the American Translators Association and I have worked between Russian and English for over ten years, including corporate, financial and commercial work. Interpreting for hearings, conferences and meetings is a separate service, and you can read about my Russian and English interpreting work in London.
For anything going to a court, the Home Office or a university, tell me which body will receive it before I start. The requirements differ, and knowing the destination is the difference between a document that is accepted first time and one that comes back.
Questions I am asked
No. Neither can a relative or a friend. The translator has to be independent of the matter, which is the whole reason the statement of truth exists.
A stamp is normal practice and I use one, but it has no legal force of its own in the UK. The signed statement is what makes the translation certified.
Often not, and when it is accepted it is frequently queried. Translations produced abroad tend to carry a notary seal and no statement of truth in English, which is the opposite of what is wanted here.
A short civil status document is usually same day or next day. A bundle of financial disclosure depends on volume, and I will give you a time with the quote rather than after it.
No. Certifying means taking personal responsibility for the accuracy, and I will not do that for work I did not produce. If you have a translation you are unsure about I will read it and tell you honestly whether it needs redoing.
A clear scan or photograph of the whole document, including the reverse if anything is printed there, and the name of the organisation it is going to.
Send me the document and tell me where it is going, and I will come back with a price and a turnaround. Use the contact page.
Russian-speaking readers can also read about interpreting in London in Russian: переводчик в Лондоне.