Certified translation of WhatsApp messages for court is what we do most often for Russian-speaking clients in England. We translate screenshots, exported chats and voice notes from Russian into English. A translator registered with NRPSI checks and signs every page. Solicitors use these bundles in the Family Court, at the Home Office and in civil claims. The price is simple: £80 per hour of work. A typical set of voice messages for the Family Court comes to about £320 including certification, ready within 48 hours. More on price and timing.
Every bundle has the same simple shape. First, we put the source next to its translation, one exhibit per page. Then, the translator signs a Certificate of Translation on the last page. The certificate names each file, says where it came from and who translated it. We do not soften or add anything, so obscene language stays as written. If a message is cut off or a recording is unclear, the translation says so instead of guessing.
Certified translation of WhatsApp messages for court: a real example, details removed
Here is a recent Home Office example. The client sent us screenshots of a WhatsApp conversation in Russian. The messages contained threats against him. We reproduced each screenshot, wrote out the Russian, translated it and certified the result. The certificate listed the screenshots by date and sender, and it stated that the client had supplied them as images. Finally, the NRPSI-registered translator signed it. His name, the other person’s name, the phone numbers and the messages themselves stay confidential, so none of that appears here.
Voice messages need one more step. Before anything is certified, the translator listens to the recording and checks it against the transcript. The certificate must also say what kind of file she received: an original voice note, or a screen recording, and at what playback speed. Our page on certified translation of voice messages for court explains what we accept.
We take on the difficult jobs
Long WhatsApp threads that run for months. Voice notes of poor quality. Recordings that are copies rather than originals. Screenshots that have to be matched to the messages they show. Russian and English mixed in the same conversation. This is the everyday material of court work, and it is the work we take on. We check every file against its source, we draft every translation verbatim, and an NRPSI-registered interpreter certifies it under the NRPSI Code of Professional Conduct. Where the source material has limits, the certificate says so. The court then sees exactly what we were given.
Why you will not find client stories on this site
Much of our court work concerns families and children. Proceedings under the Children Act 1989 are heard in private, and section 12 of the Administration of Justice Act 1960 makes it a contempt of court to publish information about them, even with the names removed. The NRPSI Code of Professional Conduct (clauses 3.11 and 3.13) also binds our interpreters to confidentiality. So we describe what we do in general terms only. The details stay in the bundle, where they belong.
Certified translation of voice messages for the Family Court: the price
We keep it simple: £80 per hour of work. An hour of work means listening to the recording, transcribing it verbatim, translating it and checking it. Send us the voice messages (what we translate is set out at the top of this page) and tell us how many there are. We assess the volume and give you a fixed price before we start. A typical set of messages for the Family Court takes about 4 hours, so £320. That includes certification by an NRPSI-registered interpreter. Usually ready within 48 hours. In a hurry? WhatsApp us and we will see what we can do in 24 hours. Copies, screen recordings and poor-quality files are fine too: see We take on the difficult jobs.