Turkish Certified Translation

The word certified means different things in different countries

This page exists partly to clear up a genuine ambiguity. In the United Kingdom or the United States, a certified translation usually means a translation accompanied by a signed statement from the translator or agency attesting to its accuracy. There is no central register and no state involvement. In Turkey the equivalent function is performed by the sworn translator system, where the translator has taken an oath before a notary and appears on that notary's register.

So when an institution asks for a certified translation, the first question is which system it has in mind. A Turkish public office asking for a certified translation almost always means a sworn translation, possibly with notary certification. A foreign university or immigration authority asking the same question may mean something quite different, and may have its own list of accepted providers. Answering the wrong question produces a document that is technically valid and practically useless.

How we approach it

We ask where the document is going before we translate it, because the destination determines the form. For documents used inside Turkey we produce a sworn translation, adding notary certification where the receiving office requires it. For documents going abroad we produce the sworn translation, arrange notary certification, and then arrange the apostille if the destination country is a party to the Hague Convention. If it is not, the route is consular legalisation instead, which is a different process.

Where a foreign institution has published its own requirements, we work to those requirements rather than to a Turkish default. If those requirements cannot be met from Turkey, we say so at the outset rather than producing something that will be sent back.

What a completed set looks like

A finished certified translation normally consists of the translated text, a translator's declaration naming the translator and the language pair, the translator's signature and seal, and the source document or a copy of it attached so the two travel together. Where notary certification has been added, the notarial act is bound to that set. Where an apostille has been obtained, it is attached to the notarial act.

Keeping the set intact matters. Documents are frequently rejected not because of the translation but because the attachment has been separated from the source, or a page has gone missing from a scan. When we deliver digitally we deliver the complete set as one file for exactly this reason.

We cannot guarantee that a particular office will accept a particular document, and we will not claim otherwise. What we can do is produce the form that office has told you it wants, and tell you honestly when your requirements do not match what is available.

Further reading: sworn vs certified vs notarised translation and a step-by-step guide to certified translation services in Turkey. See also Turkish Sworn Translation and Turkish Notary Translation.