Confusion often arises between the concepts of legal translation, sworn translation, juridical translation and certified translation. It is worth clarifying the differences.
A legal translation is the translation of a text of a legal nature, which requires a native-speaker professional with expertise in law. MMW relies on a team of legal translators, often lawyers who have left practice to place their expertise at the service of translation. Since legal systems differ from country to country, detailed knowledge of technical terminology is essential when dealing with complex texts such as appeals, judgments and pleadings. Many leading law firms, notaries and corporate legal departments turn to MMW for the legal competence of our translators.
A sworn translation is different: it is the translation of a document sworn before the Court, or before a registrar, so as to give the act full legal effect. Any translation may be sworn, whether of an official document, a civil-status certificate, a legal text such as a judgment, an appeal or a pleading, an academic qualification, a medical certificate, a bank reference letter, a company's financial statements or a Chamber of Commerce extract. Any document requiring an official translation may be sworn and then legalised or apostilled at the Public Prosecutor's Office or the competent consular authority, so as to acquire full legal effect abroad, or in Italy in the case of foreign documents translated into Italian.
The oath is taken exclusively by official translators registered with the Register of Court-Appointed Experts of the Court and with the Register of Experts of the Chamber of Commerce.
By way of example: a citizen who needs to register a marriage contracted abroad will require a sworn translation of the marriage certificate, to be produced to the civil registry office for transcription of the marriage. The translation is sworn before the Court by the official translator.
Certified translations are different again. Any translation may be certified by our firm by means of a statement, drawn up in the same language as the translation, attesting that the translation is a faithful rendering of the original. The certification is issued by an official translator together with the translation, signed and stamped on the firm's letterhead and showing the relevant ISO quality certifications. A certified translation may subsequently be made official, where required, by swearing it before the Court or a notary.