In Poland, a sworn translator is a profession governed by legal regulations. The Act on the Profession of Sworn Translator sets forth the terms of cooperation (with various public administration bodies, among others), and indirectly shapes the commercial terms of the settlement. 

The profession of a sworn translator has been subject to major changes over the years. Unfortunately, the entry on the list of sworn translators does not automatically mean that the translation you receive is correct. Many sworn translators have not been professionally active for years, and have been engaged in other professions. And the art of translation is not like riding a bike.

Moreover, in certain situations, the requirement to submit sworn translations raises some issues: some languages are only spoken by a handful of sworn translators or do not have their own sworn translators in Poland, e.g. Estonian.

In principle, the work of a sworn translator is similar to the work of a notary. They both certify facts using their signature and take responsibility for it.

In practice, however, a sworn translation is a real challenge. Over the years, we have come across many unusual texts and orders. We translated a certificate stating that someone is a good person and lives according to their religion. In another project, we were supposed to confirm that the signatures of hundreds of keyrings with motivational quotes are compliant with a photograph showing a whole rack of the keyrings. Another interesting text we translated is WhatsApp screenshots with correspondence in English between two users, neither of whom was fluent in English. There were a lot of errors and inaccuracies, each of which the translator had to clearly describe and explain. Write your message like it may one day be read aloud in a deposition – this seems to be a perfect summary here 🙂

Law firms are one of the most demanding clients. They almost always need their orders for sworn translations done yesterday. Fortunately, our tight team of translators can handle even the most demanding tasks. Quite recently, we were asked to prepare a sworn translation of the financial statements of more than 150 pages. By an oversight, the text was not forwarded for translation within the prescribed time limit and we had 2 days to complete it. Another time, we were requested to translate overnight tender documents. Each time, we rose to the challenge. Our team worked tirelessly to prepare and certify a large volume of documents, and our collaborator delivered them to the right place.

We are reliable in supporting our clients, especially in crises and urgent deadlines. Our record is a sworn translation of over 870 pages completed over 4 days, from Thursday to Sunday. On Monday morning, before noon, a box with a stack of signed and sealed documents was delivered to our client, which is one of the largest law firms in Poland. Once the documents were on their way, the whole team working on the project went to sleep.

We can break down the barriers and we can improve ourselves. The impossible does not exist.

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