compromise de vente

[Translator]

[quote user="nicktrollope"]

My understanding of a "certified translator" is one who translates into French and is "authorised" by the Chambre de Commerce. The basic rule of translation is that it is translated into the natural language of the translator (my mother was a translator/interperator for the EEC for many years), so who would "certify" a serbian, in France?

I am probably being particularly pedantic (typically). I still wonder, like others, why the OP's Notaire requires a certified translator and who certified a translation company in Sussex (assuming that they are).

[/quote]

Can I

please put all of this straight? I often do legal translating work for the

Chamber of Commerce, but it's not the CdeC that gave me any status; it's the

Court of Appeal. I know of one CdeC that has an in-house traducteur assermenté,

sworn in before the Court of Appeal. They receive a lot of requests for

translators, some of which they pass it on to us out-of-house translators,

adding their commission.

As for translating into one's first language. Yes, as a general rule it’s best.

But general rules are for general situations and thank God unusual situations

exist. Just as some Brits write hopeless English, and some French people write hopeless

French, so some of us write perfectly in both languages. In the UK, there are

translators working perfectly into French, so why shouldn't there be French

people working perfectly into English. Personally I find it easier to translate

into either language than to swap between translating and interpreting as your

mother did. When translating we have time to check things, to go back and

reread things, whereas with interpreting it's all about memorizing what one

person said and instantly translating it. I occassionally have to interprete for the court or for house sales, chez le notaire, so I know how hard it is.

As for what one notary wants compared to what another wants. There are no fixed

regulations. Each notary does his or her best, for the client, based on so many

things (linguistic competence of buyers, sale difficulties, notary's conscientiousness,

etc) that it's impossible to say that because it was one way for me it should

be like that for you. Personally if I was spending 100,000 - 200,000 euros on buying

a house, in an overseas country, I'd be happy to pay 200-300 euros to have a

legal sales contract that I could understand perfectly.

Cheers - Peter