Document Translation Services
Each file goes to a native speaker of the language it is going into, then to a second linguist who reads it against the original under ISO 17100, and it comes back in the format you sent. More than 2,000 linguists work across the network, each with at least five years’ experience. Send the document and a free quote comes back inside the hour.
Certified to ISO 17100
Native Linguists
£0.10 a Word
Read by Two Linguists
Over 150 Languages
Quote Inside the Hour
Ask for a Free Document Translation Quote
Your itemised price comes back inside the hour
What is document translation? Document translation is the translation of a complete document — a birth or marriage certificate, a degree transcript, a contract, a bank statement — reproduced in the layout of the original and issued with a signed certificate of accuracy when the body receiving it asks for a certified translation. GOV.UK sets out what that certificate carries: the translator’s written confirmation that it is a true and accurate translation of the original document, the date, and the translator’s full name and contact details. Espresso works under ISO 17100 in over 150 languages, at £0.10 a word in 2 to 3 working days, or £30 a page for up to 250 words in 24 to 48 hours when the translation has to be certified.
Which Documents Do We Translate, and What Does a Certified Translation Include?
We translate personal, legal, academic, medical, technical and financial documents for individuals, companies, law firms, universities and government bodies across the UK, and a certified translation adds a signed statement of accuracy to the file. Standard document translation is £0.10 a word in 2 to 3 working days. A standard certified translation is £30 a page for up to 250 words, back in 24 to 48 hours, and the certification service is included in that page price rather than billed on top of it.
The Documents and Languages We Cover
More than 2,000 linguists work across over 150 languages, and every job goes to a native speaker of the language you are translating into. Certified translation services UK-wide are delivered digitally, so where you are in the country changes nothing. The documents that arrive most often are:
- Home Office and UKVI paperwork for a UK visa application or a settlement claim
- Court bundles, witness statements and correspondence from a solicitor
- Medical records, test results and hospital letters
- Company accounts, business contracts and bank statements
- Degree certificates, transcripts and school reports for UK universities
- Technical manuals, specifications and safety documentation
Standard work is priced per word and certified work per page rather than per document, so a long file and a short one are never quoted the same way. One page means up to 250 words of the original, counted before you order rather than afterwards.
What types of documents can be translated and certified?
Birth, marriage and death certificates; degree certificates and academic transcripts; bank statements and payslips; contracts and company filings; medical records; driving licences; police certificates and criminal record checks; wills, deeds and court judgments. Certification is a statement about the translation rather than about the document, so any document can be certified — the question is only whether the body receiving it asks for certification. Espresso works in 150+ languages with 2,000+ linguists, each with at least five years of experience and every file read by a second linguist under ISO 17100.
What Arrives When the Job Is Done
You get the translation of a document in the layout you sent it in: tables still tables, columns still columns, and stamps, seals and handwriting described where they sit. A certified job also carries the signed certificate, so nothing has to be assembled at your end before you submit it.
When Is a Standard Translation Enough, and Who Can Certify One for UK Use?
Standard Translation
A standard translation is what most documents need: something to read, circulate or act on, with no certificate attached. Companies order one for supplier agreements, training material, internal reports and marketing copy; individuals order one to read a foreign document properly before deciding what to do about it. It is £0.10 a word, it arrives in 2 to 3 working days as an editable file, and no certificate is issued because none was asked for.
Certified Translation
You need a certified translation when the Home Office, a court, a registrar, a university or an employer asks for one, and certifying a translation means the translator confirms in writing that it is a true and accurate rendering of the original. Some bodies go further and ask for notarisation or an apostille, which are separate steps taken after the translation is finished rather than part of the certificate itself. A certified translation UK bodies ask for is a complete rendering of everything on the page, stamps and marginal notes included, followed by that signed statement.
If you are not sure which you need, read the instruction sheet from whoever is receiving the document. Wording such as certified, officially recognised or sworn translation means the certificate is required; a plain request to translate the document does not. Attach that instruction sheet when you ask for a price and we will read it and say which of the two it is describing, before anything is ordered.
Can You Certify Your Own Translation?
No, not for official and legal purposes, however good your English is. UK government departments, courts and universities ask for a translation produced by someone independent of the applicant, and the signed statement has to name that person and give their contact details — which is the part a self-translation cannot satisfy. An in-house bilingual colleague is in the same position if they work for you. Whether a particular file clears is still the receiving body’s call, and nobody can sell you certified translations accepted in advance of that decision.
Are certified translations accepted by UK authorities like the Home Office or UKVI?
The Home Office publishes what it wants to see: a full translation of the document, a statement that it is a true and accurate translation of the original, the date, and the translator’s name, credentials and contact details. Every certified translation we issue carries exactly that, at £30 a page for up to 250 words, back in 24 to 48 hours. What we cannot do is promise the outcome: whether a particular application is accepted is the caseworker’s decision, and no translation supplier can bind it in advance. Read the published guidance for your specific route before you order, and tell us if it asks for anything beyond the standard certificate.
Can You Work From a Scan, a Photograph or a Locked PDF?
Yes — send whatever you have, and send the editable original as well if one exists, because the source file is the one thing that changes how much layout work a job needs. Every translation comes back in the format it arrived in wherever the file allows it.
Which Translator Gets Your Document, and How Is That Decided?
Your document goes to a linguist who works in its subject and translates into their own native language, and every linguist on the network has at least five years’ experience. Specialism does not change the price — the rate holds at £0.10 a word whatever the document type — it changes who reads the file. A second linguist then checks the work against the original under ISO 17100, and that quality assurance step is where most corrections happen. Quality translations come from a second pair of eyes rather than from a promise.
Legal Documents
Contracts, witness statements, powers of attorney, wills, property deeds and correspondence from a solicitor go to legal translation services linguists who work in law every day, so a term keeps the meaning it had in the original. Where a court asks for a certified translation of legal documents, the signed statement of accuracy names the translator and confirms the accuracy of the translation.
Medical Documents
Our medical translation services cover records, discharge letters, test results, clinical trial paperwork and pharmaceutical labelling. Every file is checked by a second linguist, because one mistaken dose or date in a medical record has a consequence that fluent writing does not repair.
Technical Documents
Our technical translation services take manuals, engineering specifications, patents, safety data sheets and software documentation, with terminology held consistent across a set of files rather than re-invented in each one.
Academic and Qualification Documents
Our academic translation services cover degree certificates, transcripts, references and school reports for UK universities and for UK ENIC, which accepts certified translations from professional translators where a language falls outside its Translation Waiver Service — that service lets some qualifications be submitted in the original language instead.
Financial and Business Documents
Our financial translation services take annual reports, bank statements, tax returns, insurance policies and shareholder agreements. Figures, dates and company names are checked against the source at the second read, since a transposed digit in a bank statement is the kind of error that sends a whole application back.
What Does Document Translation Cost in Pounds, and What Changes Your Quote?
Standard document translation is £0.10 a word and a certified translation is £30 a page for up to 250 words, and those figures hold whatever the language pair. A sworn translation, where an overseas court or consulate insists on one, is £55 a page and takes 7 to 14 working days. Subtitling and transcription start at £5 a minute.
| What you are sending | Price | Delivery | What that covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard translation of a document, uncertified | £0.10 a word | 2 to 3 working days | Native translator, second-linguist read under ISO 17100, your own file format back |
| The same work against a date that will not move | £0.10 a word | 24-hour express slot | The same two linguists; availability confirmed on the quote before you order |
| Certified translation, when a UK body asks for one | £30 a page for up to 250 words | 24 to 48 hours | Signed statement of accuracy carrying the date, the translator’s name and contact details |
| Sworn translation, where an overseas court or consulate demands one | £55 a page | 7 to 14 working days | Sworn under the rules of the country asking for it, where that country runs such a system |
| Subtitling and transcription | From £5 a minute | Quoted with the job | Per video minute for subtitles, per audio minute for transcription |
What Each Price Covers, and What It Does Not
The word rate covers translation by a native speaker and the second-linguist read under ISO 17100. The page rate covers the same work plus the signed certificate and digital delivery. What a rarer language changes is the delivery date rather than the rate, because fewer linguists work in it. Before committing anywhere, ask for three things in writing: the word count the price is based on, the rate applied to it, and the date the file comes back. Any translator or translation company can put those in an email, and a price quoted as a range usually means the words have not been counted yet.
A certified translation is £30 a page, where a page means up to 250 words of the original document, delivered in 24 to 48 hours. The certificate is inside that figure, not beside it.
Four main factors shape the quote and the date:
- Language pair – the rate holds at £0.10 a word; a rare pair moves the date, not the price.
- Document type – legal, medical and technical files go to a specialist at the same rate.
- Source file – a scan or a designed layout needs OCR before and rebuilding after.
- Certification – certified work is charged per page instead of per word.
We also arrange notarised translation and UK legalisation for documents for use abroad, quoted on the job because those fees are set by the notary and the FCDO rather than by us. Ask for a free quote and an itemised price comes back inside the hour, with the turnaround time on it.
How Do You Order, and How Long Does a Birth Certificate Take?
Ordering takes four steps, and a short personal document such as a birth certificate is normally back within 24 to 48 hours once it is certified. Standard work runs 2 to 3 working days, and the 24-hour express slot opens when a file is short enough and its pair common enough to take it. Nothing goes out faster, because ISO 17100 requires that second read and we do not drop it to buy back a day.
Step 1: Send the Document
Upload the file through the secure ordering form — PDF, scan, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or a clear photograph taken on a phone. Nothing is charged until you approve the quote, and the file does not reach a linguist before that.
Step 2: Read the Quote
We count the words, look at the source file and the language pair, and send an itemised quote inside the hour with the price and the delivery date on it. If the job needs certifying, the quote says so and shows the page count it is based on.
Step 3: Translation and Second Read
A native-speaking professional translator with experience in the subject does the work, then a second linguist checks it against the original for terminology, numbers, completeness and layout. That second read is what ISO 17100 requires, and accurate translations are what it exists to produce.
Step 4: Delivery, and the Certificate
The translation comes back in the file format you sent, on the date agreed. A certified job arrives fully certified as a signed PDF carrying the statement of accuracy, the date and the translator’s details, and a paper copy goes in the post if you ask for one.
Why Do Translations Get Rejected, and Will the Layout Match the Original?
Translations get rejected for four reasons and only one of them is the translation itself: an incomplete file where a stamp or a marginal note was skipped, a missing or unsigned certificate, a layout that makes it impossible to see which translated page matches which original, and a translation certified by someone connected to the applicant. Every document we return keeps the structure of the original — tables as tables, columns in place, headers, page numbers and charts where they were — and stamps, seals, signatures and handwritten notes are translated or described exactly where they appear.
Editable files are worked on inside their own structure, so the formatting survives; scans and PDFs are rebuilt by the desktop publishing team after translation; designed files are translated and refitted together and come back production-ready. We supply the translation and, where it is asked for, the certificate. Whether the file is accepted by UK authorities is the receiving body’s decision, and no professional document translation service can promise you otherwise — what it can do is leave nothing in the file that gives anyone a reason to send it back.
What Is the Difference Between Notarisation, Legalisation and an Apostille?
A certified translation, a notarised translation and a legalised document are three different things and they stack in that order. Certifying is the translator confirming the translation is complete and accurate. Notarisation is a notary public confirming who signed that statement — not whether the translation is right. Legalisation is the FCDO attaching an apostille, which confirms that a signature, stamp or seal matches its own records, and says nothing about what the document contains. UK legalisation is needed only when the country receiving the document asks for it. Depending on what you are sending, one of these services is the right place to start:
Certified Translation
For Home Office and UKVI applications — certified translation services with the signed statement those forms call for.
Legal Translation
For contracts, court bundles and anything going to a solicitor — legal translation services.
Medical Translation
For records, hospital letters and pharmaceutical documents — medical translation services.
Technical Translation
For manuals, specifications and software documentation — technical translation services.
Academic Translation
For degree certificates, transcripts and school records — academic translation services.
Notarised Translation
For documents that need a notary seal after translation — notarised translation services.
2,000+
Linguists
ISO 17100
Certified quality standard
1 hour
Free quote
150+
Languages Supported
What exactly does a certified translation have to contain?
GOV.UK publishes the requirement: the translator confirms in writing that it is a true and accurate translation of the original document, and gives the date of the translation together with their full name and contact details. That signed statement of accuracy is what makes it a certified translation rather than a translation. Espresso issues it with every certified job at £30 a page for up to 250 words.
Do UK courts ask for something different from the Home Office?
Yes, in one respect. The civil courts require a witness statement in another language to be translated, and the translator must sign the original statement and certify that the translation is accurate; an affidavit goes further and needs the translator to file a sworn statement verifying the translation. A statement of truth is a separate thing again — that is what a party signs on a court form, not what a translator signs.
Do I need a notarised translation for a UK visa?
Not usually. The Home Office and UKVI ask for a certified translation of any document that is not in English or Welsh, which is the signed statement described above. Notarisation is a further step in front of a notary public and is worth paying for only when the body receiving your documents has asked for it in writing, because a notary attests to the signature rather than to the accuracy of the translation.
How long does a certified translation stay valid?
The translation itself carries no expiry date. What sometimes has one is the source document — some bodies ask for a recently issued copy of a birth or marriage certificate — so read the instruction sheet before assuming the translation is the part that has gone stale. If the original is reissued, the translation has to be redone against the new one.
Is a scan enough, or do you need the original document?
A scan or a clear photograph is enough for us to translate and certify from, and it is what most clients send. The body receiving your file may separately want to see the original alongside the translation, which is a question for their instruction sheet rather than for us. Where a scan is too poor to read we say so before you pay for anything.
How much does it cost to translate a legal document?
£0.10 a word for a standard translation, delivered in 2 to 3 working days. If a court, a solicitor or a public body needs it certified, it is £30 a page for up to 250 words in 24 to 48 hours, and a sworn translation for an overseas authority is £55 a page in 7 to 14 working days. Legal content does not attract a higher rate; it goes to a linguist who works in law.
Can I get a document translated for free?
You can get it rendered into English by a free online tool, and for reading a foreign document privately that is often enough. What no free tool produces is the signed certificate naming a translator, which is the thing a UK body is actually asking for, and machine output of an official translation of documents tends to mangle names, dates and stamps — the three details the reader checks first.
Is any part of this machine translated?
No file is delivered as raw machine output. Our linguists work in professional translation software that stores the terminology you approve, so it stays the same across a set of files; the translating itself is human and a second human reads it afterwards. That is the difference between a translation agency and a free tool: a named person signs the work.
Is anyone other than the translator reading the file?
Yes. A second qualified linguist, working independently of the translator, reads the translation against the source for terminology, numbers, completeness and formatting before anything is delivered. This is the review ISO 17100 requires, and every linguist involved has at least five years’ experience and translates into their own native language.
What happens if the body receiving the translation comes back with a query?
Send us what they said. If something in our work is wrong we put it right; if they want the certificate in a different form, or a passage set out differently, we look at what they have asked for against what we delivered and tell you plainly which of the two it is. We do not control the decision, so the honest answer is that we fix our side of it quickly.
