Affidavit Translation.
Professional translation of affidavits, sworn statements and declarations for court proceedings, immigration, business, family, legal and official use in South Africa and abroad.
An affidavit is a statement made under oath or affirmation. Translating it, commissioning it, notarising it and legalising it are separate steps, and this page explains where translation fits.
Affidavits we translate.
Premium Lingua translates affidavits and sworn statements from the copy supplied, keeping the structure and numbering of the original. Common examples include:
- General affidavits
- Sworn statements
- Confirmatory affidavits
- Supporting affidavits
- Founding affidavits
- Answering affidavits
- Supplementary affidavits
- Spousal affidavits
- Parental consent affidavits
- Proof-of-address affidavits
- Name or identity affidavits
- Business affidavits
- B-BBEE affidavits
- Foreign statutory declarations
- Equivalent sworn declarations issued abroad
If your document is a sworn declaration from another country that does not use the word “affidavit”, send it anyway, and the equivalent sworn statement is usually handled in the same way.
Send your affidavitWhat makes an affidavit different from an ordinary statement?
An affidavit is not simply a written statement. It is a statement made under oath or affirmation, usually before a Commissioner of Oaths, and that is what gives it legal weight.
South African regulations for administering an oath or affirmation require the Commissioner of Oaths to be satisfied that the deponent knows and understands the contents of the declaration, and then to certify details including the manner, place and date of taking the declaration, and to sign it and give their appointment details. Those certification words and the commissioner’s details are part of the document, and the translation carries them across too.
What information is translated?
Depending on the affidavit, the translation may cover:
- The deponent’s full name
- Identity or passport details
- Address
- Capacity or relationship to the matter
- Numbered factual paragraphs
- Dates
- Names of persons or organisations
- Annexure references
- Oath or affirmation wording
- Deponent signature notation
- Commissioner of Oaths certification
- Commissioner details
- Date and place of commissioning
- Stamps and endorsements
The translation preserves the structure and paragraph numbering of the affidavit, so the translated version can be read side by side with the original and each numbered paragraph lines up.
Does the affidavit need to be translated before or after it is signed?
There is no single answer. The right order depends on:
- The purpose of the affidavit
- The language the deponent actually understands
- The requirements of the receiving court or authority
- Whether the translated version itself must be sworn or authenticated
If the affidavit has not yet been signed, tell us where it will be used before arranging translation or commissioning, so the receiving authority’s requirements can be followed and rework is avoided.
Foreign affidavit translation for use in South Africa.
Sworn statements made abroad are often submitted in South Africa for court proceedings, immigration, deceased estates, family law matters, business matters and administrative procedures.
Where the affidavit is in another language, the South African authority receiving it may require a sworn translation. Send us the statement and tell us which court, department or office it is going to.
Sworn TranslationSouth African affidavit translation for use abroad.
DIRCO’s Legalisation Section lists an affidavit among the documents that may need to follow the Public Notary or Sworn Translator route, then verification by the Registrar of the High Court, and then an Apostille or further authentication, depending on the destination country.
So a South African affidavit intended for use abroad may involve the original affidavit, then notarisation or a sworn translation, then High Court verification, then an Apostille or authentication where applicable. This is not a universal sequence, and the foreign authority receiving the document decides what it needs, so confirm the requirements before starting.
Premium Lingua provides the translation part of that process. Send us the affidavit and tell us the destination country.
Affidavit translation vs Apostille.
Translation
Changes the language of the affidavit.
Apostille or authentication
Verifies the relevant signature or seal so the document is recognised internationally.
DIRCO states that documents such as affidavits and their translations can follow the Public Notary or Sworn Translator and High Court route, with an Apostille issued by the High Court for Apostille Convention destinations, or further authentication for countries that are not party to the Convention.
Affidavit translation vs notarisation.
These four steps are often confused. They do different jobs, and a document may need one, some or all of them:
- Translation: language.
- Commissioning: the oath or affirmation before a Commissioner of Oaths.
- Notarisation: notarial verification or certification by a Public Notary where required.
- Apostille or authentication: international legalisation.
Affidavits used in court proceedings.
Court affidavits, such as founding, answering, confirmatory, supporting and supplementary affidavits together with their annexures, are usually read as one bundle.
Legal terminology, paragraph numbering, annexure references, case names and defined terms have to stay consistent across the whole translated set, so a term translated one way in the founding affidavit reads the same way in the answering affidavit. For that reason, we prefer to translate the full bundle rather than isolated pages.
Do the affidavit annexures also need translation?
If an affidavit refers to annexures that are written in another language, the authority receiving it may require those annexures to be translated as well, not just the affidavit itself.
To avoid a second round of quoting and translation, send the affidavit together with every annexure that forms part of the submission, and we will quote on the complete set.
B-BBEE affidavits.
CIPC notes that a qualifying Exempted Micro Enterprise may use a B-BBEE affidavit signed by a Commissioner of Oaths instead of a B-BBEE certificate in the applicable circumstances.
Premium Lingua can translate a B-BBEE affidavit where it needs to be read in another language. This page is about translating the document, not giving B-BBEE compliance advice, so confirm what your counterparty or the relevant body requires.
What should you send us?
- The complete affidavit
- All pages
- Annexures that also need translation
- Clear signatures and stamps where relevant
- The source language
- The language you need it translated into
- The country where it will be used
- The court or authority receiving it
- Whether it has already been commissioned
- Any sworn, notarial or legalisation instructions
- Your deadline
Please send the whole legal bundle rather than a selection of pages, because pricing and consistency both depend on seeing the full document.
Send your affidavit for a quoteNeed an affidavit translated?
Upload the complete affidavit and any annexures that also need translation, and tell us which court or authority it is for and where it will be used. Required fields are marked with an asterisk (*)
