Certified translation
Chinese certified translation for USCIS
Every message translated beside the original, with the Certificate of Translation Accuracy that 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3) asks for. Chinese is written in Han and runs left to right, and 8 regional varieties are recorded under it separately.
- Writing system
- Han
- Direction
- Left to right
- Spoken in
- 4 countries
- Varieties recorded
- 8
Where Chinese is spoken
What to call yours
Clients rarely say “Chinese”. They say the name they grew up with, and it usually resolves the script, the vocabulary and sometimes the direction in one word. These are recorded separately so nobody has to know which language their own dialect is filed under.
| Variety | Script | Direction | Spoken in | What a translator needs to know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cantonese | Han | Left to right | China (Hong Kong, Guangdong), Macau | Yue. Traditional characters in Hong Kong and Macau; written Cantonese uses characters Mandarin does not. |
| Hakka | Han | Left to right | China, Taiwan | — |
| Hokkien | Han | Left to right | China (Fujian), Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia | Min Nan; Fujian, Taiwan, and much of Southeast Asia. |
| Shanghainese | Han | Left to right | China (Shanghai) | Wu. |
| Simplified Chinese | Han | Left to right | China, Singapore | Mainland characters. |
| Taiwanese | Han | Left to right | Taiwan | Usually Hokkien; Traditional characters. |
| Teochew | Han | Left to right | China (Guangdong), Singapore, Thailand | Min Nan. |
| Traditional Chinese | Han | Left to right | Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau | Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau. |
What USCIS actually requires
8 CFR 103.2(b)(3) is the whole of it: a full English translation, certified by the translator as complete and accurate, together with their certification that they are competent to translate from Chinese into English.
There is no approved-translator list, no credential requirement and no notarisation mandate — notarisation attests to a signature, not to accuracy. Summaries are not permitted at all, which is why a Chinese chat exhibit is produced message by message however long the conversation runs. What “USCIS approved” actually means.
What it costs
One record is $499, certified, whatever its length — a four-year conversation costs what a four-month one costs. Agencies commonly charge by the page and define a page as 250 words, which is survivable for a birth certificate and ruinous for a chat export. The arithmetic on 100 pages.
Certified translation for USCISSee pricing
Chinese is one of 167 languages across 26 writing systems. The full list, and all 98 regional varieties, is on the languages page and in the variety table.