Sworn interpreter
court, notary, registry office
A hearing at the District Court, signing a deed at the notary's, a marriage before the registrar, an expert inspection on a building site: wherever spoken words carry legal effect, the speaking is done by an interpreter on the Ministry of Justice list.
24 h
Notice for a sworn professional
1 hr
To know who is free on your date
70+
Languages, rare ones included
16
Communes with no travel charge
Rooms where one word counts twice
An approximation spoken in one of these rooms ends up in the minutes, and there it stays.
Hearings and Justice of the Peace
The country has two judicial districts, Luxembourg and Diekirch, and Justice of the Peace courts sit in Luxembourg, in Esch-sur-Alzette and in Diekirch. The interpreter arrives for the time on the summons and stays until the matter closes.
Notaries' offices
Sale, gift, marriage contract, opening of an estate: at the moment of signing, the notary must be sure the signatory grasps what the deed does. Without a sworn interpreter, the deed is not executed.
Registry and population office
Marriage notice, partnership, recognising a child, nationality paperwork. The official runs the conversation himself, and the moment the person opposite stops following, he calls for a sworn interpreter.
Expert inspections
A court-appointed report on a building, a site, a machine, a vehicle. Questions are put on the spot and answers go on the record: the rendering has to be immediate, with nothing left out.
Mediation and settlements
Family mediation, separation by consent, a protocol between two companies. If the parties do not hear the same sentence, the agreement cracks in the months that follow.
Meetings and company organs
General meeting, board of directors, an agreement signed before witnesses. Where the minutes carry evidential weight, the spoken version is better coming from someone who is liable for it.
The relative who translates is refused, the hearing put off
The instinct is understandable: someone in the family speaks both languages, has followed the matter from the start and offers to come along. The registry will not accept that, and the refusal is not red tape.
Having sworn an oath and been entered on the Ministry of Justice list, a sworn interpreter has nothing riding on the outcome. A family member always does. What comes out is condensed, toned down, tidied where the phrasing seemed poor. Nobody means any harm by it, yet the account reaching the file is no longer the one that was given, and the ruling follows that edited account.
Before we send anyone, we check the entry; and if a familiar face is in the room, the interpreter steps aside. We then supply a replacement, even twenty-four hours before the appointment. No other answer holds.
- Entry checked for each assignment
- Immediate withdrawal if a party is known
- Nothing summarised, nothing softened
- Secrecy outlasts the closing of the file
What he does, and what he will refuse
A sworn interpreter never becomes your adviser, not even when the pressure rises in the room.
He renders everything
Pauses, contradictions, phrasing that came out badly: all of it is passed on untouched. Nothing is tidied up and nothing is filled in, even where an answer looks half finished.
He does not advise
Not a word of legal explanation, no suggested answer, no conversation during the break. That ground belongs to your lawyer, and it stays his.
He declares any connection
Recognising a face among the parties, the witnesses or the counsel obliges him to stand down beforehand. We supply a replacement without argument, and the assignment is not billed twice.
He is bound to secrecy
Nothing spoken during the assignment leaves the room, and closing the file does not release him from that duty.
Who pays the interpreter depends on the framework of the proceedings, and we would rather check than assert. Where the court makes the appointment itself, you have no step to take and nothing to pay. In other settings, before a civil court, at the notary's, in the commune or in an administrative file, the cost falls on the person who needs to be understood. Send us a photo of the letter you received: we will tell you whether you need to book, before you commit to anything.
What we need in order to confirm
Five days' notice opens the widest choice; plenty of assignments are nonetheless settled the day before.
- 01
Four details
The day, the time printed on the summons, the exact address, the language and its variety. The case number helps without being essential.
- 02
Confirmation in 1 hour
Back come a name, a time slot and a figure. And if nobody is free in that language on that day, you hear it within the hour rather than at the last minute.
- 03
Preparation
The case documents go to the interpreter, who builds up the vocabulary: trade terms, place names, the names of foreign institutions.
- 04
On the day
Arrival ahead of time, reporting to the registry or reception, then staying until the close, even when the session runs over the time announced.
A summons with a date already set?
Send the date, the hour on the summons and the language. A name and a binding yes come back inside the hour.
Six guarantees on every assignment
The list is read, not guessed
For each assignment and for the exact language pair, we check the entry on the Ministry of Justice list. Sending someone who is not on it brings the session down.
Urgent cases absorbed
Letter in yesterday's post, date pulled forward, a deed waiting to be signed this week: across the bulk of our languages, a sworn professional can be standing there a day later.
Rare languages taken on
We do not turn down difficult pairs. They simply need more notice, and we say so when you book rather than halfway through.
Travel included
No mileage is charged across the sixteen communes we cover, whether Mersch, Dudelange, Strassen or Grevenmacher.
Punctuality
He is there before the time on the summons. Keeping a room waiting means an adjournment, and an adjournment weighs far more than sixty minutes of waiting.
Professional secrecy
Everything used for preparation is destroyed once the assignment ends. And whatever was heard in the room is repeated nowhere.
Frequently asked questions
Who covers the interpreter?
That turns on the setting. An appointment made by the court itself leaves you nothing to arrange. In civil proceedings, at a notary's office, at the population desk or inside an administrative file, the bill sits with the person who has to be understood. Unsure? Show us the letter and we will settle it before anything is booked.
Luxembourg or Diekirch: where is my case heard?
The country splits into two judicial districts, and what tells you where you stand is the address printed on the summons rather than the name above the door. Either district is covered by our interpreters, with travel unbilled across the sixteen communes we serve.
How much notice is needed?
With five working days ahead of you the choice is widest, and that matters in a rare language. Below that we still work: most pairs can be covered within twenty-four hours. Book as soon as you know the date, you can always cancel.
Which languages are heard most in those rooms?
Portuguese is clearly ahead, since it is the country's largest community. Then come English and Italian, followed by the languages of central and eastern Europe that arrive with construction work and road transport. French and German, for their part, are at home in the courtrooms of the Grand Duchy anyway.
One professional for the papers and the hearing?
Sometimes. Written and spoken work lead to two separate entries, and few professionals hold both. Where they do, giving the documents and the session to the same person saves time: she arrives knowing the file. We check it at booking.
Get your free quote within the hour
A document or a date is all we need. You get the price, the deadline and the form of certification Luxembourg authorities will expect. You decide afterwards.