Chinese to English translation in Singapore, certified and ready to notarise.
Chinese to English is the pair our desk sees most. We render documents in Simplified Chinese, as used across mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia, and in Traditional Chinese, as used in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, into formal English fit for ICA, the Singapore courts and foreign missions. Sitting inside a law firm staffed by notaries public and commissioners for oaths, we can carry the same job from translation through certification and, when a destination calls for it, on to notarisation or an apostille, without you ever leaving our office. People reach for this pair for ICA filings, study overseas, marriage and probate work, and business paperwork crossing borders.
What we need
A sharp scan or photo, including the reverse if it carries content. Because the source is a non-Latin script, take care that each character, seal and red chop comes through clearly. Let us know if the original is Simplified or Traditional; unsure is fine, since one sample page usually settles it.
Typical documents
Birth, marriage and divorce certificates from mainland China and Singapore, household registers (户口本), graduation and degree awards with their transcripts (毕业证, 学位证, 成绩单), probate and court papers from Hong Kong and Taiwan, company registry extracts, and affidavits or statutory declarations.
Notarisation and apostille
Sitting within a law firm means a finished certified translation can pass directly to our own notary public for notarisation, then to the Singapore Academy of Law for an apostille if the country is part of the Convention. The whole chain happens here, with no separate booking.
What you get
A PDF carrying the complete English text, certified by us and signed by the translator on each page. Every seal and chop is noted where it sits on the page, letting the officer at the counter line our version up against the original. Names default to Hanyu Pinyin, though we will follow your passport or NRIC spelling on request. A printed set can be couriered to any address in Singapore.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you notarise the translation, not just certify it?
- We can. As a practising law firm with notaries public on staff, we follow certification with notarisation in the same room, and where the destination belongs to the Apostille Convention we route the set to the Singapore Academy of Law for the apostille. Everything runs through a single office, so there is no separate translator and notary to coordinate.
- Does Simplified or Traditional change the translation?
- Not the finished product, since the target is English and reads identically either way. The difference is on the source side: certain names, place names and legal terms map differently between the two scripts, so telling us which one the original uses lets the translator start from the right characters.
- How are Chinese names rendered?
- Hanyu Pinyin is our default. Should a passport, NRIC or earlier overseas record carry another romanisation, say Wade-Giles or Cantonese Jyutping, flag it when you request a quote and we will keep it aligned with your other paperwork.
- Will ICA and overseas authorities accept the translation?
- In the great majority of cases, yes. Only a handful of destinations layer on a notarisation or apostille requirement, and we look after both here. Name the authority and country at the enquiry stage so the job is configured right from the outset.
Send us your Chinese document
Share a scan, flag whether the source is Simplified or Traditional, and tell us the authority it is for. We will confirm the price, the turnaround, and whether you will need notarisation or an apostille.