Chinese Deposition Translation
Chinese deposition translation runs both ways. A Chinese-speaking witness deposed through an interpreter needs the English transcript in Chinese to review it and sign the errata sheet, and a court or arbitration body in China wants it in Chinese before it will read it. In the other direction, Chinese 询问笔录, 证人证言 and 庭审笔录 come into US cases and need certified English. We do both.
- Up to 250 words per page
- $25 per page
- Standard turnaround
- From 24 hours
- Certificate of accuracy
- Signed & stamped
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Written for Chinese (Mandarin) Simplified deposition records
What makes a deposition a Chinese translation problem
Chinese procedure has no deposition. The nearest things are the written 笔录 taken by the police or a court and the signed 证人证言, and those are what reach a US lawyer from China.
Reading a 笔录
A 询问笔录 or 讯问笔录 is a question-and-answer record written by the officer, laid out as 问 and 答, not a verbatim transcript. It opens with the time, the place, the 询问人 and the 记录人, closes with the line 以上笔录我看过，和我说的相符 and the witness's signature, and carries a red thumbprint on every page and beside every correction. A 庭审笔录 does the same for a court hearing. We translate the headers, the rights notice, every question and answer, and describe each thumbprint and seal, so the reader knows what the witness attested to.
English transcripts into Chinese
Under FRCP 30(e) a deponent has thirty days to review the transcript and list changes. A witness who answered in Mandarin cannot check the court reporter's English without a translation, and the errata sheet refers to page and line, so our Chinese version keeps the transcript's page and line numbering. A Chinese court or a CIETAC tribunal receiving the transcript as evidence requires a Chinese translation attached to it, and the court may ask for one from an agency it recognizes. Ours is the version counsel and the client work from.
Where the deposition can happen
Mainland China does not allow depositions for foreign proceedings on its soil, even a voluntary one before a US consular officer, so a witness in China travels to Hong Kong, where voluntary depositions are permitted, or to the US, or testifies by video from outside the mainland. When no one can travel, a Chinese witness gives a 证人证言 and has the signature notarized at a 公证处, and the resulting 公证书 is what gets translated and filed in place of testimony. We translate the statement and the notary's certificate as one document.
Who is asking for your Chinese (Mandarin) Simplified deposition translation?
The translation is the same. What changes is whether the recipient wants anything added to it.
Courts
A deposition filed in a US court needs a complete English translation with a signed certification from the translator. Some judges want it notarized as well, so check the local rules.
Bankruptcy courts
A Rule 2004 examination or a deposition in a bankruptcy case is filed with a certified translation of the testimony and of any foreign-language exhibits.
Courts abroad
Testimony taken in the US for a case in another country usually goes out with an apostille on the reporter's certificate and a translation into that country's language.
Before you upload
Three things that save a day of back and forth on a Chinese (Mandarin) Simplified deposition.
Send the certified transcript, not the rough draft
Court reporters issue a rough draft first and the certified transcript later. Order the translation from the certified copy, with the reporter's certificate page.
Include the exhibits the witness was asked about
A deponent is often questioned on a letter or a contract marked as an exhibit. If those are in another language too, upload them in the same order so the terms are translated the same way.
Expect many pages and tell us the deadline
A transcript can run to a few hundred pages, and the quote counts words, not sheets. Upload the file to see the price before you pay, and put the filing date in the order notes.
Details and pricing
What is included in a Chinese (Mandarin) Simplified deposition translation
One price per page covers the translation and its certification. A page is up to 250 words, and the quote tells you the page count before you pay.
Everything on the deposition is translated, including stamps, seals and handwritten notes. Tell us the English spelling you use for each name when you order.
Certified Translation
Word-for-word translation with a certificate of accuracy for official use.
$25
USD / page
up to 250 words per page
Included
- Signed & stamped certification of translation accuracy
- Certified by a professional translator
- Digital delivery via PDF
- Review and approve final translation
- 100% Guaranteed Acceptance
- Standard turnaround starting at 24 hours
Optional services
- Expedited turnaround
- Priority handling when your deadline is shorter than the standard turnaround.
- By deadline
- Notarization
- A notary public signs and stamps the certification statement.
- $20 per order
- Physical copy
- A wet-ink original of your translation, mailed by express courier.
- $35 per order
- Apostille
- Authenticates the notary’s signature and seal for use in Hague Convention countries.
- $180 per document
What the certificate of accuracy states
Your translation arrives with a Certification of Translation Accuracy issued by ImmiTranslate. It is the page the receiving organization checks first.
- The translation is complete and accurate.
- The document title and the language pair.
- The translator is competent in both languages.
- A signature and the ImmiTranslate certification stamp.
- Our American Translators Association corporate membership.
Our translation process
Our goal is to make the translation process as simple as possible for you. Our service is streamlined specifically for documents of this nature.
Chinese (Mandarin) Simplified Deposition FAQ
Most questions about pricing and turnaround can be answered faster by requesting a quote.
- Do you provide the interpreter for the deposition itself?
- No. We translate the written record: the transcript afterwards, the witness's prior statements, and the exhibits. The Mandarin interpreter who sits with the witness is booked through the court reporting agency or the court. If the other side brings a check interpreter, our translation of the transcript is what the witness uses to decide which disputed lines to change on the errata sheet.
- The exhibits are WeChat records and contracts in Chinese. Can you translate them with the transcript?
- Yes, and it is better done together. A deposition about a supply dispute cites the same 合同 clauses and the same chat lines over and over, and the English term for each party, product and clause has to stay the same across the transcript and every exhibit. We keep one glossary for the whole set, label each exhibit with its number, and certify the exhibits individually so any one of them can be filed alone.
- Can a notarized statement from China be used instead of a deposition?
- That is a question for the lawyer and the judge, and the answer depends on the court. The formal route for evidence from the mainland is a letter of request under the Hague Evidence Convention sent through the 司法部, which is slow. Either way the document reaches the court in English through a certified translation, and we translate the statement and every page of the 公证书 around it.
- How much does a certified translation cost?
- Certified translation is $25 per page, with a page counted as up to 250 words. Notarization, a mailed physical copy and an apostille are optional and priced separately.
- How long does a certified translation take?
- Standard turnaround starts at 24 hours and depends on the length and language of your documents. If you have a deadline, include it in your quote request.
Other Chinese (Mandarin) Simplified documents we translate
Deposition translation in other languages
Each of these pages is written for that language's deposition records.
Sending it with an application? Read the Certified translations before you order.