Chinese Text Message Translation
Chinese text message translation for a marriage-based green card, a VAWA or asylum claim, a custody case, a business dispute or a fraud complaint. On the mainland the thread is almost always WeChat (微信), with QQ and SMS behind it, and it arrives as screenshots full of 备注 names, stickers, voice bubbles, transfers and red envelopes. We translate the messages into certified English, and English threads into Chinese for a court in China.
- 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 text messages for court records
What a WeChat thread looks like to a US reader
A WeChat screenshot carries less than it seems. The sender label, the timestamps and half the content need explaining before a line-by-line translation makes sense.
备注 names and 昵称
The name above a message is the 备注, the remark the phone's owner typed for that contact, or the contact's own 昵称 nickname. It can be 老公, 宝宝, 王总 or a string of emoji, and it is nobody's legal name. The 微信号 and the real name, if any, sit on the contact's profile page. We translate each label exactly as displayed and add a note recording who the parties say it is, and we ask for a screenshot of the profile page so the officer can match the label to the account.
Transfers, 红包, voice and recalled messages
A 转账 bubble shows an amount and 已收款 once accepted, and a 红包 shows 恭喜发财 with the amount visible only after it is opened; those are the lines that prove support in an I-751 or I-864 file or a payment in a loan dispute. A 语音 message is a bubble with a length in seconds and has no words to translate unless it was converted with 转文字. 某某撤回了一条消息 means a message was recalled. WeChat prints a time only when minutes have passed since the last message, so most lines carry none. We render each of these as what it is, in brackets, rather than leaving a gap.
Internet Chinese
520 is 我爱你, 1314 is forever, 666 is approval, 233 is laughter, and yyds, xswl, nsdd and dbq are pinyin initials young users type instead of words. 呵呵 signals annoyance, the 微笑 emoji reads as cold or sarcastic to many younger users, 老公 and 老婆 are used by couples long before any marriage, and pinyin input leaves 在 for 再 and 的 for 地 on every screen. We translate by sense in plain English and keep the original in brackets where the sense is the thing in dispute.
Who is asking for your Chinese (Mandarin) Simplified text messages for court translation?
The translation is the same. What changes is whether the recipient wants anything added to it.
USCIS
Messages filed as proof of a relationship or of a threat need a complete English translation and a signed certification from the translator. No notarization is needed.
Courts
Family, criminal and civil courts admit translated messages with a signed certification, and some judges want it notarized. Each message is translated in full with its date and sender.
Insurers
An insurer handling a claim may ask for messages that show when an accident was reported or what was agreed. A certified translation they can read next to the screenshots is enough.
Before you upload
Three things that save a day of back and forth on a Chinese (Mandarin) Simplified text messages for court.
Export the thread, do not retype it
Screenshots or a phone export keep the sender, the date and the time on each message. Those details are what a court or USCIS checks, so keep them in the file.
Keep the conversation complete and in order
Send the whole thread from the first message to the last, including the ones that do not help your case. A thread with gaps is easier to challenge.
Tell us who each contact is
Phone screens show nicknames and numbers. Give us the full name behind each contact so the translation can identify the speakers.
Details and pricing
What is included in a Chinese (Mandarin) Simplified text messages for court 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 text messages for court 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 Text Messages For Court FAQ
Most questions about pricing and turnaround can be answered faster by requesting a quote.
- Can you work from a WeChat export instead of screenshots?
- WeChat has no plain-text export, and its desktop backup cannot be opened outside WeChat, so screenshots are the usual source. Take them on the phone with the contact header visible, overlap each one with the last so no message is skipped, and number them. A 合并转发 bundle forwarded to yourself is readable but drops the time of each message, so use it only alongside the screenshots, not instead of them.
- Will USCIS accept translated WeChat messages as proof of a real marriage?
- Yes, as one piece among others. A translated thread sits next to the lease, the joint account and the photos in an I-130 or I-751 file, and 转账 records and 朋友圈 posts with family comments often carry more weight than the chat itself. Send the whole run of messages for the period rather than a selection, since a gap invites the question of what was left out, and the certification we sign covers every screenshot in the set.
- Do courts in China accept WeChat records, and can you translate English messages for them?
- Yes on both. The Supreme People's Court evidence rules in force since May 2020 list instant messaging records as electronic data, and a court usually wants the original phone shown in the courtroom or the record preserved by a 公证处 beforehand. Any English messages in the thread need a Chinese translation attached. We translate them into Chinese for the party and their 律师 to file.
- 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
Text messages for court translation in other languages
Each of these pages is written for that language's text messages for court records.
Sending it with an application? Read the USCIS translation requirements, Certified translations before you order.