French Deposition Translation
French deposition translation for a US case with a witness in France, Québec, Belgium or Switzerland, or for a transcript that a French-speaking court or insurer has to read. France has no pretrial deposition, Québec does, and the paperwork from each looks nothing alike. We translate transcripts, procès-verbaux and attestations in both directions, each with a signed certification.
- 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 French deposition records
What a French-speaking witness record looks like
The word déposition exists in French, but it means a statement given to the police or a judge, not a sworn examination by opposing counsel. The translation has to say which one the reader holds.
Québec: the interrogatoire préalable
Québec civil procedure allows an examination before trial, the interrogatoire préalable, taken down by a sténographe officiel in question and answer form, and in a cross-border case with a Québec party it is often in French. It reads like a US deposition, with objections, engagements and the stenographer's certificate, so we translate it page for page with the line numbers, and render an engagement as an undertaking rather than a promise, since US counsel use that word for the same thing.
France: attestations and procès-verbaux
A French civil court rarely hears a witness live. It relies on written attestations and only now and then orders an enquête, where the judge questions the witness and the greffier writes up a procès-verbal. In a criminal matter the police or gendarmerie take a procès-verbal d'audition, and a juge d'instruction a procès-verbal d'interrogatoire, both typed in the first person as the officer phrased the answers. When one of these enters a US case, we keep the first-person wording and the closing lines recording who read and signed the statement.
Taking a deposition in France for a US case
France made reservations under the Hague Evidence Convention, and a voluntary deposition of a witness there needs permission from the Ministère de la Justice, usually at the US Embassy in Paris, with the request, the notice to the witness and the questions sent in French. The loi de blocage of 1968 also limits what a French company can hand over outside that process. The papers that go to Paris are translated into French; the transcript that comes back, and any exhibits, into English for the US court.
Who is asking for your French 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 French 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 French 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.
French Deposition FAQ
Most questions about pricing and turnaround can be answered faster by requesting a quote.
- Do you interpret at the deposition?
- No. We work on paper, so the deposition itself needs a court interpreter booked separately. What we handle is the written side: French exhibits translated before the day so counsel can question from them, the notice and the questions put into French for the Ministère de la Justice or the witness, and the certified transcript afterwards for a client or insurer in France.
- A French court will read our US transcript. Is your translation enough?
- For counsel and the client, yes. For filing, French courts work in French and most ask for a translation by a traducteur assermenté, an expert on a cour d'appel list, and we are not one. A Belgian tribunal and a Swiss court take the same line. Our translation is the working version your French lawyer and the party read, and the sworn version is ordered in France from the expert, often from our text.
- What about the exhibits in French?
- Send them first. A French-speaking deponent brings a bail, factures, relevés bancaires, WhatsApp threads and emails, and the questions depend on them. We translate the exhibits as marked and add a short note where a term such as mise en demeure or astreinte has no single English word. The certification covers each exhibit by its number.
- 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 French 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, Inheritance claim translations before you order.