French Text Message Translation
French text message translation for a marriage-based petition, a K-1 or I-751 file, a protective order, a custody case or an asylum claim, from screenshots or a WhatsApp export. French texts are written in a shorthand that no dictionary covers and that changes between Paris, Montréal, Abidjan and Port-au-Prince, and the translation has to keep the tone as well as the words.
- 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 text messages for court records
Texto French is its own dialect
The messages USCIS or a judge wants to read are casual, abbreviated and full of in-jokes. We translate them message by message, in order, with the timestamps and sender names as they appear, and we explain rather than clean up.
Abbreviations and verlan
jtm is je t'aime, tkt is t'inquiète, mdr and ptdr are laughter, bjr and slt are greetings, pk is pourquoi, jsp is je sais pas, cc is coucou. Verlan flips syllables: meuf for femme, chelou for louche, reuf for frère. Each is rendered in plain English, and where a phrase could carry two meanings, both are given in a note. We do not replace a slang word with a formal one, because a judge reading a harassment thread needs to see how it was said.
Tu, vous and terms of endearment
French marks closeness grammatically. A couple writes tu; a landlord, a boss or a stranger writes vous, and the switch from one to the other dates a relationship more precisely than a photograph. English has no equivalent, so the translation notes the register once at the start of the thread and again wherever it changes. Mon cœur, ma chérie, bébé, mon amour and bisous are translated, not left in French, and the pet names a couple invents for each other are kept with the meaning beside them.
Québec, Belgium, West Africa and Haiti
Québec texts carry tsé, pis, chu, icitte and the sacres, and septante and nonante mark a Belgian or Swiss writer. Ivorian nouchi, Cameroonian camfranglais and Senegalese threads that drop into Wolof mid-sentence need a translator who reads the switch and marks it, since USCIS asks which language each message was in. A thread that mixes French and Kreyòl is translated in full with each language marked; a Wolof or Lingala passage is marked as such so you can have it translated under that language.
Who is asking for your French 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 French 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 French 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.
French Text Messages For Court FAQ
Most questions about pricing and turnaround can be answered faster by requesting a quote.
- How do I send the messages, and how is the price counted?
- Screenshots are fine; a WhatsApp export from "Exporter la discussion" is better because nothing is cropped and the timestamps come through. Keep the sender names visible and include the message before and after the one you care about, so the context is on the page. Pricing is by word count, $25 per page of up to 250 words, so we count the words across all the screenshots, not the number of images.
- Do you translate the voice notes?
- A WhatsApp vocal is audio, and our certification covers text. If the voice notes matter, have them transcribed in French first, by the sender or a transcription service, and send the transcript with the thread; we translate it as a document and the certification says it was translated from a written transcript. Mark the time of each vocal in the thread so the transcript lines up with the messages around it.
- Are screenshots enough for a French court, or do I need a constat?
- For a divorce before the juge aux affaires familiales or a civil claim in France, screenshots are admitted if obtained fairly, but lawyers usually have a commissaire de justice, the former huissier, draw up a constat that records the messages from the phone itself, and that constat is what the court trusts. Our role is the other way round: an English thread translated into French for that constat or for the file, or the French constat and its annexes translated into English for a US court.
- 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
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.