Portuguese Deposition Translation
Portuguese deposition translation for a US court, a Brazilian lawsuit or an arbitration. Brazil has no deposition in the US sense, so what arrives is usually a termo de audiência with a witness's depoimento taken by the judge, a termo de declarações from a delegacia, or a transcript of a US deposition given in Portuguese through an interpreter. We translate each into certified English, and US transcripts into Portuguese.
- 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 Portuguese (Brazil) deposition records
How testimony is recorded in Brazil, and what that means in English
In Brazil testimony is taken by the judge, not by the lawyers, and the record is short. A US lawyer expecting a verbatim transcript should know what each Brazilian document is before it is translated.
Termo de audiência and depoimento pessoal
At an audiência de instrução e julgamento the judge questions the parties and witnesses and dictates a summary to the clerk, who types it into the termo de audiência. The party's own testimony is the depoimento pessoal, a witness's is a depoimento de testemunha, and both carry a compromisso line where the witness swears to tell the truth, or a note that a relative was heard as informante without the oath. Since the 2015 Código de Processo Civil many courts record the hearing on video and the termo says only gravado em mídia. We translate the termo as a court record, the compromisso in full, and the summary in the third person as the judge dictated it.
Termo de declarações at a delegacia
A statement in a criminal matter is taken by a delegado or an escrivão at a Polícia Civil station as a termo de declarações, a termo de depoimento or, for a suspect, a termo de interrogatório. It is written in the third person, with nearly every sentence opening with que, as in que o declarante afirma que. We keep that structure, since a US reader needs to see that the words are the clerk's summary of the speaker and not a verbatim transcript. The signature block, the delegado's name and the inquérito policial number are translated as they appear.
US depositions given in Portuguese
When a Brazilian witness is deposed in a US case, the deposition is usually taken remotely or outside Brazil, in Portuguese through an interpreter, and the court reporter's transcript carries the English rendition. If the Portuguese audio was transcribed as well, we translate that transcript for a party that wants to check the interpreter, marking crosstalk, hesitations and regional usage from Minas Gerais or the Northeast that an interpreter may have smoothed over. Going the other way, a US deposition filed in a Brazilian court must be in Portuguese.
Who is asking for your Portuguese (Brazil) 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 Portuguese (Brazil) 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 Portuguese (Brazil) 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.
Portuguese (Brazil) Deposition FAQ
Most questions about pricing and turnaround can be answered faster by requesting a quote.
- Can your translation of a US deposition be filed in a Brazilian court?
- Not on its own. Article 192 of Brazil's Código de Processo Civil admits a foreign-language document only with a Portuguese version from a tradutor juramentado, and we are not sworn translators in Brazil. Our English to Portuguese translation is for the Brazilian advogado, the client or an arbitral tribunal reading the transcript, and for an arbitration seated in São Paulo where the parties agreed to accept certified translations.
- Do you translate a carta rogatória file along with the testimony?
- Yes. Testimony taken in Brazil for a US case arrives inside a carta rogatória file: the request from the US court, the Superior Tribunal de Justiça's exequatur, the federal judge's despacho and the termo de audiência with the witness's answers. The whole bundle is translated as one certified document, so the US judge can follow who ordered what and when the testimony was taken.
- How is a long transcript priced?
- By the page at $25, with a page counted as up to 250 words. A Brazilian termo de audiência is usually a few pages; a transcript of a day-long deposition is far longer, and the quote shows the exact count before you pay. If only certain pages matter, such as the answers on one topic, send those pages and tell us the range so the certification describes the excerpt accurately.
- 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 Portuguese (Brazil) 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, Bankruptcy court translations before you order.