Sworn pair · Court of Appeal of Dijon
English translation: sworn & certified
English is one of our sworn pairs: our in-house expert translator, sworn at the Court of Appeal of Dijon, translates and certifies your English ↔ French documents with legal validity.
But "administrative" English hides specific traps — date formats, national variants, degree equivalence: here’s how we handle them.
At a glance
English in brief
Family
Indo-European → West Germanic, but with a massive layer of Romance/Latin vocabulary (via Norman French after 1066), bringing it lexically close to French.Comrie, ch. "English", E. Finegan
Speakers
About 1.5 billion including second-language users — the world’s most spoken language and chief international lingua franca.Ethnologue
Where
Official in dozens of countries — UK, USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Nigeria, South Africa… so your English document may come from very different administrative systems.Comrie
Script
The Latin alphabet (26 letters) — no transliteration, but spelling and terminology differ (British vs American).Crystal
Where files get rejected
Why English demands genuine expertise
This is where your file is accepted — or refused.
Which country issued it?
British, American (state/county-issued), Canadian and Indian certificates differ in structure and terminology; we know the templates and adapt spelling (FR/UK/US).
Date format — trap #1
US = MM/DD/YYYY, UK = DD/MM/YYYY: "04/05/2020" means 4 May or April 5. On a civil-status record this is critical — we always disambiguate (and annotate).
Personal names
Latin script (no transliteration), but we correctly handle middle names, maiden name (née), suffixes (Jr, Sr, III) and given-name/surname mapping.
Diplomas & grades
UK classes (First, 2:1, 2:2), US GPA, grading systems: we translate the document faithfully. (Academic equivalence is ENIC-NARIC’s role, not the translator’s — we translate, we don’t certify equivalence.)
Legal terminology
Common law vs French law (affidavit, deed, decree absolute, probate) needs a legal translator, not literal transfer.
Documents
English documents we translate
From the UK, USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia, India and beyond. Tell us the country of origin and the intended use: we adapt terminology and spelling to the national template.
Legalisation & apostille
By country
The procedure depends on the issuing country.
Apostille Convention member → apostille.
Apostille Convention member → apostille.
Apostille Convention members → apostille.
Joined the Convention on 11 January 2024 (previously consular legalisation).
Status as of 6/2026 (source: HCCH). We tell you the exact procedure for the issuing country and intended use.
English ↔ French, sworn in-house
Your English ↔ French translations are produced and certified by our in-house expert translator sworn at the Court of Appeal of Dijon: signature, stamp and the ne varietur wording give them legal validity before OFII, prefectures, town halls, courts and universities.
English is one of our certified pairs, so the translation is sworn, not merely “agency-certified”.
Your questions, answered
Frequently asked questions
"04/05/2020" on my American certificate — how is the date translated?
We apply the issuing country’s format (US = month/day) and write the date out in full in French to remove any ambiguity.
British or American document — can you tell the difference?
Yes — terminology, spelling and structure are adapted to the country of origin.
Can you establish the equivalence of my diploma?
We translate the diploma and its classifications faithfully; official equivalence is the role of ENIC-NARIC France.
Accepted by OFII / the prefecture?
Yes — sworn translation with stamp, signature and ne varietur wording.
What are the turnaround and price?
From €35/page, 2–5 business days (rush option). Request a free quote — answer in under 2 hours.
Your file · our craft
Ready to translate your English documents?
Free quote in 2 hours · Delivery in 2–5 days · Accepted by every authority.
Sources
Sources: Comrie (ed.), The World’s Major Languages, ch. “English” (E. Finegan) (Routledge) · Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (CUP) · Ethnologue (speaker data) · HCCH — Hague Apostille status. Original prose; data verified.