Hello to all. My name is Huseyin Koray ATAK and I’m a certified translator who operates an independent translation and consultancy office based in Fethiye since 2006. I do not want to list all of my qualifications here but it is sufficient to say that I have a degree in English Language and Literature, Istanbul University, registered in all of the 8 notary public offices in Fethiye and also a member of FIT, the International Federation of Translators (FIT) with registry number 794.
With the permission of the moderator, I would like to shed some professional light on the “certified translator” issue, which seems to be not known clearly, or misinterpreted as I read here.
Notary public translators: Every notary public in Turkey should be considered as private businesses, they are semi-official bodies, they of course have to abide by the laws, regulations etc, but when it comes to translators, they are free to choose whom they want to work with. That is to say, if you want to be a “certified translator” in a certain notary public, you have to produce him/her your qualification papers such as your diploma, educational background papers, translation associations which you are a member of etc. However, and a big however here, if the notary public says that he has enough translators in the language you apply for, or if he says that your qualifications are not enough, then you cannot register at that certain notary public. But you may try another one. You being registered at a certain notary public as a certified translator, let’s say at Fethiye Notary Public number 1, does not give you the right to act as a certified translator in any other notary public in Fethiye, nor in Turkey. They are all independent and therefore you can only act as a certified translator at a notary public provided that you are already registered there, not at any other unless you register there as well. Once you register at a notary public, you take a written oath, they file this oath in their office and you then become one of their several translators to act thereafter.
Now, why some notary public translators are not sufficient enough, or hardly speak the language? The problem stems from the fact that it is up to the private notary public office - the notary public in person - to accept or reject a person as a translator. It is at their sole discretion. Unfortunately, some translators convinced some notary public offices only with some sort of foreign language course documents taken from abroad or even with papers to say that they lived abroad for such and such time. The notary public cannot check the authenticity of these papers; to be honest, he/she is not the authorised or competent body to check and validate the language skills or level of the applicant, as most of them do not even speak the foreign language in question. As a result, there are many “certified translators” around who are registered at notary public offices. There is, again unfortunately, no examination or a standard for being a notary public translator; you are in the hands of the notary public to be accepted or not by an authority which is not competent or the professional authority to judge your true skills.
The other issue is acting as a translator at
the Deeds (Tapu) Office. Until the first week of September 2013, there were many translators acting as certified translators at Fethiye Deeds Office, and all around Turkey, during the conveyance or real estate related issues etc. These translators, including me, were accepted as the translators of the Deeds Office based on our registration to one or more notary public offices. But in the first week of September 2013, things changed, in accordance with a “circular letter” issued by the “General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre” dated 3 September 2013. This is the link for the said circular letter; it is in Turkish though, but may be useful for the Turkish speaking readers out there.
http://www.tkgm.gov.tr/sites/default/files/icerik/ekleri/yeni_tst_tuzugu_2.duyuru_0.pdfThis notice which was distributed by the General Directorate to all of the Deed Offices in Turkey basically said, “As of now, when there is a need to have a certified/sworn translator in a title deed transaction, this translator must be someone whose name is listed in the “sworn translator/expert” list of the Regional Justice Commission”. At that time, only Alper Kantur and Atınç Koylu, two locally based translators were the only translators registered in this list. So no one else, other than these two, was accepted by the Deeds Office in Fethiye at that time as per the new regulation. In actual fact, I had applied for the list in 2011, was accepted, but then was abroad and could not attend the “oath-taking ceremony” held in Mugla in December 2011, and therefore was kept out of the list for 2012. Anyway, following this new regulation, many of us as the translators were aggrieved. Then in October 2013, to be precise between the dates of October 11 and 31, the Justice Committee started to take applications for being listed in the translators list for 2014, as they do every year. People applying to register themselves in that list were asked to provide evidential documents such as diploma, licence etc related to their profession. But, if you did not have such documents, it was not a problem, because the application form also said,
“if you do not have such documents, then a written declaration to say that you know that language sufficiently enough to act as a translator is also accepted” Here you go, you can see how efficient the system flows. Anyway, after the submission of the applications, people were informed on the related official website to appear at the Mugla Court House to take an oath on December 13 at 2 pm. I had many colleagues there that day. Other than the translators there were many applicants from all walks of life, such as people who applied to be technical experts, architects, and police officer specialists etc etc. Our names were read out in the waiting hall in alphabetical order and we then were taken in a large court room in groups of nearly 60 people from all around Muğla, the judge read out an oath text to say that we’ll tell the truth, be loyal to the laws and regulations etc. People in the room repeated after the judge in a cacophonous chorus manner to take their oaths, before leaving the room we were asked to sign one by one a piece of paper for each of us to say that we have attended the oath-taking ceremony, and therefore were accepted, and that was it.
NO EXAMINATION. NO TEST. NO INTERVIEW. In conclusion, now there are more than two translators who can act at Fethiye Deeds Office in a deed transaction or any other deed related issues at Fethiye Deeds Office. You can check the full list of them at this link:
http://www.mugla.adalet.gov.tr/duyurursm/Komisyon2014Bilirkisi/Terc%C3%BCman.pdfPlease look for the ones with the address ending with Fethiye/Mugla, as I believe they’ll be the ones available to provide services for the Fethiye region.
The reason why I felt the irresistible urge to write such a long and explanatory post is to help you understand that translators, whether at the notary public or at the deeds office, may not necessarily be real professionals due to the given circumstances of acceptance and registration as detailed above. We, professional translators, have a problem with our profession, but this is the case for the time being, until we manage to establish “Professional Chamber” like the ones that architects, certified public accountants etc have.
It is up to the client to judge the translator and ask for additional proof or documents, before deciding to employ him or her. Taking this occasion, sincere thanks to all for taking their time to read what I have to say. H. Koray ATAK
