Julie Barber is an enthusiast of CIOL's electronic 'certified translation' stamps and explains here why more translators should use them

The Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) provides members with a range of electronic stamps and logos. The stamps – which come in several designs and colours – can be found by logging in to the website and heading to the ‘My CIOL’ tab and ‘Membership logos & link’ option. This area contains logos and banners that we can use to give our headed paper and documents a more professional look, as well as handy electronic stamps for certifying translations intended for administrative and official purposes.

Why are CIOL's stamps important?

While stamping translations is not mandatory, I choose to do so for several reasons. Firstly, my private customers appreciate it. Many hail from countries in central Europe and Africa where stamps are routinely used on official documentation. Customers of an African background often mention how important stamps are to them. The simple act of using one helps me to meet their expectations.

Secondly, I believe that stamps help to elevate the professional look of translations. While accurate and faithful translations are the most important goal, appearances also count. Customers can be surprised at the cost of translation services. It is important to provide them with professional-looking paperwork in exchange for the price, and CIOL’s ‘certified translation’ stamps are an easy way to make our translations stand out from the crowd.

They also remind the target reader – the Home Office, solicitors, civil registrars, etc – that the translation has been produced by a member of a professional body. This can give them extra reassurance concerning not only the quality of the translation but also the independent and professional nature of the translator. This is equally attractive to corporate customers, such as law firms, that buy certified translations to complete legal and administrative tasks on behalf of their clients. Corporate customers also deal with public authorities and need to know that translations will be promptly accepted.

How should the stamps be applied?

When it comes to where and how many times to stamp certified translations, there are no hard and fast rules. As an avid fan of stamps, I put them on every page of the target document, but that isn’t a requirement unless it has specifically been requested. Many central European countries have adopted frameworks for the certification of translations. In contrast, no official requirements exist in the UK. This lack of standardisation can lead to confusion concerning how best to certify translations. To make matters worse, the various recipients of the translation may have their own unique standards. For this reason, I always ask customers to check the target reader’s requirements.

I take care to offer my knowledge without providing formal advice. CIOL’s guidance on this, ‘Certified Translation – Getting It Right’ (ciol.org.uk/certified-translations), is a good place to start. It offers best practices on how to certify translations for the UK market, including the use of stamps. I believe that using stamps can offer some great benefits to translators and our customers. And as members of a professional association, why not make good use of the resources offered to us? Are you ready to give it a try?

Julie Barber MCIL CL is a French to English translator specialising in business, legal and personal documents for official use. She manages Translation & Secretarial Services.

This article has been reproduced from the Winter 2025/2026 issue of The Linguist. Download the full edition here.