As a Bilingual (English/Spanish) Notary Public in the State of Colorado, and fairly new to the business, I was extremely curious as to the true and correct translation of some terms. Mainly NOTARY PUBLIC to the Spanish language. You see, I have a background in court interpretation and while It’s been a minute since I’ve worked in a court proceeding, I still have the curiosity and need for understanding the correct way of saying and not just translating word for word. If you know Spanish, you know that we love to use extra words and make things sound beautiful, fluid and maybe even a little “fluffy” sometimes. However, there can be serious consequences to using the incorrect terminology. Those consequences could be for the person doing the interpreting or translating or for the person receiving the information. So I did some investigating into the true and correct way of saying NOTARY PUBLIC in Español. Here are some very important things to know. In English a NOTARY PUBLIC (def. By National Notary Association) A Notary Public is an official of integrity appointed by the state government — typically by the secretary of state — to serve the public as an impartial witness in performing a variety of official fraud-deterrent acts related to the signing of important documents. These official acts are called notarizations, or notarial acts. Notaries are publicly commissioned as "ministerial" officials, meaning that they are expected to follow written rules without the exercise of significant personal discretion, as would otherwise be the case with a "judicial" official. In contrast, a NOTARIO PUBLICO (which is commonly used as the literal translation of NOTARY PUBLIC) as known In Latin America, a Notario Publico is an attorney or a high-ranking official (such as a judge). In the United States, a Notary cannot prepare legal documents or give advice on immigration or other matters unless the Notary is also an attorney. Now that we have the differences sorted out, let’s talk about what the correct translation is and the proper terminology to use. Escribano (Publico/a) and Fedatario (Publico/a) are by far the most common and will keep you honest and out of trouble (which I’ll discuss next). Both Escribano and Fedatario are what we call “common” language meaning these 2 words will most likely be recognized by any person of Latin American culture and you will not be misrepresenting yourself as a Notario Publico. What can happen if you use Notario Publico and you are NOT a licensed attorney? Well, some states, such as Colorado, California, Texas, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Your and others have actually stated that it is illegal to represent yourself as a Notario Publico. Some of these states will actually have language such as: “Knowing and willful violation of the provisions of this section shall constitute a deceptive trade practice pursuant to section 6-1-105, C.R.S., and shall also constitute official misconduct pursuant to section 12-55-116.” - Colorado Supreme Court on using Notario Publico * OR “In fact, this erroneous translation is expressly prohibited by law in some states. In Section 406.017 (Representation as Attorney) of the Government Code of Texas, for instance, Subsection (a)(4) makes it an offense for any notary public to “use[] the phrase ‘notario’ or ‘notario publico’ to advertise the services of a notary public, whether by signs, pamphlets, stationery, or other written communication or by radio or television[.]” Indeed, under Texas law, a notary who uses that mistranslation is committing the same offense as if he or she were explicitly claiming to be an attorney—and the law makes no distinction as to whether the individual’s intent is fraudulent or not.” *** You can get into legal trouble. One such article said: Our general recommendation is to translate “notary” as fedatario, the Spanish term for an official authorized to attest to the legitimacy of signatures and oaths. Even importing the English word into Spanish (“Necesito un notary“) is infinitely preferable to its mistranslation as notario, with its confusing and legally dangerous connotations. The price of this mistranslation is simply too high: a community’s trust abused, millions of dollars lost, immigrants deported, families broken apart. ** I hope this helps. Below are the cited articles used to put this together. *https://coloradosupremecourt.com/PDF/UPL/State%20law%20on%20notary%20public%20advertisement%20for%20services.pdf **https://interfluency.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/how-not-to-translate-notary-into-spanish/ *** https://interfluency.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/how-not-to-translate-notary-into-spanish/ ://interfluency.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/how-not-to-translate-notary-into-spanish/
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