Q1221. What translation workflows apply to Czech, Slovak, and Polish documents?

Answered by the NYC Visa & Translation certified translation team

Czech, Slovak, and Polish documents share a Central European administrative heritage and all three countries are EU members, which shapes the workflow. The document reality: the civil status documents (birth, marriage, death certificates) may carry the EU multilingual standard form — where attached, the translation need for those specific documents drops sharply, so check the document before commissioning a translation; the commercial and court documents (the company registry extracts, the court decisions) are translated normally. The sworn translator systems: all three countries operate court-appointed sworn translator systems (the soudní tlumočník in Czechia, the súdny prekladateľ in Slovakia, the tłumacz przysięgły in Poland) — a translation done for use in those countries generally needs their sworn translator's certification, which is arranged through the country's official register rather than through a Thai provider. For documents coming into Thailand, the reverse: the foreign document is legalised in its country and by the Thai embassy, then translated into Thai and certified by the MFA (200/quoted on request per stamp). Points that matter: Czech and Slovak are close but distinct languages — identify the document's language correctly; Polish's grammatical case system affects names (a name appears in different case forms in the same document — the translation uses the nominative form matching the passport); and the diacritics must be reproduced exactly. Practice points: confirm whether the destination requires its own sworn translator (a Thai-produced translation may not be accepted); and check for the EU multilingual form before paying for a civil status translation.