How to hire a translator for your civil wedding in France
I know I’m late with this post buuuuut… I’ve been busy with writing the second part of First I Was Naive (that I just finished writing yesterday… Yayyy!!)
But anyway… ^^’
Sooooo… you have your date for your civil wedding and the City Hall just asked you for a translator and you’re like “whaaaaat?!!!”
Welcome to the club!
The first question that came to my mind was “how much it’d cost”. And the lady from the Wedding Dept said “something around 100€”. And I was like “ok 100€ that’s not that big of a deal”.
How surprised was I when I received the first offers in my inbox… They were ranged from 240€ to 660€ 😱😱 When I saw the one at 660€, I was like “Are they crazy?!!!”, “Really?! For 15min?!”. Davidson felt guilty because he said he would’ve learned French if he knew we’d have to pay for a translator for our ceremony.
But whatever… what’s done is done.
Steps to follow
- Check the list of translators on this website
- Make sure to choose the court that’s the closest to you. For example, for us since we’re leaving in the 95 department, we asked for “Cour d’appel de Paris”.
- Then check the chapter called “INTERPRETARIAT”. If you choose “TRADUCTION” this one is for translating your documents such as the birth certificate.
- Finally check the language you’re looking for. For us, it was English or Portuguese.
- And tada you have yourself a list of translators!
Now what?
- Send an email to each of these individuals with these details: day, time and location of your ceremony and which language (ex: French to English)
- Wait for answers to spam your inbox then make a shortlist
- Ask more questions to your shortlist if needed (like if the tax and transportation are included in their pricing)
- Wait for more…
- Finally make your choice and then you’ll be set.
More details
I shortlisted the translators based on their price. I contacted only the ones who were charging less than 300€.
Before deciding which translator you’re gonna hire, make sure they give you these information: If the tax and the transportation are included in their pricing. Most of them are not specific about these 2 details.
Who did we choose
In the end, we hired Monique Rouzet. She was the only one who gave us full details of her service right away after my first email to her and she charged 240€.
Once we confirmed with her that we wanted to hire her, she took care of the paperwork directly with our City Hall.
During the ceremony, Monique arrived on time and was very professional. If you’d like to contact her, here’s her email address: nickyrouz@aol.com
Good luck to you on your research ^^