Reference
The four frameworks that most often govern translation for a California public agency, what a vital document means, and what a certificate of accuracy is for.
General information about publicly available law, not legal advice or a determination about any particular agency, program, or document. Obligations differ by jurisdiction, funding source, and program; each agency confirms its own duties with counsel. We translate the documents an agency identifies; we do not decide which.
The frameworks
Most California agencies are covered by more than one at once; the strictest governs the document in front of you.
Local
Applies to City and County departments, which provide services and written materials in the City's required languages, spoken by enough limited-English-proficient residents to cross a defined count. That threshold fell to 6,000 speakers effective January 2026, adding Vietnamese alongside Spanish, Chinese, and Filipino.
State
Applies to state agencies serving the public. Where a substantial number of people an agency serves do not speak English, the agency is expected to employ qualified bilingual staff and translate the materials that explain its services.
Federal
Title VI prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in federally funded programs; denying limited-English-proficient people meaningful access has long been treated as national-origin discrimination. Executive Order 13166 extends that duty to federal-fund recipients, reaching a California agency that takes federal money through its funding agency.
Federal · health
Applies to health programs receiving federal financial assistance. Covered entities take reasonable steps to provide meaningful access to people with limited English proficiency, using qualified interpreters for spoken language and qualified translators for written material. Machine output alone is generally not sufficient; a qualified human translator is expected to review it when content is critical to a person's rights, benefits, or access to care, or when the source is complex, technical, or not literal.
Definition
A document containing information critical for obtaining a service or benefit, or one required by law.
Outreach material is usually weighed differently. Whether a specific document in your program is vital is a determination the agency makes; we translate what you identify.
Definition
A signed, dated statement that the translation is a true, complete rendering of the source.
Not a government license or a notarization: a record of which source document was translated, into which language, and on what date. A certificate covers one document and one language pair; a notice issued in three languages carries three certificates. Translations you already hold can be reviewed against the source and, where warranted, certified.
Civic Translation
I certify that the attached translation of the document identified below, from English into Spanish, is a true, complete, and accurate rendering of the source document to the best of my knowledge and ability.
I further certify that the translation was reviewed by a linguist qualified to translate between these languages, and that I am competent to make this attestation.
Questions
Related
We translate what your agency determines it needs. Attach the file and name the languages and date; a written quote comes back same business day.