French Translation Services

Prism Linguistics translates French documents in the UK for legal, medical, business, academic and personal use, including certified French translations accepted by UKVI, the Home Office, HM Courts & Tribunals Service, NHS trusts and UK universities. Native French translators, signed accuracy declaration where you need one, plain pricing.

Most French translation requests we see come in for one of three reasons: someone needs an official document accepted by a UK authority, a business needs to communicate with French-speaking customers or partners, or a solicitor has a piece of evidence in French that has to be in English by a deadline. Different requirements, same starting point: the translation has to read naturally and match the source exactly.

What we translate

• Personal certificates — birth, marriage, divorce, death; passports; ID cards; driving licences.
• Education — degree certificates, transcripts, references; for ENIC, NARIC equivalents and university admissions.
• Immigration and visas — supporting documents for UKVI, Home Office and citizenship applications.
• Legal — contracts, witness statements, court bundles, affidavits, judgments and correspondence.
• Medical — patient records, clinical letters, consent forms, prescriptions, occupational health reports.
• Business — terms and conditions, board papers, supplier contracts, financial statements, employee handbooks.
• Marketing and web — brochures, product pages, ad copy, customer-facing emails. Localised, not just translated.

We deliver in the format you actually need — PDF, Word, formatted to match the original, or as plain text for your CMS.

English to French and French to English translation

We work in both directions. Customer-facing copy (websites, brochures, ads, emails) is adapted rather than translated word for word, so it reads like it was written in French from the start. Legal, medical and technical documents stay faithful to the source, with formatting matched to the original. Tell us at quote stage which direction matters most and we'll pick a linguist whose strongest output is in that language.

Certified French document translation

When a UK authority asks for a "certified translation", what they normally want is the translated text together with a signed statement from a professional translator (or the agency) confirming that the translation is a true and complete rendering of the original. We provide that statement as standard with our certified French translations, on Prism Linguistics letterhead, with the translator's name and our company stamp.

That's accepted by most UK use-cases:

• UKVI visa, settlement and citizenship applications
• HMCTS proceedings and solicitor case files
• UK universities and ENIC qualification recognition
• NHS, employer background checks, professional registration bodies
• Registry offices (GRO / GROS / GRONI) and notaries

If your specific recipient (a particular university, a particular court, a particular embassy) needs sworn or apostilled translation rather than the standard certified format, tell us at quote stage — we'll handle the notarisation or apostille step too.

Native French translators: how we keep the quality consistent

No machine output passed off as a human translation. Every French translation we send out has been done by a French native translator with subject-matter experience, and reviewed by a second linguist before delivery. We work the same way on a one-page certificate and on a thousand-page court bundle, just with more hands on the bigger jobs.

Names, numbers, dates and place-names get particular attention — these are where small errors cause the most expensive problems downstream.

How to order French translation

1. Send your document by email or through the quote form. PDFs are fine; we'll handle the layout.
2. You get a quote and a delivery date back, normally within an hour during UK office hours.
3. You confirm. A French translator with the right subject background starts work.
4. A second linguist reviews. Names, numbers and formatting are checked against the original.
5. Delivery in your preferred format. Certified translations come with the signed accuracy statement.

How much does French translation cost, and how long does it take?

Standard turnaround for a short French document (certificate, ID, short letter) is normally next working day. Longer documents are quoted with a realistic delivery date that builds in the second-linguist review. Urgent and same-day work is possible for shorter items; tell us the deadline and we'll be honest about whether we can hit it.

Pricing is per word for most projects and per page for short standard certificates, with the certification statement included rather than added on. Send the document through our online quote form and you'll get an exact price rather than a guess.

Sector-specific French translation: legal, medical, business, technical, marketing

Legal and court French translation

Contracts, witness statements, court papers and disclosure bundles, translated with the wording and formatting solicitors need for them to be useful in proceedings. We work with solicitors on Legal Aid Agency funded matters and can quote at LAA rates where applicable.

Medical and healthcare French translation

Patient letters, clinical notes, consent forms and occupational health reports for NHS trusts, private clinics and insurers. Plain medical terminology, sense- checked by a second linguist with healthcare experience.

Business and corporate French translation

Customer terms, supplier contracts, financial statements, board papers, employee handbooks. We can match your house style if you give us a previous translation or a glossary; if you don't have one, we'll build one as we go so future jobs stay consistent.

Marketing, website and brochure French translation

Translation isn't enough on its own for marketing — the result has to sound like someone wrote it from scratch in French. We adapt rather than translate-word-for-word, while keeping your brand voice. For ongoing web content we keep a translation memory of your site, so updates only cost you for the new text.

Education and academic French translation

Degree certificates, transcripts, references — formatted to match the original and produced in a form that ENIC and UK universities recognise. We've handled enough of these to know what each receiving body wants to see.

Need a spoken-language interpreter instead?

If the work is a conversation rather than a document, see our French interpreting services page — face-to-face, telephone or video, anywhere in the UK.

Confidentiality

Every document you send us stays confidential. Linguists are under NDA, files are stored on UK / EEA servers, and personal data is processed under UK GDPR. If you have your own NDA you'd like us to sign first — for an upcoming legal matter, an M&A, an HR issue — send it over with the request and we'll return it signed before any document opens.

Find a French translator near me: native French translators across the UK

We're set up to deliver French translation work anywhere in the UK: London, the South East, the Midlands, the North West, the North East, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Most translation projects are handled by email regardless of where you are, so location matters less than it does for face-to-face interpreting. For in-person delivery of original certified hard copies, we post Royal Mail Special Delivery as standard.

How to get a quote

Send the document and tell us how it will be used (official, legal, medical, business or personal) and when you need it back. We'll respond with a price and a delivery date.

• Online: quote form
• Phone: +44 (0) 20 3880 6688
• Email: info@prismlinguistics.co.uk