Quick summary: Everything visible on a translated page is part of the record — stamps, seals, handwritten additions, marginal notes and signatures, not only the printed text. Where something cannot be read with confidence, a certified translator marks it as illegible rather than guessing. That notation is not a failure of the translation. It is the reason a certified translation is worth more than a merely fluent one.
People are often surprised, and occasionally annoyed, to get back a translation containing bracketed notes like [illegible] or [handwritten annotation, partially obscured by stamp].
It reads like the translator gave up. It is closer to the opposite: those notes are the visible evidence that somebody refused to invent anything.
Why nothing gets quietly tidied up
A certified translation carries a named practitioner's number and credential, verifiable by whoever receives it. That practitioner is asserting the translation corresponds to the source document.
An assertion of correspondence rules out three tempting things: filling a gap with the most likely value, silently improving a source that reads awkwardly, and omitting an element because it looks unimportant.
If a date is smudged and the translator writes a plausible date, the translation no longer corresponds to the document — it corresponds to the translator's guess. Nobody downstream can tell the difference, which is precisely the problem.
What gets translated on a page
More than the body text:
- stamps and seals, including routine-looking administrative ones
- handwritten additions — corrections, initials, marginal notes
- signatures, and any notation about them
- reference numbers, registry marks, printer codes
- endorsements and later amendments
- text on the reverse of the page
Some of these carry the operative information. A registration stamp is often what makes a certificate a certificate.
How the hard cases are handled
Handwriting
Handwriting is translated like anything else where it can be read. Where a word or figure is uncertain, the convention is to render what can be established and mark the rest, rather than smoothing the sentence into something readable.
Older or cursive script, regional handwriting conventions and faded ink all slow this down, which is one reason handwritten documents cost more than their length suggests.
Stamps and seals
A stamp is described and its text translated. Where the impression is partial — over-inked, faint, or overlapping other text — the translator records what is legible and marks what is not.
Translators are also expected not to redraw or restyle official marks. For documents going to DFAT, the guidance is explicit that official Australian government seals and stamps should not have their appearance altered and should remain in their original format, with the word "Seal" added in brackets alongside if clarification is needed.
Genuinely illegible text
The text is marked as illegible, with as much detail as can honestly be given: roughly where it sits, roughly how long it is, and why it cannot be read.
That last part matters. [illegible — obscured by stamp] tells a reader something quite different from [illegible — faded], and different again from [illegible — torn]. The first suggests the information may exist elsewhere; the third suggests the document itself is damaged.
Why a marked uncertainty beats a clean guess
Consider two translations of the same faded academic transcript.
One reads smoothly, with every grade filled in. The other reads [grade illegible] against two subjects.
The second is more useful, because it tells you exactly where to look. You can go back to the issuing institution for a clean copy of those two lines. With the first, you do not know there is a problem until an assessor queries a grade that was never actually on the page.
On an academic transcript that difference decides whether you fix the problem now or discover it after a decision. On a bank statement, where a single digit changes an amount, a guessed figure is worse than a gap.
Most illegibility is fixable
Almost every note traces back to one of two things: the source document is genuinely damaged, or the file supplied was not good enough.
The second is common and fixable.
The Department of Home Affairs asks applicants to scan the original in colour, ensure the scan is legible, and save a multi-page document as one file. Greyscale scans in particular flatten coloured seals into unreadable grey, turning a perfectly clear stamp into an illegibility note.
Before accepting that something cannot be read, re-scan it — in colour, at higher resolution, with no shadow across the page.
When the original is the problem
Where the document itself is faded, torn or over-stamped, no scan will recover it, and the translator cannot supply what is not there.
The options are to obtain a cleaner copy or a reissue from the issuing authority, or to lodge with the illegibility noted and explain it. The first is better where it is possible; the second is honest and usually workable where it is not.
What does not work is asking the translator to fill the gap. A translator willing to do that is one whose certification you should not want on your document.
Reading a translation that has notes in it
Three checks when you receive one:
- Does every note say why? "Illegible" alone is less useful than "illegible — obscured by stamp".
- Are the notes clearly the translator's? They should be visibly distinct, usually bracketed, so nobody mistakes them for text on the original.
- Is anything noted that you can fix? If two entries are illegible because of a poor scan, re-scan and have those pages redone rather than lodging with gaps.
Before you order
Send the best possible image, in colour, with nothing cropped — and when a translator comes back asking about a specific mark or line, treat it as the process working rather than as an obstacle.
NAATI publishes its practitioner identification guidance and Home Affairs its document and translation requirements; both are updated over time, so check the current pages if your document is unusual.