If you have ever been handed a notarization that needs to happen across a language line, you are not the only one. I field this question more than any other, and it comes in every flavor. Here is the short answer, and then the practical checklist I run my own RON sessions from.
The short answer
New York State law does not require the notary to speak the language of the document. What New York does require, for certain notarial acts, is that the notary and the signer share a working language for the moment the notarial act happens.
That is a subtle but important distinction, and it is the single most misunderstood line in remote notary work.
The document can be in any language. The notary’s certificate of notarization is written in English. What must be in a language both the notary and the signer share, is the part of the act that the signer is personally saying, repeating, or affirming out loud.
Let us get into the “why.”
The two main notarial acts, and what each demands of language
In New York State, a notary performs one of four basic acts: acknowledgment, jurat, oath or affirmation, and certified copy. For RON purposes, the two that carry a language dimension are the acknowledgment and the jurat. Oath/affirmation behaves like the jurat. Certified copy is a mechanical act with no language component.
Acknowledgment: usually no shared language needed
An acknowledgment is the most common act in New York. If you have notarized a power of attorney, a deed of gift, a sworn statement, or most real estate paperwork, you have seen an acknowledgment. The signer is not swearing that the facts in the document are true. The signer is simply stepping in front of the notary (or into a live video call) and acknowledging that they signed it, that it was their voluntary act, and that the name on the signature line is theirs.
The signer does not have to read the document to the notary. The notary does not have to read the document to the signer. The notary does not have to translate a single word. The notary’s job is to verify identity, verify the signer is acting freely, and confirm the signature was made in their presence.
Under New York’s acknowledgment framework, the notary may not even read the body of the document, so long as the certificate is in English and the signature is present. The New York State Notary Public Handbook has historically noted that the notary is not expected to know the content of the document being acknowledged.
This means that a Spanish-language power of attorney can be acknowledged by an English-only New York notary, as long as the signer understands the two short questions the notary asks (“you acknowledge that you signed this document and it is your voluntary act, correct?”) in a language the signer understands.
In practice, that “language both understand” is the key. If the signer is a limited-English speaker, the notary should ask the signer simple yes/no questions in their own language, or in English if the signer can follow it. If the signer cannot follow it, the notary has a problem, and we will get to that below.
Jurat: the shared language requirement lands here
The jurat is the stricter act. In New York, a jurat is an oath or affirmation administered by the notary in which the signer swears or affirms, before the notary, that the contents of the document are true. The statutory model is: “Signed and sworn (or affirmed) before me on [date] by [name].”
For a jurat, the signer must personally speak, or affirm, the truth of the document. Under New York law, an oath must be administered in a language the signer understands, or else the oath is not a valid oath. The New York State Notary Public Handbook and the National Notary Association both make this point: the signer must understand the words they are saying. If a signer signs a jurat in English but does not understand English, the jurat is weak, and it can be challenged later.
In RON terms: if your document needs a jurat and you do not share a language with your notary, you have three clean options.
1. Choose a New York notary who speaks your language. This is the cleanest option. The notary administers the oath in your language, the video is recorded, and the act is valid. New York’s RON law does not limit which notaries can perform an act based on language, so a Spanish-speaking New York notary is as valid as any other, so long as they are registered for RON capability with the Secretary of State.
2. Have a certified interpreter join the RON session as a neutral third party, before the notary, and coordinate in advance so everyone knows the interpreter will be translating the oath word-for-word, not summarizing.
3. Convert the act, if the document allows, into an acknowledgment, which does not require the signer to speak the truth of the contents.
Option 3 is not always available, because some documents require a jurat, not an acknowledgment, by their own instructions. That is the attorney or drafter’s call, not the notary’s, and you should confirm with them which act the document actually calls for before you book the RON session.
What New York’s RON statute actually says about language
New York’s RON authority lives in Executive Law Section 135-c. Let me walk through the pieces that matter for a signer or notary handling a language-crossing session.
-
The notary must be physically located in New York at the time of the act. Section 135-c defines an “electronic notarial act” as one performed by a notary “physically present in the state of New York.” The signer can be anywhere in the world.
-
The notary and the signer must communicate live, in real time, by sight and sound. That is the “audio-video” requirement. If the signer is in New Jersey, Florida, or Madrid, that is fine, as long as the notary is in New York and both parties are on a live video call that is being recorded.
-
The notary must use two or more different identity-verification processes, which may include the notary’s personal knowledge of the signer. In other words, a foreign passport plus personal knowledge is acceptable. A foreign passport plus the RON platform’s video review is acceptable. The rule is that the signer is authenticated by more than one independent channel.
-
The recording of the audio-video session must be kept for at least ten years. This matters for the signer: it means your language-crossing RON session is preserved, word for word, in the New York notary’s records, for a decade. If there is any later dispute about what was said, or how the oath was administered, the recording is the evidence.
-
The notary must have registered the RON capability with the Secretary of State before performing any RON act. Every RON session should begin with a 30-second confirmation that the notary you are speaking to is currently registered, because the registration can lapse.
Nowhere in Section 135-c does it say the signer and notary must speak the same language. That requirement comes from the substantive rules of the specific notarial act being performed, as I described above.
What if neither the signer nor the notary can share a language?
This is the “interpreter in the room” scenario, and it is the trickiest one.
In New York, an interpreter may be used during a notarial act, but the interpreter should be a neutral party. The interpreter should not be a party to the document, a beneficiary, or someone with a stake in the outcome. A spouse, a child, or a translator who was paid by one of the parties should generally be avoided if a neutral option exists.
Practical rules I apply in my own sessions:
- The interpreter is introduced by name and role before the act begins, and the interpreter states on the recorded line that they are translating, not advising.
- The interpreter translates verbatim, not summary. “I affirm this is true” becomes the exact equivalent in the signer’s language. Not “he says it is okay,” or “the document is fine, right?”
- The interpreter does not speak for the signer, and the signer does not sign while the interpreter is still talking. There is a clean pause between translation and signature.
- The recording shows the interpreter on the video, and the notary’s journal (the notary’s private log) notes the interpreter’s name and role.
- The signer’s actual signature, on the document, is the signer’s own act. The interpreter’s presence does not transfer the act to the interpreter.
If you are a signer, you may want to bring your own interpreter. If you are a notary, do not rely on the signer’s family member unless the document and the circumstances genuinely allow it. And if the document is in a foreign language and the signer wants you, the notary, to translate it for them, that is outside the notary’s act. The notary’s act is a language-neutral witness act. If the signer is asking the notary to translate the document to explain its legal meaning, that is a different role, and the notary should engage a certified translator first.
What if the document itself is in a foreign language?
This is the most common confusion I see, so let me spell it out.
New York law does not require a document to be in English for it to be notarized. A Spanish-language affidavit can be notarized in New York. A Mandarin-language power of attorney can be notarized in New York. A French-language declaration can be notarized in New York. The notary’s certificate is in English. The signature is the signer’s. That is the whole act.
The problem only shows up when the document needs to be used somewhere that requires the receiving office to understand it. A court, an agency, a foreign consulate, or a New York apostille. That is where translation enters the picture, and it is a separate, independent step.
Here is the chain, and every piece of it matters.
Step one. You have your foreign-language document. You get a certified translation of it. The certified translation is a full, word-for-word English translation, and it is accompanied by a statement from the translator saying, in effect, “I, the undersigned translator, certify that this translation is true and accurate to the best of my skill and knowledge.” The translator signs that statement.
Step two. The translator’s certification statement gets notarized. In New York, the notary certifies the translator’s signature. That is an acknowledgment of the translator, not of the translation. This is a real and often-missed point: the notary is not the person who decides the translation is accurate. The notary only witnesses that the translator signed the certificate.
Step three. If the translated document, or the original, is going to be used abroad, you may need an apostille from the New York Secretary of State. An apostille is a one-page certificate that confirms the authenticity of the notary’s signature and seal, for use in countries that are parties to the Hague Apostille Convention. New York is in the convention, and more than a hundred countries accept the apostille in place of the older consular legalization. The New York Department of State publishes the process at dos.ny.gov, and New York also maintains a separate apostille path for vital records (birth, marriage, and death certificates) issued by counties, where the county clerk may have to authenticate the document first. If you are working with a foreign-language birth certificate, plan on that extra step.
Step four. If the receiving foreign office does not accept an apostille, you may need a full certificate of authentication through the New York Department of State and the foreign consulate. That is the older, longer path, only used for countries outside the Hague convention.
A practical checklist for signers
If you are a signer booking a New York RON session where language will cross a line, here is the checklist I send to my own clients. It takes about five minutes to walk through, and it saves you a re-booked session.
First, know which act the document needs. Ask the attorney or drafter: “Does this document need an acknowledgment, or a jurat?” That is the single most consequential answer, because it decides whether you need a shared language with the notary at all.
Second, match your notary to the act. If you need a jurat and you do not speak the notary’s language, either choose a New York notary who speaks your language, or book the session with a neutral interpreter who will be on the video call before the oath is administered.
Third, if the document is in a foreign language and the receiving office needs to understand it, arrange your certified translation and the apostille in parallel, not sequentially. The translation and the notarization can happen the same week. The apostille has its own clock, and it is where most people get stuck.
Fourth, bring proper identification to the RON session. New York verifies the signer through an accepted channel: a government-issued photo ID, or the notary’s personal knowledge of the signer. A foreign passport counts as a government-issued photo ID, and New York RON accepts it. If you are relying on personal knowledge, tell the notary in advance so they can confirm it in their journal.
Fifth, do the session in a quiet room, with good lighting and a solid video connection. The recording is your legal record for ten years, and a shaky, shadowed, muffled video is a weak record.
Sixth, note down the notary’s name, commission number, and the RON platform’s session reference number after the call. You will want those in your file.
Fees and timing
A few numbers, so you are not surprised on the invoice.
A New York in-person notarial act, including an acknowledgment or jurat, is capped at two dollars per act, per signer. That is Executive Law 136, and it has not moved in decades. If the notary travels to you, the travel fee is a separate, disclosed charge, not part of the statutory cap.
A New York RON act, where the notary is in New York and the signer is remote, is capped at twenty-five dollars per electronic notarial act, under the Secretary of State’s regulations. That twenty-five dollars is an all-in number that covers the notarial act, the technology, the identity-proofing, and the recording. There is no separate “RON tech fee” on top of it, and if an invoice shows one, ask why.
If your document needs a certified translation, that is a separate service with its own market rate, and it is not part of the notary’s fee. If your document needs an apostille, that is a separate fee set by the Secretary of State, not by the notary.
On timing. A New York RON session is typically booked and performed on the same day, and can be same-day for a first-time signer. The certified translation depends on the length of the document and the translator’s queue, typically three to ten business days for a standard two- to four-page document. The apostille, submitted through the New York Department of State, has its own published turnaround, and if you need it fast, the Department of State’s express options cost more.
FAQs
If my notary and I do not share a language, and the document needs a jurat, can I just sign it and have my notary administer the oath in English? Short answer: You can, but the jurat is weaker. If you do not understand the English words you are affirming, a later party can argue the oath was not a valid oath. The safest path is a notary who speaks your language, or a neutral interpreter.
If the document is in Spanish and my notary speaks English, does the notary have to read the document? Short answer: No. New York does not require the notary to read the body of a document they are notarizing. The notary certifies the signature, the certificate, and the act. The document’s content is not part of the notarial act.
Do I need an apostille if my document is going to be filed with a New York court? Short answer: No. An apostille is for use abroad, in a country that is a party to the Hague convention. A New York court filing just needs a properly notarized document. An apostille only becomes relevant once you cross an international line.
Can the notary be in New York and I be in another country? Short answer: Yes. The notary must be in New York. You, the signer, can be anywhere in the world, as long as the audio-video connection is live and recorded, and the two-process identity check can be completed.
If my interpreter is my spouse, will that hurt the notarization? Short answer: It can. New York does not flatly ban a family-member interpreter, but if the document names your spouse as a party, or your spouse has any interest in the outcome, a later party can argue the interpreter was not neutral. If you can use a neutral third-party interpreter, that is the safer path.
When to call a New York RON notary
Call a New York RON notary when any of these are true:
You are outside New York and need a New York notarial act, and the document is in a language you and your notary do not both speak, or you need to coordinate a translator.
You need a jurat, not an acknowledgment, and you do not share a language with your notary. That is the one act where the shared-language requirement actually lands.
Your document will be used abroad, and you need to coordinate the notarization, the certified translation, and the apostille in a single timeline.
Disclaimer: This post is for general educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice, and it does not create a notary-client relationship with any individual signer. Consult a New York-licensed attorney for advice specific to your document.