Tamil to English translation

An English copy from Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s Registrar General’s Department translates birth certificates from Tamil into English itself, for Rs 600 a copy, in three working days. If you already hold one, ask the office reading it whether it will do before you pay for a second translation.

Source: Registrar General’s Department, Sri Lanka, translate certificate of birth (checked 19 September 2026)

Initials and a father’s name

Many Tamil names carry no family surname. A father’s name may appear as an initial before the given name, or stand in the surname place on a passport. The translation follows your passport and labels a father’s name as a father’s name, so the reader does not invent a surname.

Tamil script, English headings

Tamil is written in its own script. Some certificates print their headings in Tamil and English while the entries are handwritten in Tamil; the entries are what need translating. Every column is translated, including the registrar’s later remarks and corrections, and each date is written with the month in letters so day and month cannot be swapped.

Civil registration forms

Birth, marriage and death certificates are translated column by column, with the registrar’s name, the registration number and date, and any amendment written in the margin.

Names that match your passport

Tamil names can be romanised several ways. We use the spelling in your passport for your name, and the spelling on your other documents for everyone else, so the file reads as one story.

School and academic records

School leaving certificates, mark sheets, degree certificates and transcripts, with every seal and signature marked where it appears. Text that cannot be read in the photo is marked in square brackets.