yes it must be through a certified translator. Docbase.com is a good choice. well my husband and I send voice notes back and forth most of the day and talk at night so there is a lot of times that our written convo's go no where and there's no flow. Also, when my husband does actually type his grammar is horrible and there is always a ton of spelling mistakes and slang. They had trouble with it and took quite a bit. After receiving it back, although I was not satisfied with their work I understood. I attached the email where they told me they had a hard time with it and wrote a brief explanation for the officer.