Where can I find a Chinese speaking notary public?
At 123notary.com, we receive all types of inquiries from many types of people all the time. Where can I find Roger Smith, he is a notary in Louisiana? He notarized a document for me a year ago, and now I can’t find him. I refer the inquirer to the Louisiana notary division, since they have the addresses of all currently commissioned notaries in the state. I also get a few people asking me where they can find a notary in India, or Thailand. I refer them to the embassy, or ask them to find an attorney in the country in question. I give sensible advice, and steer people the right direction, but honestly, I don’t have a lot of information myself that is good for answering most of the questions I get. The harder requests are requests that I would LIKE to be able to fulfill, but sometimes it’s hard.
Where can I find a Chinese speaking notary?
123notary.com has many bilingual notaries. You can use the LANGUAGE FILTER on the top right of the search results page after you do a search by zip code. Many of our bilingual notaries are Chinese Speaking notaries, however, they are all spread out, and there are dialects too. Someone who knows Min-Nan-Yu only might not be fluent in Hakka for example. These are Southern dialects from Guang-Dong and Southern Fu-Jian by the way. The more common dialects are Mandarin, Cantonese, and Taiwanese in American metros. You might find many Cantonese speaking notaries in any big city, but we have relatively few advertising on our site. You can do a search by zip code and then use the language filter on the upper right side of the page. Try inputting the term Cantonese, and then try Chinese as a second search. See what happens. I cannot guarantee results because people join our directory daily, and change their language information from time to time, and drop out from time to time as well.
If you can’t find a Chinese speaking notary on 123notary…. then…
The document signer needs to speak the same language as the notary in California and many other states. As a practice, even if your state doesn’t require it, the signer should be able to communicate directly with the notary. You could try the Chinese yellow pages, or ask around in your metro’s Chinatown. There will be plenty of Chinese speaking notaries, but they might not advertise much as their business might come from word of mouth or (peng-you tui-jian gao-su peng-you) as the case might be.
It is common for Chinese people who function mainly in Chinese to pick service providers who also speak their language. However, this might not be a good idea. If your English is “Good enough”, you might be better off with an English speaking notary who is really good at what they do, and who is familiar with commonly notarized affidavits and documents. Just my opinion. Choose the skill set before you choose the cultural affinity if you have a choice!
To find a Mandarin speaking notary, just look up Mandarin in the language filter on search results. To find a Taiwanese speaking notary, just look up Taiwanese in the language filter. To find a Cantonese speaking notary, just type the word Cantonese in the language filter in the upper right corner of the search result pages. Honestly, the word “Chinese” will give you much wider results than these dialect names, but in NYC or San Francisco, you might find the dialect of your choice! “Zhu ni hao yun!”.
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What if the signer signs in Chinese characters or hyroglyphics?
I once had a signer who wanted to sign in Chinese. It is prudent for a Notary to check the signature on a signer’s ID and make sure it matches the signature on the document. Otherwise, you might suspect fraud. But, is it legal to notarize a signature in Chinese? On your Notary certificate you have to write the person’s name in English.
My logic is that many English language signatures are incomprehensible scribbles. So, what’s the difference between an American scribble and a Chinese scribble? You can’t make sense of either one. The signer’s name was something like John C Wang and he had three corresponding Chinese characters. He claimed that scribble #1 represented the John and the next one the C, etc. I was unclear about the law in this case, but his signature matched his ID which is why I let him do it this way as matching signatures are a requirement for prudent Notarization.
But, on another occassion I was asked to teleport back into time to notarize in hyroglyphics at a pyramid. The provided a time machine and gallactic portal. I went back into time (air conditioning not included) and got to the site where they needed a notary. We spent an hour drinking tea, making small talk and negotiating my fee. They talked me out of a travel fee since they provided the travel arrangements. I also didn’t want to negotiate too hard as I didn’t want them to get mad at me otherwise I might not have a trip back to 2016. So, we sat down at the signing table, saw the guy’s ID, etc.
NOTARY: For security, may I know your mummy’s maiden name?
KING TUT: Which one?
NOTARY: Okay, please sign the journal
KING TUT: Okay…
NOTARY: Oh, forgot. I’m not allowed to Notarize hyrogliphics.
KING TUT: But, this is how I sign! And by the way, you are out of your jurisdiction, and your commission is not current here as it hasn’t been originated for another 5000 years.
NOTARY: Hmmm, good point. But, the pistachios were good and I enjoyed the time machine so it wasn’t a complete waste of time — or reverse time as the case may be.
KING TUT: Okay, how about I get into the time machine with you, go to California in 2016 where you are commissioned, and make up some English language name.
NOTARY: That might work. But you need an ID from a government that has a photo and physical description.
KING TUT: No problem, I’ll just go down to the DMV and pick one up.
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