Tunisia's administrative system is distinctively bilingual, a legacy of the French protectorate period (1881-1956). While Arabic is the official language under Article 1 of the 2014 Constitution, French continues to play a major role in government administration, higher education, commerce, and parts of the judicial system. This bilingual reality means that Tunisian civil documents frequently contain text in both Arabic and French, requiring translators proficient in both languages.
Civil registry documents — birth certificates (شهادة ولادة / extrait de naissance), marriage certificates (عقد زواج / acte de mariage), and death certificates — are issued by municipal état civil offices across Tunisia's 24 governorates. Modern certificates are typically printed in Arabic as the primary language, with French headers and field labels also appearing on many forms. Older certificates from the post-independence period may be primarily in French. The translator must accurately handle both language streams and clearly indicate in the translation which portions were originally in Arabic and which in French.
Tunisia's higher education system, inherited from the French model, issues academic transcripts and degree certificates primarily in French, with Arabic used for some fields. Professional qualifications, technical certifications, and medical records may also be predominantly in French. This bilingual complexity means that a single Tunisian document may require translation expertise in both Arabic and French — a combination that DoVisa's translator network is specifically equipped to handle.







