Faz saber que..

G

gabbsgou

Senior Member
Philadelphia
spanish-Venezuela
Hello,

how would you translate the following sentence? (legal area, it is a high school diploma)

"´Maria´, Diretora, faz saber que ´Pedro´, titular do Cartão Cidadao n 0000, concluiu no ano escolar 2021 o CURSO de ..."

´Maria´, director, makes it known/observes that Pedro.... ´

I heard on a forum someone translating it as "make it known" but I am not sure about that.

Thanks in advanced.
 
    • It's third person (she), so it must be 'Maria makes known'. For 'make it known' to be correct, the original should say 'Eu, Maria, faço saber', which is not generally the case because as a rule certificates, diplomas, court orders and the like are signed by someone other than the person who orders the document to be issued (In this case Maria, the director), usually an employee, a member of the staff.
     
    There could be a favorite formula for such a declaration, and I wouldn't know it. To "make it known" or "make known" would be reasonably intelligible and does have a formal ring to it (either way is fine.) Another very legalistic verb that seems to fit is "attest"; in ordinary usage with "to", as in "attest to the value of ...", while "attest that" is more obscure/legalistic.
     
    'Fazer saber' in this case means not only to make something publicly known but also to certify a fact in a official capacity. It is synonymous to 'certificar' (which means to certify and is also quite common), and a variant of an old usage that was widely employed in letters patent and certificates in different countries and languages and, at least in Portugal, has somehow survived the erasure of time: 'Saibam (todos) quantos esta virem ...' (PT), 'à tous ceux qui ces presentes lettres verront ...' (FR), 'Now know ye that the United States of America ...' (US-EN) - See examples in Letters patent - Wikipedia.
    Of course, 'to certify' ('I, Maria, ... hereby certify that') could be an option.
    I guess 'acknowledges' has almost the same meaning, but with a caveat. 'To acknowledge', I think, may imply to admit, to accept, to recognize the truth of something which was first denied, doubted or disputed. Am I wrong? If I am not, then it wouldn't be a very good fit in this particular case, because the official who issues the certificate is not taking position, he/she is simply certifying/officially stating the truth or existence of a fact according to the official records in his/her possession.
     
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