How to send a contract to a Spanish-speaking signer
If your customer reads Spanish more comfortably than English, an English signing request is a reason to put it off or call a nephew to translate. Getting it right takes two separate things: the contract itself in Spanish, and everything around it, from the invitation email to the consent screen and the buttons, in Spanish too. Here's how to handle both.
Updated November 5, 2026 · 3 min read
Start with the document
E-signature software translates its own screens, not your contract. The contract has to exist in Spanish before you send it, and a machine translation is a poor foundation for something you may need to enforce. Your options:
- A Spanish version only, professionally translated, when the whole deal happened in Spanish.
- Both versions in one envelope: the English contract and its Spanish translation, signed together, with a clause saying which one controls if they differ.
- A bilingual contract, with English and Spanish side by side in two columns. It's longer, but nobody can say they saw a different version.
Sometimes the language is the law
The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule asks that a door-to-door sale's contract and cancellation notice be in the same language as the sales pitch. California requires a translation of certain consumer contracts negotiated mainly in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese or Korean, including many residential leases. Other states have their own rules, so ask your lawyer.
Send it in SignMaster
- 1
Upload the Spanish contract
Start a new envelope and upload the Spanish version, or both versions if you're sending the pair. Give the envelope a title the signer will recognize, since it appears in their email.
- 2
Set the signer's language
In Recipients & order, open the signer's row and set Emails and signing page in to Español. The invitation, the reminders, the e-signature consent, the access code screens and the completed-copy email all arrive in Spanish.
- 3
Mix languages in one envelope
Each person gets their own setting. A Spanish-speaking homeowner and an English-speaking co-owner can sign the same envelope, each reading the screens in their own language.
- 4
Write your note in Spanish
The Message to recipients box in Message & settings is sent exactly as you type it, so write it in Spanish. Field labels you add, like Teléfono, also show as you wrote them.
- 5
Send and track it as usual
Click Send for signature. Your side of SignMaster stays in English, and so does the certificate of completion, which records the same details whichever language the signer used.
If you didn't set a language, the signer can still switch: the signing page has a language switch they can use at any time, and their choice sticks for their reminders and completed copy. Setting it up front matters because the first email, the one that decides whether they open it at all, is then already in Spanish.
Make it the default
If you have a Spanish version of a contract you send often, save it as its own template and open Sending defaults. Under Language per role, set the customer's role to Spanish, and every envelope from that template starts with Spanish emails and screens. Keep the English template beside it, and pick the right one when you send.
The same signing languages cover Portuguese, French, Vietnamese and Simplified Chinese, 6 in all with English, on every plan including Free. One limit: the signed PDF can't print Chinese characters yet, so typed answers in Chinese aren't possible.
Questions? Answers.
Does SignMaster translate my contract into Spanish?
No. It translates its own emails, consent and signing screens. The contract is your document, so upload a version translated by someone you trust.
Is a contract signed in Spanish legally valid in the US?
A contract doesn't have to be in English to be valid. What matters is that both sides understood and agreed to it, which is exactly why a version the signer can read helps.
Can the signer switch to English halfway through?
Yes. The language picker on the signing page changes the screens at any time, and the choice is saved for that signer's later emails.
Do I pay extra for Spanish signing pages?
No. Every signer language is included on every plan.