What People Mean by “Legal Translation”
In an increasingly globalized world, the importance of legal document translation cannot be overstated. Businesses today often find themselves engaging in international transactions, intellectual property considerations, collaborations and other opportunities, with companies and individuals situated outside of their home countries. As a result, organizations must communicate in more than one language and know how to effectively translate legal documents in order to manage the many complex legal and regulatory frameworks that govern each jurisdiction. This is most apparent in the areas of corporate law, tax law and intellectual property law. Misinformation or miscommunication can have major consequences on an organization, especially if there are no mechanisms in place to protect its intellectual property rights or otherwise enforce its rights. The failure to translate certain legal documents can put subsidiaries in precarious positions in terms of IP enforcement or regulatory compliance. For example, when one party attempts to enforce their rights in a contract , the failure to translate a varying interpretation leading to a dispute may hinder their ability to establish the correct jurisdiction for dispute resolution. This is especially common in licensing agreements for patents, trademarks and copyrights where there may be multiple jurisdictions involved. In other instances, individuals may only speak a native language and lack proficiency in reading English; the failure to properly translate any clause of a contract may prevent them from fully understanding an agreement to which they would otherwise be bound. Given the growing importance of legal document translation in all aspects of doing business, it is vital that organizations know how to manage important contracts, sub-licenses, and other legal documents to mitigate exposure to disputes and regulatory fines. In doing so, they must consider the language of their stakeholders, and whether a translated version of the document, existing in multiple languages, is required or even necessary. In cases where companies are managing their own translations, they must ensure that they deploy the appropriate processes to ensure the highest quality.
How to Choose a Capable Legal Translator
When it comes down to selecting a professional legal translator, you should make your choice based on certain criteria. For instance, personal recommendations, qualifications, specializations in certain areas of law and certifications are the first to consider.
First of all, you should be able to verify their legal education for understanding legal terminology of both source and target languages. Secondly, translators should be well versed in the area of law behind current documents. Legal translators who specialize in financial or tax law need different skill sets than those who specialize in family law, criminal law or immigration law, as these fields are very different from one another.
Thirdly, experience in translating similar types of documents (for example, technical, financial or medical), and across a variety of subject areas, is crucial. The final factor is not only their proficiency in translating from one language into the other, but also the writer’s native language, which should be the target language. Translators who are native in their target language are more likely to produce finer translations than non-natives.
Finally, there are certified legal translators; these professionals are usually members of the American Translators Association or the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators. However, legal translations are done by general translations specialists, so a certification is not always necessary.
The Legal Document Translation Process
The first step of the process requires that translators are fully briefed in advance of the translation, to help them understand the relevant context of the source document and ensure that there is a common understanding between the parties. For many documents, such as translation of educational references, this is merely a case of supplying a simple synopsis of the translation purpose, but for more complex documents it may be necessary to have an initial consultation with the client (possibly face to face) to ensure that the translator is aware of the relevant context of the source document for the client. The translator then prepares a first draft translation of the document, which may include a glossary to help provide internal consistency within the final document. The translation is then proofread by a second translator (referred to as a reviser), who carries out a detailed review of the translated text, which may be cross-checked against the source document. The proofreader may mark up any errors and prepare explanations of why a particular translation was made. The translator then carry out revisions to the text before returning it to the client for final review. On large projects, the proofs of each translated section may be sent to the client on a rolling basis, so that the entire document can be reviewed as sections are completed. Once complete, the client will review the document, and if satisfactory, return it to the translator for conversion into the target format for delivery.
Typical Issues with Legal Translation
Pitfalls in legal translation can stop the accuracy of an overall strategy. In-house legal counsel and company or organisation decision-makers can, and very often do, miss critical distinctions in meanings between jurisdictions. That is where the certified translations from our members come in. The legal translator, like the lawyer, must have a solid grounding in both of the legal systems involved and expertise in the language used in those legal contexts. For a translator to go beyond basic legal knowledge, into the complexities and nuance of the law, is beyond the scope of a mere linguist- or, so-called translator. The most common drawbacks to legal translation are:
legal language is extremely precise;
the terminology can change within a very short space of time;
in related cases, a legal term can have a default meaning;
other words can be used in sentences where they seem to describe one thing, but are in fact also a reference to a legal premise;
pronunciation can change the legal meaning of a specific word;
the same word can have various meanings; and
regional dialects can make a huge difference in understanding the exact meaning of a legal verb or noun.
A good legal translator is an expert who knows the legal terminology of both the source and the destination language. They know how to use these terms in context and are well versed in the linguistic and legal subtleties and their corresponding cultural nuances. REED has not just translated legal contracts- we have translated many legal clauses in a wide variety of commercial, administrative, civil, criminal, corporate and business law related documents.
Tools of the Trade for Legal Translation
The evolution of translation demands new skills from legal professionals. Computer-assisted translation tools hold the promise of both helping with translation challenges and reducing costs, but their relationship to traditional translation competency is not yet fully understood. Educators often emphasize the relative advantages and disadvantages offered by linguistic technologies such as Translation Memory and Machine Translation. Notably, computer-assisted translation systems combine the strength of technology with the overall knowledge of linguists; computers can analyze the syntax of source and target languages while human translators ensure that the quality of translated text conforms to target language usability norms . While machine translation systems are generally unable to meet legal requirements, they can provide useful tools for the processing of large bodies of text. In the legal domain, machine translation has been shown to cut the cost of translation by an order of magnitude; unfortunately, there are still no reliable methods for assuring the quality of machine-translated text. Although the tools and technologies available for translation present challenges for current practitioners, the task of translating legal texts is now more practical than ever before.
Ensuring Accuracy and Quality
In addition to familiarizing translators with any relevant specialized terminology, an even more important requirement for successful legal risk management is the importance of always engaging competent and reliable translators, as well as maintaining a strict protocol for review of their work. The qualifications and competencies of translators may be assessed through a number of means. Vetted translators should be checked for: Most importantly, due diligence requires that such translators be identified and selected by well-informed language professionals. Unlike other freelance professionals to whom lawyers may delegate work, most lawyers have neither the expertise nor the time to determine the qualifications of a given translator. Moreover, in-house personnel responsible for maintaining quality standards in translation should monitor the work of those translators to ensure consistent quality control. Checks should be maintained on the content and on the manner in which source texts are translated into desired target languages. In order to be effective, methodologies must be standardized so that all relevant characteristics may be evaluated according to predetermined criteria. However, these preventative steps are often not sufficient to ensure that errors will be identified and corrected before they cause harm. Disciplined quality control methods are needed to identify and eliminate errors in legal translations. Standardized error detection methodologies, such as multilingual checklists, play an important role in assuring quality control. Checklist procedures can be used both before and after translation to identify potential risks, highlight unusual patterns that may suggest an erroneous or inconsistent translation, and verify that the appropriate legal terminology is being utilized. These checklists should be carefully particularly to accommodate the unique syntactic and lexical patterns of a wide range of languages. Reviews by legal professionals with a good command of the foreign languages concerned also play an important role in quality control procedures in legal translation. Such reviewers must possess an in-depth knowledge of the given language and of intricate terminological issues. They may easily identify even subtle errors in translation that might otherwise go undetected.
The Price of Translating a Legal Document
The complexity and length of the document are two of the key factors considered when quoting a legal translation. Both translate to the amount of time that will be needed to produce the final translation. Also, language pairs require different amounts of time to translate. The less common the language pair, the longer the translation will take. Some more obscure languages can take several weeks or even longer. An example of this would be an Indonesian patent application translated into Portuguese. The translator will also need time to prepare the document for submission to the patent office. The level of expertise of the translator in some languages can often play a large role in the length of time that is required to complete the job. For example, some Chinese translators will not accept materials containing scientific terminology. So their ability to understand the terms becomes a critical factor in the ability to perform the translation. Mexican workers compensation claim forms, for instance, utilize a language that most translators would consider jargon. If you have these types of forms, it’s vital to check to make sure that the translators you are working with are familiar with them.
The size of the document is another important aspect when costing out a legal document translation. Because many legal documents are lengthy and complex, they can cost very significantly in relation to their size.
Time is also a factor, but the cost generally is based on a standard 3-5 day deadline, depending on what the document is about. Of course, a rush request can cost up to twice as much, if not more, but most of these types of rush requests involve translation services for patents.
Some countries are much more demanding than others when it comes to the costs of filing a legal translation. For example, a relatively straightforward translation of a Canadian company registration certificate that exceeds 15 pages can cost you more than you expect. Despite the fact that most documents can be easily translated by most of the professionals working in quasi-legal settings, some countries have more stringent rules for processing all paperwork.
Tips for budgeting can include specifying the language to be translated, as well as the difficulty of the content. Not only must you budget for necessary translations, but also for registers and certifications that must accompany the finished document. In the scope of a translation they often end up costing far more than anticipated. One thing that is helpful is to group your projects together to save time, space, and money.
Legal Requirements and Certifications
In addition to linguistic accuracy, there are often legal compliance requirements that a translation of a legal document must meet. In many jurisdictions throughout the world, the translated document must be presented with a signed statement by the translator. The statement must indicate that the translator "certifies" or "attests" that the translation is accurate and conforms to the source language document. In some cases, a literal "certification" is required under the law, and this certification is supposed to count as evidence of the translator’s expertise in the source language and the target language. However, because the law usually does not oblige translators to seek certification and no centralized system for bestowing certification exists, corresponding certification practice has developed on an ad hoc basis within various jurisdictions . In the United States, for example, only three states — New York, New Jersey and Illinois — have established certification systems for translators. The above statements, or "translator affidavits," are sometimes accompanied by a notarial certification, which may be called a "notarized affidavit," "notarized certification," "notarial certificate," or "notarial act." Notarization involves a notary public signing the original copy of the affidavit, usually after checking the identity of the translator making the affidavit. Alternatively, if the translated document is being sent overseas, _______________________ (country’s name), "legalization" or "authentication" by a consulate may be required. Finally, check with the court clerk, the agency, the body or the organization that is to receive the translated document, as to the rules it/they have established for certification and notarization, if any, and the mode of submission of the document.