About Legal Translation

What is legal translation?

What are types of legal documents?

Why are legal translation services important?

What is the relation between legal translation services and law firms?

Who do need legal translation services?

How to select a highly-qualified legal translation provider?

In this blog, we will explain the definition of legal translation, why it is important, and who are in need to this specialized translation. In general, people know that translation is a process of transforming a word in a specific language (source language) into an equivalent word in other language (target language). However, this isn’t exactly the way of translation. Only linguistic specialists know how complicated is the translation process. Translation can be classified into many branches and specialties.

There are medical, legal, literary, marketing, political, financial, and economic translations where each branch has its structures and terminology. There are also translation (written) and interpretation (oral); easy translation and complicated specialized translation; and professional translation and certified translation. Through reading this introduction, you can realize how complicated is the translation process. A medical translator, for example, can’t be proficient in other branches of translation. Similarly, a legal translator can’t be proficient in medical translation. It means that translation process needs specialization exactly as same as in medicine. In this article, we are going to explain the legal translation. 

What is legal translation?

It is simply the branch of translation relating to law. It is the area which needs high long experience and high skills in order to avoid misunderstanding and disastrous consequences of wrong translation. All legal projects need a high level of attention to every detail. This branch of translation becomes a necessity when sensitive legal documents are exchanged between multinational individuals who have to make decisions based on these documents. A legal translator must have a good knowledge of the legal system, not only the linguistic rules.   

 What are types of legal documents?

Legal documents include the following: 

• Laws
• Regulation
• Constitutions
• Corporate Documents (Articles of Association – Memoranda of Association – Trade Licenses – Commercial Registers – Board’s Resolutions – Minutes of Meetings – Circulars – Powers of Attorney – Contracts – Agreements)
• Judicial Documents (Judgments – Petitions – Statements of Claim – Interlocutory Application – Memoranda of Defense – Testimonies – Appeals and Challenges)
• Arbitration Documents (Arbitration Charter – Arbitrator Appointment Letter – Awards)
• Public Prosecution’s Investigations
• Personal Identification Documents (IDs, Passports, Visas, Birth Certificates)
• Labor Documents (Offer Letters – Employment Contracts – Termination Procedures – Residency Visas – Work Permits)
• Tender Documents (Terms of Reference – Financial and Technical Proposals)
• Maritime Documents (Ship Charters – Bills of Lading – Shipping Documents)
• Insurance

Why are legal translation services important?

After reviewing the legal documents, you can realize how much they are important and why high-quality translation is required. Imagine that two governments or multinational companies need to translate an agreement; you can relate how much the information contained in such agreement is sensitive. Imagine how much it is sensitive to translate a judgment which contains a ruling against a person and in favor of another person. The legal system is penetrating every aspect of our life and the legal language is complicated. Consequently, you can’t assign a random translator for your legal documents; it needs a highly-experienced translator. To realize how it is dangerous if a single word is wrongly translated, read our blog: Why should you choose iTransling for legal and financial translation?

What is the relation between legal translation services and law firms?

Law firms are the top agencies which need our services as the main legal service providers. This is because a law firm is an entity which involves with the most types of legal documents. They need to translate laws, memoranda of defense, corporate documents, judicial documents, etc. iTransling has strong collaborations with law firms throughout our existence. We satisfy their needs to high-quality legal translation for their sensitive papers and we understand the confidentiality issue. We also strictly keep their papers strictly confidential.

Who do need legal translation services?

Each person may be in touch with the legal system every day. So, our services are needed by individuals, multinational corporations, courts, public prosecutions, governmental agencies, governments, non-profit organizations, embassies, consulates and even countries.   

   How to select a highly-qualified legal translation provider?

When it relates to translating a legal sensitive document, selecting a qualified translation provider isn’t an easy task. There are two types of translation providers: translation agencies and freelance translators. 

Criteria for Selecting a Translation Agency

• Specialization: You should make sure that a translation agency hires a specialized translator. As explained in this Article, legal translation requires that a translator must have knowledge of the legal system and context of a legal document you need to translate.
• Translation Process: Translation passes through three stages: analysis of document, translation, and editing and proofreading. You have to make sure that a translation agency will apply this process in order to ensure high-quality translation for your legal document. 
• Commitment to deadlines is one of the most important factors for selecting translation agencies to translate you legal projects. Legal documents are usually delivered to official bodies on specific times. Accordingly, you must select a translation agency which will help you to comply with your deadlines.
• Cost: We definitely understand that the translation is costly; especially human legal translation. There are criteria for calculating the cost of translation. If you need it, you can expect to pay big fees. However, cost is another factor for selecting a translation agency.
• Language: Before selecting a translation agency, you have to define the target language. Selecting a translation agency which masters the target language is the best. For example, if you want to translate a legal document from English to Arabic, you can select a translation agency based in an Arabic country such as UAE, Egypt, Kuwait, etc.
• Reliability: In order to get reliable correct translation, you should read more about the translation agency you are going to appoint; read reviews; and ask for other references.

Conclusion

Legal translation is one of the most important branches of translation and every aspect of our life needs it. In addition, legal documents contain sensitive information and specialized terminology. Any wrong translation may have disastrous consequences. For these reasons, you have to be careful upon selecting a translation service provider.