Legal Translations and Interpretation Tips

Courtesy of Legal Translator: Marlyn Rosario

Legal foreign language translations and interpretation tips that can affect your law firm's reputation

Legal foreign language translations tip 1: Do not hire a non-professional legal interpreter who is not even a native speaker of the foreign language in question. Is your legal department speaking the same foreign language as your multilingual clients? Poorly translated documents or sub-par court interpretation can change a case's outcome, injure a company's international reputation, and even elicit a class-action lawsuit. Your reputation is literally in your legal foreign language translator's hands—and an unqualified foreign language translator can bring disastrous results.

Legal foreign language translations tip 2: Do not view foreign language translation as just typing in another language. What would happen if your entire case literally hung on a word? When is a "guarantee" not a "guarantee?" The answer: When it's translated from Italian.

Legal foreign language translations tip 3: Do not have your legal and financial documents translated by a "universal translator", computer translation devices, or translation software. Why hire a professional legal translation company? Instant translations can have humorous - yet disastrous results. An article in the Wall Street Journal relates the story of a cheesecake storeowner who received angry emails complaining about his translations. With descriptions ranging from "frightening" cheesecake (for chilled cheesecake), and a "chocolate-integrated circuit" cheesecake, the owner's international reputation was sullied.

Legal foreign language translations tip 4: Do not yield to the temptation of cheap and fast legal translations. Sure, you can answer spam emails touting legal translation for $10 a page. Or, press your legal translation company for a 24-hour turnaround. However, your least expensive and fastest translations can mean huge problems later.

Source The Language Alliance