Legal Translation
Legal translation can be defined as the translation of
information related to law from source language to desired
target language. Considering the businesses crossing various
geographical boundaries in the modern times it has become
necessity of these business to seek legal translation for
completing legal formalities in different countries.
The attorneys working for
multinational corporate have to study documents from various
countries and many a times these are in local languages. It is
at this instant that legal translation of these documents is
essential to a target language, which is the native language of
the attorney.
The legal translator generally has
to translate information like: court rulings, court orders,
court pleas, employment contracts,
real estate conveyance deeds, lease documents, title documents,
power of attorneys, warranties, birth certificates, death
certificates, marriage certificates, divorce settlements and
various types of project contracts.
The law of every country is
constituted considering the local culture and traditions.
In legal translation the translator needs to have some knowledge
about the law of specific location where translated documents
are going to be presented in completing legal formalities. This
is so because the legal information has some specific style of
language and it has to be understood properly with reference to
the law in one location and translated to target language with
the style corresponding to law in the second location. If the
understanding is imperfect or incomplete than this could lead to
loss of information in the target language document and could
lead to serious implications.
Secondly the confidentiality in some
cases may be of utmost importance and so the translators
performing legal translation in such matters should address the
need with care. The legal documents require very clear and
logical drafting in order to get a feel of the case matter very
effectively. This effect in the document should remain intact
after translating the draft from source to target text.
The most important step that a
translator doing legal translation has to remember is that the
translator needs to provide certified translation specially in
case of presenting translated documents in the court or
government departments. In case of courts the translation
is defined certified translation only after the translator
provides affidavit with the translated documents.
In some countries translators need to get registered with local
judicial council or courts. The respective courts accept the
translation done by such certified translators as certified
translation. The courts in every country have own regulations of
certifying the legal translation and thus every translator has
to do his respective homework for doing the needful to get the
translation certified.
Legal Document Translation
Legal documents mostly include different types of agreements,
real estate drafts, lease documents, wills, titles, court
rulings, court pleadings, court judgments, witness statements,
employment contracts, international project contracts, testament,
birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates
and several other type of documents.
Legal document translation needs translators with best knowledge
of the scripts and notations of both the source and target
languages. This is specifically important when the translator is
dealing with languages like Chinese where in the written script
is classified in two separate types that are simplified and
traditional Chinese. In such a situation if say the source is
English language document and target language is Chinese
language than the translator has to learn and understand where
the document is going to be used. Based on that the translator
should decide whether the target would be simplified or
traditional Chinese language because written Chinese language in
Mainland China is different than that in Singapore or other
locations. Thus one can understand how important it is to know
the languages thoroughly specially the written one for legal
document translation.
The other important aspect of legal
document translation is that it should be certified translation
for being accepted in court or government departments in various
locations. The certified translation has different definition in
different countries. Like a
translator doing translation to be
for used in the courts of North America has to be registered
with the local State Court. Such certified translators are than
eligible for providing services to clients in that state and the
translation done by them are accepted as certified translation.
The translator also has to give a written declaration that the
translated document is accurate and complete as compared to the
source document. After submitting such declaration with the
translated documents the formalities for getting translation
certified are considered to be complete.
On the other hand if same legal
document translation is to be presented in courts of UK the
legal translator need to furnish an affidavit and take oath in
front of solicitor or authorized government official saying that
whatever translation work done is accurate and complete to the
best of the translators knowledge. The translator has to go
through the procedure in every case when any translation has to
be submitted in the court.
In some countries the court has fixed Sworn translators and
legal document translation performed by them are considered as
certified translation. The government departments like
immigration department of various countries expect the legal
document translation to be attested from the native countries
foreign affairs ministry officials.
