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Did you realize that some terms take on new and unique meanings in a legal context? People have been imprisoned just because they signed a contract without understanding the exact legal meaning of a phrase or condition. A slight mistake in translating a legal text might result in significant financial loss and bankruptcy! If you find yourself lost in the international legal system, legal translation solutions can help you find your way.
There’s also no denying that the legal systems in different countries are vastly distinct. It is also clear that legal translation is culturally bound, let alone minority-bound problems! Furthermore, some jurists request verbatim translations without considering that a word in the source language may not be found in the target language with the same cultural meaning.
If you have a text and are unsure whether any translator can help you or if you need to find a legal translation solution, this post is for you. We’ll first determine whether you require legal translation services. Then, we’ll discuss which texts need these services. Given the vast number of legal translation agencies, the next section will explore what makes an excellent one to assist you in selecting. Finally, we’ll discuss how SinceWordsMatter may help you with the legal translation solutions.
Table of Contents
- Do I need a legal translation?
- What kinds of texts need legal translation?
- What are the characteristics of a good legal translation agency?
Do I need a legal translation?
Have you ever read a legal text or viewed a court video hearing in your native language? It’s like Shakespeare’s friends talking if you’re not a lawyer or a legalese expert!
You received a court summons from another country, but you have no idea what you did wrong! Perhaps you’ve been called only to testify.
Fortunately, your application to a university overseas has been accepted, and you now require the translation of academic records.
How sure are you that the translation of the confidentiality agreement you’re going to sign accurately reflects the original, or whether the interviewers will be able to disclose your identity in certain circumstances?
You may be on the verge of signing an international contract to market your book or invention. It appears to be a great contract. What if the contractors are infringing upon the copyright or the patent by writing a couple of phrases that you didn’t think were a big deal?
You’ve found a great dealon a house in another country, but have the local tax regulations been adequately accounted for in your contract?
You are a celebrity, and know that if the media finds out about your new international contract, there will be chaos! As a result, a sworn legal translator must translate it on the sly for you while keeping their lips sealed about your contract.
Your legal document was translated as a regular text by a seemingly professional translator, and you’ve found it fully meaningful. Nevertheless, the authorities have rejected it because of the language or the format used.
If you find yourself in any situations listed above, you should seek legal translation solutions. But since there are many scenarios where people need these solutions, it’s best to determine what kinds of texts necessitate the effort of a legal translator.
What kinds of texts need legal translation?
You have a text, but you don’t think it’s complicated enough to hire a professional legal translator. Note that not only do some terms have specific meanings in legal contexts that a legal translator can only decipher, but several institutions require a certificate for the translated legal documents. The only entities authorized to offer such certifications are certified official legal translators and translation agencies.
A skilled legal translator can translate a wide range of documents, text, audio, and video. This section will cover the most common ones. Is any of the following similar to the content you need to be translated? If yes, it is necessary to seek the services of a certified legal translation.
If a usual translation is used, not only would the government reject your paperwork, but you could be sued or even found guilty of a crime you’ve never heard of!
Contracts and Agreements
Contracts and agreements are the types of legal documents that are mostly translated. If you own or work for a company that is going global, you must translate your contracts based on the laws and legal systems of other countries. A mistake in translating contracts and provisions can result in substantial financial penalties and time loss, let alone the negative branding effect it may cause.
If you are working for or want to cooperate with a company in a foreign land, you are required to translate the corporate documents, also called corporate records. Cooperate records must also be translated by experienced legal translators to avoid negative consequences such as paying higher taxes.
Immigration Documents
In case you are planning to immigrate or study in a country abroad, only a certified legal translator can help you. You must provide certified translations to the new country’s government, such as birth certificates, death certificates, passports, marriage and divorce certificates, and academic transcripts. Thus, a regular translator cannot help you. Not using certified legal translation services makes your immigration efforts futile and vain.
Patent, Trademark, and Copyright Registration
Are you an inventor looking to register an invention patent in another country? Or a businessman who wants to trademark a brand? You can also be a writer or an artist seeking copyright registrations.
You must have your documents translated by a legal translator for any of the above processes. If you don’t use professional legal translation solutions, you may officially sell all of your rights at a low price to another person or worse! You may be guilty of stealing someone else’s ideas and be doomed to pay substantial financial penalties or go to prison just because you were trying to improve the world by the fruit of your creativity.
Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policies
Since you are stepping into new lands for your business, you need to localize your terms and conditions, privacy policies, and rules and regulations based on their laws. If you don’t use legal translation, your company might make promises which are legally binding in the target country and make you liable.
In addition, if your terms and conditions, privacy policies, and rules and regulations are found against the rules of the new country, your documents could be rejected, or you might be banned from expanding your business after so much spending you’ve had. Legal translation solutions can help you avoid all the mentioned problems, SinceWordsMatter.
Legal Cases
Are you a lawyer working on an international court case? Do you need translation for some witness statements? Undoubtedly, a legal translator must be assigned to translate the legal cases. Even if you are fluently speaking a foreign language, a legal translation solutions provider firm can help you more than you think in solving the case.
Miscellaneous Legal Documents
Some other types of documents require legal translation services, including but not limited to:
- Wills
- Trusts
- Tenders
- Affidavits
- Provisions
- Litigations
- Statements
- Legal forms
- Boilerplates
- Transactions
- Amendments
- Employee Visas
- Insurance Claims
- Legal Disclaimers
- Legal Letters and Notices
- Administrative Documents
- Industrial and Intellectual Property Documents
- Confirmations and Documents Signed, Agreed upon, or Issued by a Legal Entity
What are the characteristics of a good legal translation agency?
When possible, it’s better to use a translation company rather than a freelance translator. This is because agencies offering translation services employ multiple translators, offer a more comprehensive range of language solutions, and ensure that a more significant number of languages are covered. In addition, translation service providers possibly even edit and proofread your translations before delivering them to you.
There are currently lots of translation companies out there. How can you find a trustworthy and dependable legal translation solutions provider?
A professional translation service can precisely assess your needs and provide the appropriate translation. They promptly and accurately deliver a legal translation that meets all the criteria for an excellent translation.
Read more about the characteristics of a good translation.
A reliable translation service will assign a project manager to your work. Problems will arise during the translation and delivery processes, but with the help of a professional project manager, these issues can be solved. Skilled project managers ensure that the highest quality translated product is delivered on time, every time.
If you hire a professional translation agency, even a huge project won’t be too much for them to handle. Your massive legal project will be overseen by a project manager the company has assigned to you.
To ensure accuracy, only native speakers of the target language who have received formal legal translation training are used for providing legal translation solutions by the top translation companies. It is imperative that translators fully comprehend the nuance of each term in both the original and target legal systems. Each language pair’s translator is also fluent in the source language.
The best provider of translation services for your needs would be one that offers solutions for all of the language pairs you require.
Reliable translation companies can handle urgent translations without committing to unrealistic delivery dates. If the proposed delivery date appears to be too soon, they may be planning to use machine translation or simply skip delivering the translation altogether.
Trustworthy translation services may use AI-powered technologies but should not rely on machine translation. To ensure the highest quality of translations, the best translation companies use CAT (Computer-Assisted Translation) systems to assist human translators.
A trustworthy legal translation agency values its linguists’ time and treats them with dignity and prompt payment. This motivates the legal translators to put in excellent effort on the projects.
If your language service provider communicates well with you, your projects may also be finished well. These translation solutions providers eagerly accept feedback and move quickly to implement changes. You can relax knowing there is a good chance you made the proper choice if the translation service provider you’ve selected has attentive staff who respond quickly and communicate clearly.
The best translation agencies have a second translator (who did not participate in the initial translation) review and edit the finished product.
If you use the services of a professional translation firm, you may request that the same translator who worked on one of your previous projects handle this one as well. You can also request that they not assign a specific translator to any of your future projects.
Verify that the translation firm you hire can deliver the final product in your preferred format. Also, ensure that the legal translation service company can provide you with translation certification. Certified translations are necessary for some official forms of documentation.
Providing excellent customer service is just as crucial as accurate translations, so a top translation agency should be flexible in pricing, strategies, timelines, and information sharing. It offers high-quality solutions at the most affordable prices.
No one can deny the importance of money. However, you won’t get very far with the help of a translation agency whose only goal is to make money and whose employees don’t care about providing you with the best possible solutions.
Another hallmark of a professional language service provider, especially for legal translation projects, is confidentiality. A company offering legal translation services must ensure all its employees have signed a confidentiality agreement. If you want the company to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with you, they must do so.
Transcend Language Barriers with Confidence!
SinceWordsMatter Is Here to Assist You with Premier Legal Translation Services.