Almost every government, educational institution, and international business entity needs translation and interpretation to be able to function in the 21st century. One of the most important aspects of translation services is legal document translation. When it comes to document translation, legal documents require some of the most specialized and accurate translations an interpreter can do.
What is legal document translation and what does it entail? The translation of legal papers takes the language of the original document and translates it into another target language. It is important to respect the original meanings of the source material while considering the legal background. Documents like contracts, depositions, wills, and witness statements are just a few examples that require this special level of document translation service.
Why is document translation so important in legal instances? Accuracy is of the utmost importance when it comes to the law. If there is any misunderstanding of a crucial document, this can have legal consequences. There simply cannot be mistakes when translating for a person, an institution, or a company that requires legally binding documentation.
It is fundamental that a legal document translation service is capable of translating a contract or selection of legal documents accurately so that they are as legally binding as the original. A team of translators may work on any given project, and it is important that this team understand all the minutiae. If not, inaccuracies and miscommunication could lead to misunderstandings and even undesired legal judgments.
There are five main services that a document translation agency will provide for its clients in the case of legal documents.
- Summarization or gisting. Gisting is exactly what it sounds like, giving someone the gist of what is going on in a document.
- Document review. Similar to summarization, document review is one of the most basic offerings of a document translation service. Some of them might be vital but others might just be filler. A client can set guidelines that flag certain words or phrases, and the translation team can concentrate on those documents.
- Editing and proofreading. Sometimes clients come to a translation service with fully produced content or documents. They’ve either had this done in-house or obtained it from a partner working overseas. In this case, it might just need some touching up. All the best legal document translation agencies will include this in their broader document translation services. But in this instance, they’ll cross-reference the original texts and fix grammatical and translation errors. It’s always a good idea to have new eyes look at the important information.
- Document translation. In legal situations, the actual act of document translation is especially important. Great agencies will have an established hierarchy ensuring the best quality control. Project managers will oversee the translation teams through the translation, editing, and proofreading stages
- Certified translation. This is the essence of translating legally binding documents. It includes providing certified and sworn translations that are admissible in most legal situations. A certified translation will include an affidavit or declaration from the translator or interpreter. This affidavit will swear to the authenticity of the source material as well as the accuracy of the translation. It will also cover liability since the agency will swear to its competence in both the language of the original material and the translation.
