Mashariq Legal Translation services

Most of us have come across examples of the long-winded jargon that lawyers often use, which the lay person finds difficult to comprehend. What about when it is also in another language? Most of us have come across examples of the long-winded jargon that lawyers often use, which the lay person finds difficult to comprehend. This is also true of notifications and communiqués that are issued by the governmental departments of some countries even today. The legal field is a complex field with distinct areas of specialization, each having its own specific terminology and form of expression. Letters of Credit, contracts, insurance policies, mortgage deeds and guarantees are some of the documents that adopt 'legalese' or legal language. Legal terminology varies with the legal system in use, which in turn differs from country to country. Translator competence In business partnerships between organizations of different countries, a vast amount of paper work or legal documentation has to be gone through and contracts signed, before the start of operations. For both parties concerned to be clear about their respective responsibilities and the extent of their financial commitment, these documents have to be accurately translated with the meaning of the text retained intact and exactly as it was originally intended. Legal translation is by no means a simple task, as the laws of different countries are rooted in the respective cultures, and it takes a translator with a certain level of competence to be able to do an effective job of it. Also, the existence of very specialized areas of law calls for different approaches to translating different types of legal documents. For instance, translating a mortgage deed in a property transaction will require a completely different approach, depth and competency as compared to translating a simple letter of intent. A deed of mortgage being a much more complex document, the translator will have to refer to a good legal dictionary, and perhaps undertake extensive research into the subject matter, to be able to do justice to the project. To illustrate this, a sample of French legal terms with their English equivalents is shown below: French Terms / English Equivalents attestation de propriété / proof of ownership of a property attribution de juridication / formal signing of a purchase contract clause suspensive / conditional clause in a contract that must be met in order for the sale to reach completion code du travail / employment law droits d'enregistrement / stamp duty paid by the purchaser Writer-journalist Sylvia A. Smith rightly says that a good translator must possess at least a basic knowledge of the legal systems prevailing in the countries of both the source and the target languages, a familiarity with the relevant terminology, and proficiency in the legal writing style of the target language. Without these competencies, the translator's work will at best be a literal translation that may not fully serve the purpose. Thus, a skilled legal translator is often a multi-faceted person: he/she must be a linguist, possess subject matter expertise, and also have the willingness and wherewithal to research and effectively define the legal concepts appearing in the original text even in situations where the legal system in the target language does not have an exact equivalent term or form of expression. Paying the price for translation errors There are plenty of instances where mistranslation or translation errors have led to lawsuits running into millions of dollars. A hospital in Florida found itself facing a $71 million lawsuit arising out of the misinterpretation of a patient's symptoms. The patient used the word "intoxicado" to say that he experienced symptoms of nausea, while medical staff assumed he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol and administered treatment accordingly. He eventually suffered a brain aneurysm and became quadriplegic. A recent survey undertaken by SDL International, a leading provider of translation and localization services, found that there is a heavy cost attached to translation errors by way of lost revenues, delayed product launches or fines for non-compliance, as affirmed by a staggering 80% of survey respondents. It is interesting to note in this context, that even translators are now being urged to take liability insurance, also referred to as Errors & Omissions (E&O), an insurance against risk of being sued for translation errors. Good translation's worth a price Translation is both an art and a science. In the field of business, the correct translation of texts is extremely crucial to the success of enterprise, although the legal implications may not become immediately apparent at the first instance. The price to be paid for errors in translation of a passage in a contract, for example, could be substantial, and may lead to lawsuits entailing huge losses. The task of translation of scholarly treatises and legal documents must therefore be entrusted only to experienced professional translators who have the right mix of competencies.

Legal Translation Services – Don’t Go by the Price