Should legal translations be done in-house?

When you decide to extend your reach on an international level, there’s more to consider than just investment and capital, product standardization and staffing. You also need an understanding of the differences between your country’s legal system and that of the nation you’re about to enter. And since each country’s law is based on its unique heritage and culture, translating legal documents can be an arduous and complex undertaking. This article will discuss whether legal translations be done in house.

It goes without saying, your in-house attorneys will play an integral part of your expansion strategy. But when it comes to translating the documents, do they have the translation expertise to avoid translation errors? Let’s take a look at the three most frequent translation errors that businesses encounter when keeping legal translation in-house.

1. Machine translation: While it has come a long way and certainly has a place in language translation, the technology isn’t ready to consistently and correctly translate legal documents. Legal documents are filled with terms and intricacies that a machine doesn’t have the capability to handle.   
2. Literal translations: Literal translations are seldom correct. When words, phrases and sentences are directly translated to another language, the meaning often differs between legal systems. 
3. Translation planning: If you decide to go it alone, there are language translation consistencies you may miss – which may cost you more in the long run. A professional translator uses translation tools to do things like store a glossary of words specific to your business, ensuring that legal terminology, as well as your term preferences are consistent. 

For every legal document, and there are many, you need to ensure error-free translation that meets that country’s legal requirements. When this doesn’t happen, mistranslations not only send an unclear or inaccurate message, but can have a negative financial impact. 

Why legal translation is complex

Consisting of unique terminology and complex text, such as what is found in trade contracts, financial reports, transcripts, patents, precedents, legal rulings, and witness statements, as well as litigation papers and articles of incorporation, and more; legal translation is one of the most complex – if not the most complex – text you’ll need to translate. In addition to the countless types of text, legal terminology is formal and unique. When you couple that with cultural, language and legal system diversities, complexities are bound to mount, making legal translations time consuming and prone to errors.

Since each country has its own legal system and legal terminology, accurate translation to the target language can’t be stressed enough. It’s of the utmost importance that legal terminology is accurately conveyed. For instance, let’s say there is a translation error within a company’s terms-and-conditions document. Since the purpose of this document is to protect the business, a translation error – however minor – could result in the document being of no value or even open the business up to unlimited liability. 

As previously mentioned, legal language is distinct with a style of its own and varies from country to country. And much of this is a result of a country’s legal traditions and culture. This is even true of countries that share the same language and basic culture. With Spanish being the official language of 20 countries, one may assume that their legal systems would be similar. Unfortunately, this is not the case. In fact, legal systems may even vary within the same country. For example, although civil law is applied throughout Spain, some communities are autonomous with their own civil law system, which is applied to certain legal issues. 

Any mistakes, misinterpretations or ambiguity within legal documents can result, at a minimum, in embarrassment. On the other end of the spectrum, legal translation errors can result in the loss of a significant amount of money, a violation of contract terms and/or lawsuits. Take for example the 2011 Free Trade Agreement between the EU and South Korea. With more than 200 translation errors in the document, approval by the National Assembly was postponed. While it’s impossible to estimate how much European and Korean companies lost due to the delay, it’s safe to say that unnecessary losses were incurred by companies on both sides.  

When translating between the source and target languages, it’s important to remember that legal terms will vary. This variance makes knowledge of the two legal systems an absolute necessity to avoid misrepresentation. And this is where a highly-skilled, professional legal translator will play a critical role.  

When it comes to legal translation, nothing less than 100% accuracy will do. If you’d like to learn more about how BURG Translations helps you ensure high quality legal translations, contact us today.