Here at ACSTraduction, we specialise in legal translation. This industry depends on the quality of the translation, because a single misinterpretation can mean the difference between success and failure. This is why legal translators have a very important role to play in the court.
What are the stakes in legal translation?
The number one stake is the legal sector itself. Translating a legal document requires the translator to know the legal jargon of the sector and the specific legal jargon of the country they are translating for. The complexity is in the fact that the translation does not only consist of translating the words of one language to another . It means finding the corresponding words in the other language that fit the exact term and idea from the source language. This is why legal translators have a perfect knowledge of their languages (they always translate into their native language). They must also have an in-depth knowledge of the specific laws of each country concerned.
In order to ensure a high quality translation, the level of precision of terminology is paramount. If a judge or lawyer state that the legal terminology is incorrect, they can refuse the document. There is no place for rough translations in the legal sector: mistakes and ambiguities cannot be present. A legal document that has not been translated precisely has no legal value. This will have legal consequences and possibly very costly financial consequences. Even more than financial impacts, there is also the damage of you reputation to take into account, if such a translation were submitted on your behalf.
A legal translator will also be able to translate official court statements given in a court case. They must precisely interpret these documents so that they can be used as evidence in a trial.
Which translations are important in court?
There are various documents that legal translators can translate. Among them are financial documents, bills, records, patents, court outcomes, witness declarations, etc…
To determine the most important of these documents several filters can be applied. In the legal sector, this is when these documents are being used as proof in a court case, for criminal cases. The transcript of a court case, a witness testimony, an interrogation, should excel in order to be permissible in a case.
Contract between two businesses of different nationalities are also another very important form of legal translation. When a dispute occurs, the court will examine everything stipulated in the contract very carefully, in order to determine the injustice in this litigation, which party has the legitimate right, and ultimately decide if financial compensation should be awarded.
The same goes for cases regarding intellectual property. Dropping off a patent and having it translated will be a very important step for a business who is trying to protect their intellectual property, and therefore assert their rights before the court.
Ensuring a high quality translation in the legal sector will make all the difference between justice and injustice
Confiding your legal document to a translation agency that specialises in legal translation could make all the difference between wining a case and losing a case. Bad translations can weaken the your party’s arguments, which can lead to your case being dismissed or even lost.
Each year, there are hundreds of cases thrown out because of translation errors or translations not being of a sufficient quality.
This demonstrates the importance of choosing a trustworthy and reliable translator to translate your legal documents. Today, we find ourselves in a situation where businesses cannot find specialised legal translators , because the demand is much greater than the number of specialised legal translators.
ACSTraduction are here to help you with this demanding procedure, we are specialised in legal translation, therefore offering our clients the best possible outcomes with their cases. With more than 20 years experience, and hundreds of satisfied clients, we would be delighted to help you in you legal procedures. Come and see us so we can get to know you better.