Legal Translation Services
A certified translation service is definitely a kind of work that every person who is dealing with government compliance should have. Translation is also needed by every business, who wants to get some syndication and global reach, would want. Before you go ahead and hire a translation service, you need to learn more about the industry. How do you know if you have a USCIS certified translation services agency in front of you? How do you make sure that you get the official translation properly from the certified translation company?
The goal of this article is to provide the reader with information on how he can get a professional translator and a certified translated document that could help them along the way.
What is Legal Translation?
Legal translation refers to the professional translation of one document to reveal the intention of the document in another language. When you get legal translation services, you should not expect a word for word translation but a holistic approach to the document. Unlike the other forms of translation, translating legal documents to a foreign language requires a degree of accuracy that can never be provided by software products even if they are embedded with artificial intelligence. More often than not, machine translations are perfect for direct conversation for specific words and common expressions.
How accurate is accurate?
Legal translation services must be close to a hundred percent when it comes to accuracy. One cannot simply rely on a machine translation to achieve this and should hire a company or service that offers legal translations. To date, only professional legal translators can deliver services that are equivalent to a perfect translation. Certified legal translation services need this level of accuracy.
The Significance of Accuracy in Legal Translation
When you get legal translation services, its accuracy determines the outcome of your original purpose. When the purpose of your legal translations is translating a court order, the translated outcome must call for the same outcome as the original document. Law firms, in the United States and everywhere, are very specific in their translation requirements. Legal translation services sometimes become a part of the service that the clients would get billed for because it is part of the legal process.
Immigration cases
For example, in immigration cases in the United States, legal translation services are obtained by law firms to assist their clients better. When a document is in another language but is needed to be presented in open court and the legal system, the lawyers must present legal translations of the document to a language that the court understands.
In many cases, legal translations of Spanish documents, German documents, as well as other documents in other languages from the global community are translated. In the case of a document in Spanish, while the client may have Spanish speaking friends that can translate, there should be legal translation experts that can share their expertise in the law and in the Spanish language. The legal translation of the document from Spanish to English must be true to the original meaning of the document.
A hundred percent level of accuracy may only be guaranteed by a corporate team of those with expertise in legal translation.
Hiring Bilinguals versus Professional Translators
When you have a need for legal translation services or any kind of translation services for that matter, it does not mean that you need to hire any bilingual and let them perform on-the-spot translation for you. Quality legal translation is all about professionals doing quality works.
American Translators Association Exists
There are many translation companies based in the United States like New York, New Jersey, Miami, or anywhere in the US. These translators are under the American Translators Association, which is the umbrella organization in the United States that aims to provide certified quality translations to their clients. The focus of legitimate translators, whether based in New York, or anywhere else is on ensuring that there is precision, proper definition, and coherence throughout the text.
There is a common notion stating that if you are fluent in a foreign language, then there is a sure chance that you can kill it as a professional translator. The truth is that employing a person who knows a specific language does not correlate that you will have the correct varieties of words to express the full meaning of your document.
Professional Translators
Professional translators are those that come equipped with actual training certifications. They do translations and translation services based on their chosen specializations. They perform much better services as they have an advanced understanding of the target language and have undergone rigorous preparation.
Additionally, they are not just showing expertise and skills in capturing the voice and message of a text.
Professional translators that offer legal translation services and translate legal documents actively employ a transcreation process to convey the real essence and connect with native speakers.
Sign up and hire only professional translators
When you have a need for legal translation services, the best thing to do is to hire a professional that does legal translations. You must consider signing up with a certified translation service company with expertise in your field of business.
For instance, if you are mainly handling legal documents, articles of incorporation, patent records for foreign filing, or general documents with technical and legal terminologies, you need someone with legal translation experience.
Law firms in the United States often hire translators for the purpose of protecting the main interests of their clients.
Impact of Legal Document Translation
Companies are becoming more global and open to reaching international clients. There are now a lot of multilingual documents for public consumption. From legal contracts, forms, to even marketing translations, having the right blend of words and tone can absolutely save you from potential legal ramifications and negative media exposure.
In line with this, having precise legal support for you and your business will certainly save you time and money without risking your reputation.
Proper legal translations are necessary, now more than ever.
If you have a legal document that still needs some translation legal, and if you are still on the fence about whether you should sign-up for legal translation services, there are a lot of reasons why you should take that leap of fate for a translation legal:
- A slight mistake in the use of certain words can lead to huge damages as there are sometimes cultural associations reflected. One example of that is when American Motors manufactured the “matador” and marketed it in Spain. While the name may sound like it has beefed up the engine, the sales are taking a downturn as no one wants to purchase a vehicle with
a name equated to killing or death.Solution: If you want to communicate authentically and meet the highest professional quality benchmarks, the correct use of localized legal terminology and structure for your documents is important.To support your needs and tailor-fit solutions to your translation needs, you must hire professional legal translators. - When it comes to professional legal documents like affidavits, business agreements, and court evidence, having the translation done quickly will prevent hold-ups. While it is true that you can easily hire on freelance websites, that does not guarantee accuracy and rapid turnaround.Solution: Seek the help of certified legal translators from top translation service providers so that you can rest assured that your legal documents are precisely and swiftly translated without foregoing quality.
- The translation process is not just about directly converting words into a new language. To bridge the gap and seamlessly express a neutral equivalent to a concept, the translators you should work with must have an equal understanding of the culture and society of both the target and source language country.
Solution: Get the advice of certified legal translators to get the most comprehensible version of your document in a foreign language. By doing so, you can guarantee the prevention of ambiguity and ensure that your text will have the usual formal style, syntax, and register favored by the legal system in that country.
Can Anyone Provide Legal Translation Services?
No. While who knows a foreign language can definitely translate, that does not mean that these are accurate translations. And what do you want to get from legal translation services? You want accurate translations.
Untrained translators versus Professional Translations
Untrained translators or bilinguals work based on their fluency in the foreign language. A team of legitimate translators will work based on their training. Untrained translators, who offer a low price or free translation on the agreements, may even mix and match legal terminology simply based on how it sounds. A team of legitimate legal translators cannot do that because they need to support the document based on what they guaranteed – their fluency and training. Given the complexities of the legal translation services, there is some truth in the notion that it can be quite expensive. The price comes for a reason. Special legal translation services that you may find online or in law firm offices or translator offices provide company support.
What are the qualifications of a legitimate global legal translator?
A global legal translator must pass specific jurisdictional requirements, depending on the country that he wants to practice in.
Generally, the qualifications required may include the following:
Basic Requirements
- A bachelor’s degree in the fields of linguistics, foreign languages, translation studies, or legal studies.
Training Requirements
- Legal translator certificate;
- Proof of specialized training from reputable course providers; and
- Proper documentation of continuing professional development (CPD) certificates.
Affiliation Requirements
- Affiliation with internationally recognized organizations like the American Translators Association and United Nations Translation Accreditation.
Legal Studies
- Additional studies and academic units for particular legal areas such as civil, corporate, insurance, patent, tax, and international law.
Advanced Requirements
- Advanced knowledge and full proficiency in a foreign language;
- Proof of competency and experience in providing professional translation services; and
- Advanced writing skills with remarkable grammatical correctness.
Experience Requirements
- Portfolio showing accurate legal translations of specific documents.
If I have all the above credentials, can I begin work as a translator?
No. You need to first sign a non-disclosure agreement with the company that you will work in. If you are a client and you think that these credentials are enough, you need to think again and look at how you can still further legally protect yourself.
How do you do that?
You get your translator to sign a non-disclosure agreement. You may ask them to do this at the beginning stage when you are just asking for a free quote.
What Are the Differences Between Legal Translation Service and Certified Translation?
Professional legal translation and certified translation are two of the most commonly misused words in the language service industry. When you ask people, the first thing that they will think of when they hear those words is that these are synonymous with the word “legal”. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
When you are seeking for a service of legal translation for a legal document, you must make sure which of the two you are actually looking for.
What Are the Differences Between Legal Translation Service and Certified Translation?
Technically, certified translations refer to documents that bear an authenticated statement suggesting that it has been reviewed, translated, and has passed the standard translation requirements and that it is a true representation of the original document.
Certificate of Accuracy
The translated document usually comes with a certification page known as the Certificate of Accuracy containing the signature of a native speaker or a basic translator, the contact information, and the affiliation of the translator. Certified translations are usually needed for immigration documents, court transcripts, and identity certificates for birth, marriage, adoption agreements, or death. For foreign students, certified translation of education-based documents may be required when submitting original copies of diplomas and transcript of records before they are issued a temporary visa. For certified translations, do note that it can be accomplished even by certified legal translators or any qualified translator willing to testify that an accurate translation has been made. If you want to have more credibility, it would be wise to have certified translations done by a certified translator with specific expertise and who have passed an actual exam.
Find The Right Legal Document Translation Services
Finding the best translation service for your target language is not easy. You cannot simply perform a Google search and type in “translation services near me” to find a good one online that offers the right price and has satisfaction of your needs guaranteed.
Social media is not a good market for translators
You also cannot just crowdsource on social media. If you are in the market for high quality translations with unmatched accuracy, then you must consider a globally competitive company with scalable solutions ideal for individual or institutional needs. This feels too much right?
Basically, you just need to find the right legal translation services that would give you the right agreements and would protect the agreements with contracts. When it comes to translating legal documents and accurate information, it is a must that you trust a translation company that offers cutting-edge legal document translation services. Unlike free online translators or freelance translators, seeking the help of translation companies paves the way in ensuring that your documents are translated in the best way possible as it is mainly reviewed and analyzed by not just one translator but a team of qualified and certified legal translators with real law firm experiences.
There are also some technical translations that are part of language translations. Professional documents translated are often in the form of technical translations. More often than not, technical translations involve translating documents or materials that are concerned with specific and technical terminology. When the subject matter involves a specific topic on a specialized text.
Technical translations are often done per page, like most of the translations available. The certified translations are often in a preferred language of the reader but the technical terms are not translated. There are many different kinds of technical translations but the two more important kinds are in the form of medical translations and study translations.
Legal Translation
On the flip side, legal translation dives on a deeper level of translation services on the legal document as it needs to be carried out by a qualified, certified, and legal translation professional.
Nature of Work
The nature of work usually revolves around corporate legal documents including business contracts, corporate certificate, legal patent, articles of incorporation, legal evidence, letters of dismissal, final judgement and corporate orders, as well as translation of non-disclosure agreements.
Working with Professionals
The legal translators that translate legal documents must have a credible track record and an experience in translation from law firms. A certified legal translation needs the assistance of a licensed notary.
Hence, before getting your documents translated by a company that claims to do certified legal translation services, you must carefully check and conduct a series of fact-checking activities before hiring or signing up with a legal translation service.
It is uncommon to find qualified legal translators who offer their own services and provide certified translations on their own. The industry practice is that you can often find a team of individuals who are language experts. They often work together as a member of the team offering reputable legal document translation services with a legitimate translation company.
There are also some technical translations that are part of language translations. Professional documents translated are often in the form of technical translations. More often than not, technical translations involve translating documents or materials that are concerned with specific and technical terminology. When the subject matter involves a specific topic on a specialized text.
Technical translations are often done per page, like most of the translations available. The certified translations are often in a preferred language of the reader but the technical terms are not translated. There are many different kinds of technical translations but the two more important kinds are in the form of medical translations and study translations.
A choice for excellence
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Logic Translations can bring you what you need
Here at Logic Translations, we make it a point to deliver accurate and certified legal translation of documents in a wide range of languages.
Our team of experts is composed of certified legal translators with real background working for law firms and localization projects. With this being said, we pride ourselves in offering high quality solutions at the most affordable prices for our clients.