General
The legal translator is an often unheralded, overlooked and underutilized member of a project team. Although a legal team may spend endless hours drafting and revising an important document, much less time may be spent on ensuring that legal translations are of the highest professional quality, accurate, flawless and transparent in reflecting the language of the original. Legal translations can often be an afterthought, even though they play an important role as to how a project evolves.
Some historical examples reflect the unfortunate results of poor legal translation or interpretation.
In 1877, an Italian astronomer observed the appearance of “canali” on Mars, later interpreted as “canals”, rather than “channels” leading to the belief that if canals existed, they must have been constructed. Nikita Khrushchev’s famous phrase was interpreted as “we will bury you”, a very literal interpretation of what in the original Russian was closer to “we will outlast you” or “we will live to see you buried.”[1] In 2009, an international marketing campaign of HSBC Bank with the English-language slogan, “Assume Nothing” was translated in certain international markets as “Do Nothing”, costing millions for rebranding. Going into the minutia of grammar, a missing Oxford comma cost a dairy in the United States $5 million in unpaid overtime.[2] Legal translation errors cannot be underestimated. As headlined in The Economist, “[t]ranslators are the unacknowledged facilitators of the world” “[b]ut they and interpreters rarely get their due.”[3]
Legal translations are intrinsically involved in business interchange. From consideration of a memorandum of understanding, letter of intent or term sheet through execution of the definitive agreement(s), legal translations accompany the progression of negotiations, allowing a party to understand and react to documents in his or her native language. In litigation and arbitration, parties rely upon legal translations to accurately state or respond to factual and legal assertions and positions in pleadings and discovery in judicial and arbitration proceedings.
A legal translator for complex projects has (i) strong linguistic skills in at least two languages (native or fluent), (ii) an established background in legal translation and reputation for providing accurate, precise and professional legal translations, and (iii) in some instances, experience in specific areas of the law (for example, complex transactions, life sciences, patent).
Understanding the legal translator’s role
For the effective use of the legal translator’s skills and expertise, the client must understand the role of the legal translator.
The legal translator is to produce a document that (i) accurately, precisely and transparently reflects the content of the document being translated, (ii) uses legal terminology applied in the target country, and (iii) clearly conveys the target language equivalents of the legal concepts contained in the source language original. [4] The legal translation should read as fluidly as the original while maintaining its spirit and intent. The legal translation mirrors the original and does not interpret it. The legal translator must have a solid understanding of the principles of law and precedents in effect in the target jurisdiction(s). By understanding the role played by a legal translator, the client will recognize the importance of creating an environment conducive to the legal translator’s effective performance.
The client – legal translator relationship
The client’s effective use of a legal translator requires its understanding of (i) the legal translator’s role, (ii) expertise, and (ii) the division of responsibilities between the client and the legal translator.
Early participation of the legal translator in the legal project team
The legal translator should be involved as part of the legal project team from its inception. He or she should receive (i) a clear and comprehensive description of the project, and (ii) any available written materials on the project and on the company’s business operations and industry. The legal translator may be invited to participate in team meetings throughout the process. This level of participation serves to facilitate and expedite the legal translator’s task, resulting in the best possible outcome. Updates should be provided as to any changes to the project’s scope and progression.
The legal team should designate a contact person acting as a conduit ensuring effective communication between the client and the legal translator.
Providing clear, precise and understandable instructions to the legal translator
The client must provide clear, precise and understandable guidance to the legal translator. He or she must receive comprehensive and informative instructions so that the final result meets the client’s expectations. Misunderstandings and miscommunications will negatively impact the quality of the legal translation, with a poor result. Likewise, the client must be willing to respond to questions or concerns raised by the legal translator during the project.
The legal translator’s role does not include making an assessment as to what the legal translation should contain – quite the contrary. For example, a client may request a legal translation summary to be used in connection with providing legal advice. It is not for the legal translator to determine the material provisions to be translated, but rather for the client to provide specific instructions. If such instructions are not provided, the legal translator must always request the client’s direction.
Monitoring and controlling workflow
The workflow to the legal translator must be monitored and controlled.
Drafts provided to the legal translator without a control mechanism are likely to result in significant, avoidable problems in the quality and integrity of the legal translation. This is inevitable when multiple lawyers are involved in reviewing and revising documents. Each project lawyer may be contributing comments and modifications to their own draft without considering the comments and revisions of others. This can lead to dropped text and misplacement of revisions.
To avoid confusion, a single revised version compiling and consolidating all modifications should be prepared. All comments and open issues should be addressed before the draft is presented to the legal translator. These are functions that cannot be performed by the legal translator. A revision should clearly indicate its version number, date and/or time. In no event should individual revisions be inserted into any system version.
The presentation of newly revised drafts to the legal translator should be spaced so as to provide sufficient time for the treatment of each draft. Monitoring and controlling the progression of drafts could be among the tasks assigned to the project contact person.
Providing sufficient time for legal translation
The allotment of reasonable time sufficient for completion of a legal translation results from a clear understanding of the complexity of the legal translation process. The legal translator follows a drafting process similar to that of a lawyer(s) working with the original document. In addition to drafting, the legal translator must identify and apply the law and precedents of the target country and translate the text accordingly. Revisions then follow, requiring incorporation of the legal translator’s own revisions and those of the legal project team. Sufficient time for a legal translator is not significantly different than that of the document drafter. Even if a legal translation is considered as an “informational” version of the original document, it cannot be perceived as being inconsequential to a project’s success. Sufficient time is necessary for each professional legal translation.
Time for revision of the original document should not be extended so as to deduct from the time allocated to the legal translator. Project deadlines must consider the time required for legal translation, in consultation with the legal translator.
Establishing and maintaining reasonable deadlines for the legal translator
An essential element of providing the legal translator with sufficient time for legal translation is establishing and maintaining reasonable deadlines. The client is responsible for setting deadlines, communicating them and ensuring adherence.
Changes in project deadlines should be immediately communicated to the legal translator and will necessarily impact the legal translator’ work schedule. The shortening of project deadlines will mean that the legal translator will have insufficient time to complete a legal translation and that any legal translation in progress will have to stop.
Additional uses for legal translations
Once a legal translation has been completed, additional steps may be necessary prior to its use in a multinational project. Transactions between persons or entities of differing nationalities may require executing, and appending, target language legal translations. Judicial proceedings may require responding to, or filing, legal translations. In certain instances, these legal translations must be authenticated.
Certified (sworn) legal translations are legal translations whose accuracy is ensured by the legal translator. The legal translator accepts responsibility for the accuracy of the legal translation. The use of certified legal translations is often required in connection with official proceedings. These may include use in connection with judicial proceedings, for regulatory purposes and for similar official acts where legal translations are appended to a filing. Common uses also include litigation and arbitration documents and financial filings. Certified status is granted by a certifying body – such as a court – and the legal translator’s stamp affixed to the legal translation. Depending upon the nature of the intended use, a notarized certificate of accuracy issued by a legal translator known to the client may often be substituted for certification.
An apostille is a form of document authentication permitting a document’s recognition internationally in countries signatory to the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961 abolishing the requirement for the legalization for foreign public documents. Non-signatory countries must follow the destination country’s document authentication procedures. The apostille only certifies the authenticity of the document’s origin (that the signature of the submitting party is authentic) and does not address the document’s contents. It is intended to simplify the process by which a document issued in a signatory country can be certified for legal purposes in another signatory country. Under certain circumstances, regional agreements and conventions (for example, among countries of the European Union) may eliminate the legalization requirement. The issuing body is typically a high court or a qualifying governmental official (an embassy or consulate), varying by jurisdiction. The destination country may have prerequisites for recognition of the document of non-signatory countries, such as the submission of a legal translation of the document in question.
Letters rogatory are formal written requests from courts in one country to the courts of another country. They request the performance of an act which, if performed without the approval of the foreign court, could constitute a violation of that country’s sovereignty. They are often used to accomplish service of process or obtain evidence in litigation (including obtaining responses to written interrogatories and taking depositions in judicial proceedings) outside of the originating country. Letters rogatory and any accompanying documents must be translated into the official language of the recipient country. The legal translator executes an affidavit as to the validity of the legal translation before a notary. A certified legal translation is not required.
Tools utilized by legal translators
Two legal translation tools are indispensable for legal translators participating in multinational projects:
Ø a glossary, and
Ø a style guide.
Project Glossaries
The project glossary is a multi-columned document providing side-by-side source language and target language(s) legal translation of certain terms which will be frequently used for a project by the legal team and the legal translator(s). The glossary is project specific. It may be prepared on an Excel spreadsheet or with special software. The glossary should be prepared so as to be useable by and accessible to lawyers and legal translators alike. It is organic and updated / revised throughout the course of a project. It helps to ensure consistency in the use of terminology throughout the legal translation(s) by each participant.
The glossary is prepared with the participation of the project’s lawyers and the legal translator(s). It includes the client’s preferred legal translation of terms of art and terms specific to its’ business operations, trade usages and industry. The designated contact person can be delegated responsibility for the glossary’s compilation and preparation.
A style guide is just that: it governs what is visually reflected in the legal translation. It is a one-off and therefore may be used for multiple projects. A lawyer should review and verify the final product to ensure that it follows established systems of citations and format. A frequently used style guide is The Chicago Manual of Style, published by the University of Chicago. Similar guides and general subject matter glossaries are available in many jurisdictions.[5] The style guide includes (i) proper citation style (known in the United States as blue booking) and (ii) general formatting and design styles. For large, multilingual legal translation projects involving multiple legal translators, a style guide applicable to all helps to foster consistency. For these legal translation projects, the legal translation project manager supplies the style guide to be used.
Machine, AI legal translation – Is it an Option?
Yes, in certain instances, in conjunction with an experienced document reviewer. Human intervention is essential. This professional must have knowledge of the source and target languages and, ideally, subject matter knowledge to effectively review the machine legal translation. A machine legal translation cannot interpret the use of specific terminology, independently reason or incorporate the nuance of legal concepts. There is no guarantee of its accuracy. No recourse or penalty is available to the client for a poor legal translation. The reviewer generally vouches for its accuracy.
Two models of machine legal translation can be used for reference.
Created twenty years ago, Trados provides access to multiple platforms used by thousands of legal translators, from freelance linguists to large global legal translation companies. It is a computer-assisted legal translation (CAT) tool permitting effective collaboration between the legal translator and the client. In addition, Trados fosters the streamlining, centralization and management for localization – the task of translating documents of global groups into the languages where operations exist. Trados has hundreds of supported languages, including language dialects and lesser-used languages, as diverse as Greenlandic (Greenland), Koyra Chiini (Mali), and Khmer (Cambodia) among hundreds of others. 120 English-language dialects are supported by Trados for both source and target-language documents. Document formatting also results from the use of Trados. Available by license, new versions of Trados are available each year for an additional fee, including new functionalities, and, recently, the use of AI.
Legal translations are derived from the legal translator’s bi- or multi-language legal translation memory (TM), a file or database containing target language text (or segments) derived from previously translated documents. Glossaries and compendiums prepared by a client, in conjunction with compendiums from official sources, can be downloaded and incorporated by use for legal translations. Once the source language document is downloaded into the system, all matching legal translations are automatically applied. The legal translator only needs to translate non-matched text or segments. The use of Trados can effectively accelerate legal translation time if used with reliable TMs or glossaries.
Founded in 2009, also in Germany, DeepL is a machine legal translator provider (MT). It supports 28 languages. Powered by neural networks and the latest AI innovations, it provides confidentiality of data and encryption of workflow. DeepL supports all Microsoft platforms (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF files) and websites (helpful for localization of documents of multinational companies). It allows for the use of the legal translator’s glossaries and includes the option of a formal or informal tone of the legal translator (perhaps the difference between emails to colleagues or correspondence to clients). Its artificial intelligence focuses on text generation.
Machine legal translation post editing (MTPE) by a human has emerged as a specialty service in response to the use of machine legal translations. MTPE provides for review, editing and proofreading of machine-generated legal translations, ensuring that the machine legal translation accurately reflects the contents of the original text. Many legal translators are adding MTPE as an additional service offered. Even if a client opts for machine legal translation for reasons of expediency, post-editing review is required by the users of the service, whether legal translators, lawyers, or other professionals. A lawyer should not use an unreviewed machine legal translation when advising a client. In some instances, summary legal translations of documents generated by MT might be an appropriate alternative. In all events, the involvement of a skilled human is required.
Supervised use of machine legal translations may be appropriate to expedite the legal translation of high volumes of documents, such as those necessary for legal and financial filings, reporting and litigation.
It should be noted that many skilled legal translators continue to perform manual legal translations, without using machine-assisted tools.
Legal translations of foreign texts and glossaries
The importance and need for legal translators are global. Legal translators are essential to the functioning of national, regional and international institutions and communities (for example, the United Nations, World Bank, World Trade Organization, European Union, African Union) and judicial systems (for example, those of the courts of the European Union and the Permanent Court of Arbitration) and, consequently, to the fluency in the conduct of international business transactions. National statutes and judicial decisions are often translated into English, which is perceived as the lingua franca for international participation. Counsel by international lawyers to clients includes advice as to legal strategies, avoidance of exposure and protection of industrial/intellectual property, among others which is assisted by the use of legal translations or legal translation summaries. They provide guidance and address questions arising as to the legal, and competition, taxation and labor law aspects and the consequences of establishing an entity in a new foreign jurisdiction. Expansion of brands into global markets relies upon localization.
In Japan, the Japanese Law Legal translation website of the Ministry of Justice provides unofficial legal translations and a bi-lingual glossary of legal terminology for informational purposes. Recent content included the June 7, 2024 finalized legal translation of the order for enforcement of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.[6] A 2022 English-language version of the Brazilian Civil Code, which entered into force in 2023, covers areas as diverse as individual and property rights, family rights and succession rights. Of particular interest to the international business lawyer, it includes provisions allowing for greater flexibility in corporate decision-making and relating to limited liability companies, frequently used in Brazil.[7]
Who qualifies as a legal translator? What is the difference between a legal translator and a lawyer-linguist?
There are no specific requirements for being a legal translator. Apart from court certification bodies, as discussed above, organizations such as the American Legal translators Association and NAATI certify general legal translators meeting their requirements. Many legal translators have completed and obtained degrees from legal translation educational programs. There is no specific certification to perform legal translations. Legal translators identifying as lawyer-linguists are legal translators who are, or have been, admitted to the practice of law, or for some, have graduated from law school.
Selection of an effective legal translator fitting the needs of the international business lawyer
Legal translation is a specialty area of general legal translation. In addition to linguistic proficiency, legal translation involves navigating various judicial systems, understanding cultural subtleties, and faithfully rendering legal content in another language. The legal translator must have a solid legal background, in-depth knowledge of the legal systems of the countries concerned, as well as a good understanding of the cultural context. A quality legal translation requires meticulous attention to detail, the ability to understand and correctly interpret legal terminology, and the ability to translate these concepts in a way that is clear and comprehensible to the target audience. For example, for the much-used French “procédure en référé,” do not refer, as a literal reading would suggest, to “referee procedures,” but rather to an important tool for interlocutory injunctive relief in business litigation, known as “summary proceedings” or “emergency proceedings”. The terms of the legal translation must mirror those of the original document, as written, without modification. As an example, although the French “comité d’entreprise (“works council”) no longer exists in France, having been replace by the “comité social et économique” (“social and economic committee”), the terminology used in the original document is to be used, not updated and without modification.
Global legal translation companies provide legal translation services for a large array of languages, with various levels of vetting of legal translators. Local legal translation services and freelance legal translators exist in most countries and are always a good alternative.
When choosing a legal translator, if the legal translator is unknown and not referred to the client, verification of qualifications and references might prove useful. In some instances, you might want to ask to see samples of the legal translator’s previous work and verify references to assess their competence and reliability. This gives the client an idea of the quality of the legal translator’s work and their ability to meet the client’s specific needs.
A General Guide to Legal translation Fees
The legal translator translates documents from the source language into the target language. Fees for a standard legal translation are calculated on the basis of each source word to be translated and are higher than for general legal translation. Legal translation rates applicable to specialty areas, such as life sciences and patents, usually command higher rates. The legal translator should translate only into his/her native language, with recognized dialects; for example, English US, English UK, French (France), French (Canadian), Chinese (Traditional Hong Kong and PRC)). Other factors affecting the legal translation rate are the complexity of the document to be translated, fees for additional services required (for example, for urgent requests, and certified legal translations) and the expertise/experience of the legal translator.
For large legal translation projects, a discounted per word fee can often to be negotiated, and an aggregate fee determined. Average fees often reflect the expertise of the legal translator, and not include certification and urgent legal translation rates. Rates do vary from country to country. Legal translation rates for lesser used languages and dialects might be higher. On occasion, legal translations are quoted on a per page basis, regardless of the number of words on a page. Document editing and proofreading (including MTPE) is generally priced on an hourly basis. Fees charged by legal translation agencies are generally higher than those charged by a qualified independent legal translator. In legal translation, a low fee quotation often corresponds to the quality of the legal translation to be delivered.
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The importance of accurate, precise and flawless legal translations is well known to lawyers with multinational legal practices. The legal translator’s goal is to (i) provide high quality professional legal translation, (ii) be consistent with the client’s instructions, and (iii) fully meet the client’s expectations. When this occurs, the legal translator has established his or her contribution to the success of the project.
Barbara J Macon
Revised September 2024
[1] MacDonald, Fiona, “The Greatest Mislegal translations Ever,” BBC Culture, February 2, 2015
[2] O’Connor v. Oakhurst Dairy, US Court of Appeals (1st Circuit, May 13, 2017)
[3] MacDonald, Fiona, The Economist, June 17, 2021
[4] For purposes of this article, “source language” refers to the language of the original text and “target language” refers to the language into which a document is translated.
[5] https://commission.europa.eu/resources-partners/legal translation-and-drafting-resources/guidelines-legal translation/language-specific-information-translating-english_en; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_style_guides
[6] Japanese Law Legal translation (japaneselawlegal translation.go.jp)
For more information, visit:
Transjuridique | French – English Legal Translations in Paris https://www.transjuridique.com/
Specialists in legal translation in Paris. Reliable French-English legal translation services. Your partner in overcoming language barriers.
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