Legal translations are already known as a field in translation that possesses a complex characteristic that requires thorough research and documentation. This means that you’ll need to ensure that you have to master the skills and gain some experience before you take on this field professionally. Besides its specific terminology and jargon, learning to be a legal translator will give some difficulties that one must overcome.
For these challenges of legal translation, this article is trying to provide some ways to overcome them!
Knowledge about Legal Systems in Other Countries
The laws and legal standards in each country are unique. Not all common terms and legal jargon in your country exist or have the same meaning as others. As a result, your translators are required to have not only a good command of languages but also a deep understanding of both source and target countries’ legal systems.
Machine Translation Usage
Machine Translation is great for a quick and basic translation. However, when it comes to legally binding documents for legal usage, relying fully on the machine translation is NOT a wise decision. As we mentioned above, the legal systems of each country have their unique jargon and style. Unfortunately, machine translation does not understand these differences. Thus it can only provide you with a word-for-wording legal translation that can be confusing to readers or even wrongly expressed.
Legal Translation Glossary
Glossaries are very useful tools for legal translation projects since the legal terms often have different definitions and usages depending on their contexts. You may also need to translate from one language to another using different words. A glossary helps ensure the use of consistent terminology.
In case you don’t have a translation glossary yet, or you don’t know how to build one – you can always ask for help from your translation partners who can give you a typical basic legal translation glossary. You can start creating it yourself from this and then have your glossary reviewed by them later.
Setting Tight Deadlines
Legal translations require more than just translating words. Important factors such as differences between the laws of the two countries need to be taken into account. Many changes or adaptations must be done. You cannot expect to receive a legal translation within a day without sacrificing quality.
When receiving an urgent legal translation request, legal translation agencies may assign the task to more than one linguist. Even if the deadline can be met, the consistency may suffer. And of course, the price is double or triple that of a normal project. Don’t set an unrealistic deadline for your translation project. Make enough time to complete your translation project.
Working With Inexperienced Translators
Legal translators should understand the legal jargon used in the document being translated. Only translators who have been trained and work with different lawyers and law firms are qualified for your translation project.
All in all, this article tries to address common challenges in legal translations that can provide accurate and high-quality legal translations within a reasonable time frame.
