Domestic law firms are looking to expand their footprint globally. With the advancement in technology and data security forming international mergers, acquiring new ways of practicing law, and joining hands with foreign counsel has become a clear-cut task.
Granting it is not a new concept, and with the help of the Internet, globalisation is having a moment in the legal world and it is allowing firms to tap into new potential markets. However, no matter how access friendly matters become online there is simply no point until you are able to channel your message to the native audience. This can especially be challenging in the world of legal translation. Therefore, more firms are turning to the help of professional legal translation services for all their legal document translations.
What is Legal Translation?
In the world of legal translation, is the translation of texts within the field of law. As the law is a culture-dependent subject field, the work of legal translation and its products are not necessarily linguistically transparent. There are a plethora of documents that require the special attention of translators.
· Personal identity, individual record and social status papers that legally establish the education or work or identity of an individual. These documents include references or work testimonials, police reports, educational certificates or diplomas, birth certificates, divorce decrees, and others.
· Court documents that detail trials or penal proceedings, the translation of which is often requested for international judicial assistance cases. Translators must be able to distinguish between the systems of civil and criminal proceedings, as these are not the same despite the terminologies being similar.
· Trade contracts approved by foreign courts; these are necessary for the selling of goods or the granting of a trade license. A company looking to do business in a foreign country must have its Shareholder Books or Articles of Incorporation translated on top of its commercial registration documents.
· International treaties that apply the rule of international law, rules and regulations in the signatory countries. Because the original language document must have the same legal effect as its official translation in a second language, legal translators here must make sure the text in the target language accurately and transparently conveys the same legal effects in practice.
The Challenges
Like translators in every sector, when providing legal translation services, translators are required to hone in on a wide variety of skill sets. Every tenor, nuance, transcript of the intended text, has to be carried over precisely by a legal translator. These are some of the complex obstacles often faced by a legal translator:
· The Law System – This is often the biggest concern faced by legal translators. Each country draws its law from documents that were written a very long time ago, i.e. The United States Constitution. Being able to properly reference and navigating the wording and meaning of such documents that lay the foundations of a country is a normal day’s work for any legal translator.
· The Legal Terminology – What do you do with words that simply become “untranslatable”? When translating legal documents from another language often legal translators come across words that pertain to a certain nation’s law. Once again, we can see an example of this in the American legal system with the term “habeas corpus,” a term that is nearly impossible to translate to any other native language.
· Literal Tone and Meaning – While translating most documents can be as simple as transcribing word by word in legal translation this is not the case. In legal translation instead of the literal meaning, you need to transcribe the documents in legal terms in the language of the target audience. As each language carries different tones, i.e. some languages are presented in passive voices and while others are active, ensuring the message is conveyed clearly and concisely without changing the original meaning.
Why TW Languages?
Given the complexity involving legal translations, it is imperative that you choose a company that caters to your individual needs. For nearly two decades, we have provided “business to business” language service for our clients. At TW Languages, we propose a one-stop-shop for all your legal document translation services. We make it our mission to hire native translators that are equipped with the knowledge of the native culture making the localisation of your company that much easier. We are constantly setting new standards for our new hire translators by setting minimum requirement guidelines, such as, carrying a degree in the study of linguistics and having a five-plus year experience in professional translating, we ensure we congregate a world-class team.
We never fear down from a challenge, therefore, no matter the size of your entity we handle it with the same level of professionalism across the board. At TW Languages, we have certain unique benefits that other translation companies cannot offer, such as:
· We are ISO 17100 certified
· Our company is a member of the ATC (Association of Translation Companies)
· We provide legal document translation services in more than 250 languages
· We have our translators complete a ‘Belbin self-perception’ questionnaire, which serves as a motivational tool to ensure staff development.
In Conclusion
The world of legal translation is an ever-changing one, where a change in the law in one nation can have rippling effects globally. To address a global audience requires the needs of language experts who can adhere to the many different languages. By using the expertise of a professional translator, you allow your company to obtain a local niche with a native audience. More so, by using a professional legal document translation service you tell your clients that you take the matters of your company seriously and have the best product in the market.
At TW Languages, we value your time; therefore, we offer our clients instant quotations for projects that might demand a sense of urgency. For further details and specifications on how we can help you obtain all your business goals contact the friendly experts in our sales department today.
