Translating legal documents needs accurate and correct translation and is one of the most difficult among all translation work. As law is a culture dependent subject field, legal translation is not a simple task. Only professional translators specializing in legal translation should translate legal documents and scholarly writings. The need and the demand for high-quality legal translation services are greater than ever before. Here are the tips for translating legal documents:
Take into legal and cultural differences: It is important to take note of legal, cultural or religious differences when translating into another language so that you don't produce illegal or offensive text unwittingly. For example, Chinese Advertising Law prohibits any advertising from using the words 'the highest level', 'the best' or 'state-level'. So when translating into Chinese, you must pay special attention not to produce illegal text.
Review the source document: As you review the source document, check for typos, grammatical errors, and ambiguous language. If you find confusing sections in the source document, collect the necessary reference materials, style guides and glossaries for the translator. If these won’t suffice, contact the client.
Beware of expansion and contraction factors: When translating into other languages from English there is often an increase or decrease in the word count, known as the 'expansion factor' or 'contraction factor'. For example, when translating from English to Russian the word count increase is roughly 30%. Conversely, many Asian languages use scripts that require less space than English.
Be careful with colloquial expressions and puns: When translating, it is important to maintain the same style and level of writing as in the source language. Take particular care with colloquial expressions, puns and metaphors. If they are translated word for word they will make little sense, therefore it is best to translate the overall meaning, which is where a professional translator over a machine translation will definitely come in handy.
Check the Document requirements: Some legal documents are needed to be notarized.Some others may simply need it to be translated by a trustworthy translator. Thus, it is important to identify the needs of the document.
The above mentioned tips will not only help in selecting an appropriate legal document translation service for you or your company, but will also help you indirectly to create accurate legal document that can be used in the future.
Take into legal and cultural differences: It is important to take note of legal, cultural or religious differences when translating into another language so that you don't produce illegal or offensive text unwittingly. For example, Chinese Advertising Law prohibits any advertising from using the words 'the highest level', 'the best' or 'state-level'. So when translating into Chinese, you must pay special attention not to produce illegal text.
Review the source document: As you review the source document, check for typos, grammatical errors, and ambiguous language. If you find confusing sections in the source document, collect the necessary reference materials, style guides and glossaries for the translator. If these won’t suffice, contact the client.
Beware of expansion and contraction factors: When translating into other languages from English there is often an increase or decrease in the word count, known as the 'expansion factor' or 'contraction factor'. For example, when translating from English to Russian the word count increase is roughly 30%. Conversely, many Asian languages use scripts that require less space than English.
Be careful with colloquial expressions and puns: When translating, it is important to maintain the same style and level of writing as in the source language. Take particular care with colloquial expressions, puns and metaphors. If they are translated word for word they will make little sense, therefore it is best to translate the overall meaning, which is where a professional translator over a machine translation will definitely come in handy.
Check the Document requirements: Some legal documents are needed to be notarized.Some others may simply need it to be translated by a trustworthy translator. Thus, it is important to identify the needs of the document.
The above mentioned tips will not only help in selecting an appropriate legal document translation service for you or your company, but will also help you indirectly to create accurate legal document that can be used in the future.
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