The subject of translation is frequently encountered in the field of law as well as in many fields including literature, medicine, politics and science. Legal translation is the sum of interpretation or written translations that are made to actualize legal information exchange among the people of different languages (subject of this information is either law or act). The following subjects are included in the scope of the legal translation; law articles, legal negotiations, power of attorney, decisions of the court, warning, notification, letter of guarantee, petition, diploma, passport and land titles.
Legal translation should be done by a translator who is expert in the legal field or a translator who has been trained in this field. Because background information is required as well as language command in this respect, otherwise, mistakes to be made in such translations can lead to serious outcomes which may cause major complications. Legal translation is not without its challenges. First of all, it is necessary for the translator to have a certain background knowledge. Source text is organized according to another country’s legal system and the text in target language will be subjected to a different legal system, thus in order to use it in this system, appropriate words and terms must be used in this text and those words and terms must be selected by the translator.
There might be disconnections between the languages, therefore, in the absence of terms and equivalence between the source text and target language, the translator will consider the language differences and absence of terms. Also, the translator must successfully bridge this gap by using similar structures between the two languages and choosing terms that could give the closest meaning. Words that have more than a single meaning or that will create ambiguity should not be preferred, instead, legal terms must be used more widely. Following the completion of translation, proofreading must be done by a legal expert. Possible errors must be diligently reduced to zero not to the minimum and words that may create ambiguity must be avoided.
The individual who translates the legal document must have a knowledge in both languages and the legal system of both languages. Translators who is required to know the language of law and act must avoid errors and complete the translation bearing in mind that the issue is highly serious. Word-for-word translations made in the legal field may cause major mistakes. For this reason, it is important that these translation jobs should be made by someone who knows and interprets the laws well.
While the legal expert understands and interprets a law, the translator, on the other hand, should be able to successfully analyze the underlying meaning of the law while describing it. In cases where there are gaps between languages and sometimes terms are non-reciprocal in the target language, the translator should still do its best and present the most accurate translation. In addition to this, footer notes should be given about the subject and terms should be explained. In general, legal translation jobs are assigned to people having a good command of foreign languages, who have received a law training, because legal rules and development processes should be known well for two languages if the subject requires a legal translation. Therefore, these translation jobs require a great care.
The Importance of Legal Translation
When you are traveling to a country, you must submit the translations that have been prepared carefully and without errors to the institutions you apply to the legal institutions in order not to incur any legal loss in that country. These translation jobs are called legal translations. If the legal translation involves errors, this may cause you to lose your rights. Correctly made translations, on the other hand, could provide you with many benefits.
In the globalizing world, people can now easily access everything and everywhere. For this reason, foreign languages have gained importance. Globalization has brought not only the foreign language but also the field of law to a very important position. Rules of the law are the provisions that regulate the communication of people with each other or with the state and also communication between states.
Along with the development of technology, transportation opportunities are also advancing in the same direction. This has allowed people to travel from one city to another or from one country to another more easily and more quickly.
In this way, people travel to other countries both for sightseeing and business purposes. At this point, the importance of legal translation comes to the foreground. Legal translation is quite important for the protection of legal rights and does not incur any legal loss in a foreign country you are visiting.
Considerations for Legal Translation
Contrary to what many people think, translation is a very challenging task. Legal translations are also quite compelling. It is one of the most common translation fields. The considerations for legal translation are as follows;
- The legal sector should be examined in detail
- Not everyone can translate legal documents, and some characteristics are required in the person to undertake this job
- Legal translations must be attested by notary certified translation offices
- The prices for legal translation should be the same everywhere
- Persons who do legal translation jobs, although they are not authorized to act as legal translators, should be given a prison sentence
Legal translations, which are of great importance in terms of economy, are also important for law in maintaining an order between companies or between individuals.
Legal translations should be assigned to reliable translators. Feel free to question the legal translator you will be working with; try to learn about his/her previous work experience and the places where he/she has worked. It is important to submit the documents in full so that accurate translations can be offered.