Is Legal Translation The Most Challenging Of All?

Legal translation certainly throws up a challenge to even the most experienced of translators and in this particular situation it really is fundamental that no aspect of the document is miscommunicated because it could lead to major repercussions, something which can put a huge amount of pressure on the translator. The translation of these kinds of documents is extremely difficult, you have to be one hundred per cent accurate, clear and avoid any ambiguities while ensuring that the document is perfectly understood to somebody from the target culture.

You will be faced with two main types of translation as a legal translator –documents such as contracts and other texts which although include legal terminology and content they are not legally binding.

There are many problems facing a translator working in legal translation services. Firstly the differences between legal systems, secondly terminology and finally managing to convey the points in a clear and concise way while staying neutral. It is for this reason that only trained specialist translators work in legal translation services.

If we were to take a look at the differences in law a translator may face if say they were translating between French and English they would immediately have difficulties. The French and English law systems are built from two completely different sets of rules which means that when they are translated it may mean that footnotes have to be added to explain the concepts. This goes hand in hand with the difficulties with terminology because one legal word may simply not exist as a direct translation in the target language - if the concept doesn’t exist why would there be a word for it.

These challenges make it even harder to be clear and concise which is so important when talking about legal translation. There are some instances where there is no other way but to provide an explanation to the terminology, this is generally done as a footnote so that it does not upset the flow of the document, and readers who do not grasp the meaning of a particular word can refer to the footnotes in the hope that this will make things clearer.

It often depends on the kind of document and who your target audience is as to whether you provide footnotes. In non-legally binding documents for instance they may be read by the wider public who have little knowledge of the different legal systems of the world – here explanations will be imperative.

Working in the legal translation service is certainly very different to any other sector of translating, you have to be clinical and methodical to make sure that the translation is to an extremely high standard.

By: Paul Smart

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Integro Languages are a UK-based translation agency providing a range of interpretation and translation services worldwide including legal translation services, marketing translation, and public sector translation services.