Legal translation is a certified translation that specializes in translating texts in the field of law. It requires a specialized legal or sworn translator in a certified translation office to do it and have it certified by the relevant government agencies.
Legal translation has attributes that distinguish it from other types of certified translations. Therefore, you must pay attention when choosing a legal translation office to translate your legal documents, due to the special characteristics of legal discourse, including style, terminology, wording, and the nature of the legal system in each country.
How to Specialize in Legal Translation Field
Legal texts translated from its source language to the target language requires legal certification by legal specialists. They shall issue a legal judgment that it is an approved and acceptable translation of the legal text, and it is valid to use it. Therefore, specialization in the field of legal translation requires the following:
Full knowledge and awareness of the laws and legal texts in the home country and the country to which it is translated as well.
The legal translator should be highly aware of what is known as “functional equivalence”. It is to translate the legal term with its legal equivalent in the source language to maintain the same legal effect. This is what distinguishes Alsun Translation Services Office from the rest of the legal translation offices in Cairo, Riyadh and Dubai.
Accuracy and sufficient skill in the linguistic and legal aspects by the translator. The text should be translated correctly, as a single error can result in severe consequences that result in financial losses or consequences related to the cases brought in the courts.
Experience and sufficient study of the languages, translation and law. Translation with an accredited translation office as legal translation cannot be done by a translator who does not have experience or international accreditation.
Fields of legal translation
The fields of legal translation are a lot. All official documents submitted to the concerned authorities in countries and require legal documentation and attestation fall under certified legal translation, such as the following: Forms of wills and covenants.
- Recordings of phone calls used as evidence, police investigations.
- Immigration documents, marriage certificates, and legal agencies.
- Court documents, contracts, complaints, judgments, sworn testimonies.
- Translation of passports, death certificates, birth certificates.
- Adoption papers, summonses, pleadings, partnership deeds, insurance policies.
- Trademarks, Copyright, Services Agreement, Warranty Instructions.
How to improve your legal translation skills?
If you are a legal translator or want to specialize in legal translation, Alsun Translation Services in Cairo recommends some steps for you to improve your translation skills.
Read bilingual legal books: to learn legal vocabulary and terminology in both Arabic and English and how to use them correctly in the context of translation, in addition to the different legal structures.
- Constant legal search: Every time you need to translate a certified legal translation document, you have to search in the law of the country you are translating to and its updates.
- Familiarize yourself with the new legal terminology in addition to the prevailing legal and linguistic terminology in the country to which it is being translated.
- Familiarize yourself with various terminology: The legal translator should be familiar with various legal terminology and should have a deep knowledge of the different legal systems that are within the scope of the documents being translated in order to be able to achieve functional equivalence between the language translated from and the language translated into.
- Language Proficiency: Language proficiency is the most important skill of a good legal translator and translator in general.
How to check the quality of a legal translation?
Legal translation is considered one of the most important types of translation due to the different laws from one country to another. Each legal field has different technical terminology.
However, there are some criteria that inform you that the legal translation you obtained is a good legal translation, such as:
The legal terms and the structure of the document is completely consistent with the original document.
Linguistic proofreading: the translated documents shall be reviewed and approved by a certified legal translator and a linguistics expert whose mother tongue is the target language.
Authentication of documents upon request so that they become valid according to the rules and laws of the country to which they are translated
Legal translation courses
As for translation courses in the field of legal translation, Alsun Translation Services Office recommends the following to you:
1. Free training course of the Translators Academy.
This course helps you know the most important skills of the professional translator in the modern era. It also presents the most important job opportunities available in the field of translation and the steps required to start working as a professional legal translator. For more information, click on this link.
2. Professional Diploma in Legal Translation and the United Nations of the American University in Cairo.
The American University offers a diploma specializing in legal translation, and it is considered one of the best places in Egypt, due to the international material offered in the diploma, in addition to the elite teaching you. The American University on the one hand opens the door for scholarship for this specialization every year, along with the Bar Association that offers a scholarship in cooperation with the American University in this specialization. For more information, click on this link.
Training courses
There are websites and training courses for specialization in legal translation
Here are the best websites that you can use to practice and polish your skills in good legal translation;
GLOSBE
The best free legal dictionaries
The best translation and legal translation sites.
It puts legal words in more than one context to choose the most appropriate context for translation.
POWER THESAURUS
It is free online thesaurus that provides more than one synonym and definition of a word for legal translation.
It is a site used to find spelling as well as grammatical errors in English texts.
It is a website that corrects and improves English grammar and spelling errors.
Are there dictionaries specializes in legal translation?
The dictionary is one of the most important and prominent tools that a language learner and translator need to become a professional translator. Here are the top 7 indispensable dictionaries for any legal translator.
- Dictionary Law: it is a free online dictionary designed and compiled to provide information about terms used in the field of law.
- Black’s Law Dictionary: It is an English-English dictionary that is the most widely used in the United States.
- Find Law Dictionary: it is a dictionary that includes the most important definitions and legal terms.
- Free Legal Documents: It is a site that contains a lot of free legal documents in English, both of which are legally advanced and easy to use, and you can download them.
- East Laws: It has exclusive content for the legislation of 18 countries, seven Arab emirates, and four foreign countries.
- LawInfo: A free online legal dictionary that helps understand legal terminology for businesses.
- Oxford English-Arabic Dictionary
Finally, if you want to get more experience about professional legal translation, feel free to contact us.
