I was recently asked to prepare training and reference resources for translators working with the largest sharing economy company in the hospitality industry. More specifically, the client wanted me to draft the legal section of their translation style guide and to create a bilingual (English>Greek) glossary of legal terms.
As the client’s Legal Translation Lead, my main responsibility is to ensure that legal translations are up to par, even when provided by translators without a legal background. Admittedly, expecting perfect legal translations from non-lawyers is unrealistic for reasons I will explained in one of my next articles. Nevertheless, there are ways to help regular translators avoid some of the most common and glaring errors. In addition, it is important to help translators develop awareness around aforesaid complexities and nuances so that they can ask for assistance when they feel that they are way over their head.
The materials I created for the client were quite detailed and tailored to their specific needs (and for English>Greek translations). However, there are some general principles that apply to all legal translations and I thought I would share them here.
- Precision over elegance
Legal language needs to be very clear and precise. Approximate translations are not acceptable. The appropriate legal terminology and writing conventions must always be respected. Words must not be omitted without a good reason and even the order of words may be significant. Although a legal text must read as naturally as possible, priority must be given to precision rather than elegance.
2. Use functional equivalent of terms
English and American law belong to the common law system whereas Greek law (alongside French, German and Italian law, among others) belongs to the civil law system. Translating between English and a continental European language can be very tricky because certain terms do not have direct equivalents in the other language. Terminology conundrums are usually resolved by resorting to functional equivalents, a process which requires deep knowledge of law.
3. Beware of common words that have a separate, legal meaning
In the context of a legal document, various common words and expressions may have special meaning. Selecting the right term can be challenging. Example: The word “damages” usually implies something different from many instances of damage!
4. Expressions may have multiple meanings so make sure you know what the actual meaning is
Legal terminology includes words and expressions with multiple meanings. To make matters worse, those meanings may be entirely different depending on context. For instance, the word “defence” may have three different meanings in Greek (αντίκρουση, άμυνα, ένσταση). To provide an accurate translation, a translator needs to feel confident about meaning.
5. Respect legal writing conventions in the target language
Hate legal writing? I don’t blame you! Legal writing has its own, rather strict conventions and plenty of jargon to boot. Although the end result may seem dry and old-fashioned, translators must follow the conventions used by lawyers to convey the appropriate meaning. Think of it in linguistic terms as something like a dialect.
Legal writing often features long sentences. This is less of a problem in English. However, in Greek one may encounter sentences spanning an entire paragraph! Translators have to follow the rules of the target language while making an effort towards brevity.
On the flip side, English legal writing commonly includes doublets and triplets like “null and void” or “cancel, annul and set aside”. Repeating unnecessary words is the tell-tale sign of an inexperienced translator.
Capitalisation rules vary depending on country. Translators are advised to follow the rules and conventions of the target language.
Last but not least, translators need to abide by the terminological conventions in matters such as naming text sections (article, paragraph, section, appendix, annex etc.) or specific fields of law. For instance, GDPR terminology should not depart from the official terms employed by the EU.
Do you need help creating a legal translation style guide for your organisation? Please get in touch with me.