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| [Prague library*] |
Translators, like countless other professionals, seek niches that offer
higher rates and provide some protection against incursion by new technology,
including ChatGPT. One tempting area of translation specialization is legal
documents, whose major challenge seems to be its terminology. This barrier can be overcome with a little time and effort. However, in practice, the requirements
for effective legal translation involve more than terminology and include actual
knowledge of the law, which is vital in the understanding, writing and QA of legal language. In other words, when choosing a legal translator, actual study
of the law should be a determining factor.
To clarify what I mean my study, the process can take on many forms, including
law school, guided course and informal study. Clearly, having completed law
school provides a clear advantage not only in terms of credentials but also
knowledge. The law school graduate has an understanding of the logic and
underpinning of legal reasoning. Even one year of law school, as I have,
provides a certain amount of preparation for legal translation as I generally
understand what the lawyer intends to say in the document. A person can also attain
this same knowledge through online courses and specialized YouTube video series
that cover specific legal topics in detail. Of course, unguided reading of law
books or even exposure to legal language through parents can also be effective.
In any case, the key is attaining accurate understanding of what contracts and
other legal document can and should say.
This knowledge is vital because attorneys, at least in theory, say what
they mean. It is the job of the legal translator, especially when working
across different legal systems, to transmit that content without fundamentally
adding or subtracting from it. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to
understand the explicit and hidden text. For example, the word shall in
English legal texts means to have a legal obligation, with no implication of
the future, while may indicates a legal option, not probability.
Likewise, the presence or absence of certain terms in US contracts, partially
regulated by the UCC and relevant law, has a completely different impact than
that same situation in civil code countries, where the contract essentially
expresses differences from the model in the relevant national codex. For
example, the absence of a termination date in a contract invalidates it in the
US but implies an automatically renewing contract in most European countries.
Even court systems vary significantly in terms of names and jurisdiction from
system to system and even country to country. The choice of the court name is
vital importance in understanding the document. Knowledge is key in
transmitting the intention of the writer.
Even with an understanding of the content, a legal translator should
produce a document in the correct style for the target audience. Each country
has its “legalese”, often characterized by foreign words, a formalized sentence
structure and fillers. For example, English uses Latin, active sentences and,
at least formally, strives to remove redundant terms. Legal Hebrew, by
contrast, distinguishes itself by using Aramaic words and quoting the Bible and
is marked by constant inflation in terms of the number of words in a decision.
French legal texts almost never use a “low” word when a sophisticated term is
available and seem to embrace ambiguity as an art form, at least in my opinion.
Thus, literal translation of a text, even if correct in terms of content, creates
a document suitable for understanding only with little resemblance to a proper
text in that language.
The knowledge of content and style come into the forefront when checking
the translation before submitting it to the customer. Generally, the last step
is a read-through of the text without looking at the source text. The purpose
of this stage is to identify logic errors, whether created by the writer or
translator, and improve style. Without knowledge of what should be, it is
impossible to achieve either of these goals. Simply out, a qualified legal
translator identifies logical and stylistic glitches in the text before sending
to the customer, where such errors can lead to serious consequences.
Some would argue that experience is equivalent to study. However, without
formal feedback, translators, like most people, tend to believe that “it sounds
good” because it sounds like what they have done for the last decade. Alas,
even if legal language were constant over time, experience only attests to efficiency,
not accuracy. As Steven Erikson wrote, “tradition is the last bastion of
fools”, or in the case of legal translators, just because nobody corrected an
error ten years ago does not necessarily it was ideal even at the time. There
is no replacement for proper study.
The need for translators to find a profitable niche has never been as
strong as today. Actual knowledge should guide this selection as discretion is
the better part of valor. Translators should avoid subject matter they don’t
understand in the same manner they avoid languages they have never studied. My
bank account and work schedule would be much fuller if I translated medical
material as my wife does but I have learned not to touch it as I really don’t
understand biology and medicine. Translators, like all professionals, should
work with their strengths both in terms of language and content. For those
interested in becoming legal translators, the best strategy is first gain
knowledge of law because the results will generally reflect understanding.
* Picture captions help the blind fully access the Internet.
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