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Legal Document Translation – Get it Right!

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Last Updated On: February 7, 2018

Considered by most translators as some of the most difficult documents to translate, are legal documents. You have to get it right when you translate from one language into another, but never more so than with translating legal documents.

Here in Australia, the legal translation of documents is just as important as anywhere else in the modern world, but fortunately, there are a number of excellent, professional translators who specialise in the legal translation of documents.

The key thing about legal documents is that they are often written in a specific text. Legal transactions involve using legal language. The business or organisation which needs to translate its legal requirements into or from English needs to be doubly sure that the legal document translation they are using has the required competence in the language as well as the specific legal language used in both the two countries that are involved.

Legal documents can involve relatively simple things such as birth certificates and marriage certificates which are almost always required to be translated when someone is applying for a job, education courses or migrating from overseas as well as more technical documents such as leases, business contracts, litigation documents, applications for resource consent, patent applications and financial statements.

It is best for the person or organisation who is seeking to get their documents translated to choose the company that does their document handling for them carefully. Preferably, a company that has legal experts in both languages should be chosen.

Legal document translation cannot be done word for word as the syntax, terminology and familiarity with the law need to be taken into consideration. Only an approved NAATI translator with legal experience should be trusted if documents have to be translated into or from English.