Legalized translation: requirements and benefits

Legalized translation involves a combination of translation and legalization, two services offered by agencies with translators who meet strict requirements. It is one of the major advantages of engaging these companies.

Legalized translation of sensitive documents, such as birth certificates or notary deeds, is a task that must be very carefully assigned. In addition to containing confidential, sensitive information, these texts include legal clauses that must be translated with the utmost precision.

It is therefore essential to choose the right professional As in other areas, in the language sector it is best to rely on experts in the field, i.e. translators who meet specific requirements.

Requirements

People often think that simply knowing languages is enough to be able to translate a text, but this is far from the case, especially if the document has to be legalized.

Those in need of a legalized translation should hire translators who meet the following requirements:

• qualification as a professional translator;
• specialization in the legal field;
• recognition by a competent body.

The first requirement may seem obvious, yet in order to save money, some people are still prepared to entrust translation of their documents to an acquaintance who happens to know languages. This, however, is not sufficient. A proficient translation requires extensive linguistic and cultural knowledge, as well as perfect mastery of the technological tools used in the language industry. These requirements are only met by those who have decided to make translation their profession and have trained for this purpose through years of study, dedication and experience in the field.

However, it is not enough to be a professional translator, a second requirement is needed to translate a legal document: specialization in the legal field. The process of translating a birth certificate is very different from that of translating a technical manual or a package insert. Each text fits into a very specific, vertical niche, so it uses a language of its own. Those who do legalized translation must possess a fundamental understanding of the relevant field, while also being familiar with its technical jargon.

These two requirements are accompanied by a third, namely, recognition of the professional’s status as a legal translator by a competent body. This may mean, for example, holding membership in the CTU (Court-Appointed Expert Witness) register of the court, in the local chamber of commerce or in professional associations of translators and interpreters.

Therefore, to obtain a high-quality legalized translation, you must hire a professional who meets all three of these requirements. Generally, these professionals work with professional translation agencies, which regard the aforementioned attributes as pre-requisites for establishing a working relationship. This is just one of the advantages of turning to a professional agency.

Benefits

Besides being able to count on the work of professional translators, relying on a translation agency provides another great advantage: obtaining a translation that is correct in every respect.

Indeed, the work cycle does not end with the translation, but continues with a series of checks performed on both the form and content of the translated document. With regard to the form, it is the proofreader who is responsible for these checks. This professional is a translator responsible for detecting any language errors and typos that may have slipped through in the first translation stage, so that they can be corrected. Meanwhile, the content of the translation is checked by the reviewer and subject matter expert. The former is a native-speaking translator who specializes in the document’s specific field, while the latter is not necessarily a translator, but an expert in the subject matter, so in this example it could be a lawyer or another legal expert. This check ensures that the original content has been transposed correctly and in an understandable, fluent manner for the target language speaker. Finally, there is the project manager, who oversees the entire translation cycle and performs an integrity and spot check on the final document, ensuring that everything has been done correctly.

Turning to an agency also offers major advantages in terms of time and expense. If a decision is made to hire multiple professionals, each for their particular area of expertise, it would be necessary to ensure that they possess the necessary skills to perform the job, to supervise their work, to clarify any doubts that may arise during the project, to ensure deadlines are met, and many other aspects. If, on the other hand, you hire an agency to translate and legalize a document, then all you need to worry about is specifying the desired delivery date. The agency will be responsible for selecting suitable professionals and supervising their work to ensure delivery of the legalized translation within the timeframe required by the customer.

At Way2Global, thanks to a team of native-language legal translators and an ISO 17100-certified work cycle, we support our customers with both translation and legalization, providing professional legalized translations within the specified deadlines.

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