Lost in translation – the top five mistakes

Law firms today are increasingly interacting with a broader range of clients across the world. Of course, technology means the world is a smaller place too, and tools such as video calling and Google Translate mean that communication is easier and faster than ever before.

However, in our experience, this has created problems for lawyers who jump into a matter  without properly considering the nuances and distinctions which can make translation, especially related to law, a careful and tricky business. As legal translation specialists, these are the top five mistakes we regularly see:

1.       The nuances are neglected. We’ve seen this time and time again: when Amazon launched in Sweden it was the victim of some disastrous automatic translation taken from listings on other European versions of the site. Mistakes ranged from  nonsensical,  torude and lewd. Mistakes like this can cause reputational damage – and huge legal headaches. For instance, one company selling a product in a new jurisdiction had translated the ingredients list. Cocoa powder was on the label – except it was mistranslated into a version of cocoa powder that was not an approved ingredient in that particular jurisdiction. Although it wasn’t technically incorrect in terms of understandability, it wasn’t on the Agricultural Ministry’s approved list. Just one word can have huge legal and financial implications. You can’t rely on machine translation to get the nuances right. Local knowledge and input is often required.

2.       A language isn’t global. Often, a legal team will assume Castilian Spanish can be used and treated the same if they’re dealing with any Spanish-speaking country such as Mexico or Chile. However, the languages can have very specific regional variations which means a straight translation simply doesn’t work. Equally, legal systems are also different and this can also have an impact on the language used. Simply translating a document line-by-line rarely works. Instead, it requires a more bespoke and strategic approach.

3.       Forgetting about data laws. Much has been written recently about the transformative power of language-based artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT. As such, many legal teams are in the process of exploring their potential. However, using a tool such as ChatGPT or Google Translate for legal work can inadvertently cause a confidentiality or GDPR breach. ,Lawyers need to be incredibly careful about using these tools for any translation work, given the risk of exposing sensitive client information (not to mention the risk of the translation inaccuracy).

4.       Mistaking translation and interpretation If a matter involves more than one language, the chances are, it will require translation (written), interpretation (spoken), and transcription (spoken to written). Therefore, it’s essential you have the support of a linguist (be it a translator, interpreter, or transcriptionist) who understands not only the subtle nuances in language, but in culture too. Equally, an interpreter with specific legal knowledge of the jurisdictions involved is essential as this means nothing important is lost when interpreting complex legal terms.