Not a good idea to use the internet to translate foreign contracts

Business technical translations produced at TW Languages include contracts, you will know when dealing with lawyers, barristers etc., that the terminology used is specific to this industry and therefore legal translations are costed accordingly.  It’s always an apprehensive time signing any contract and even more so if the contract is in another language. We usually suggest to our clients that the translated contract can be in a format that is side-by-side with the original source contract. This will ensure that all parties will be on the ‘same page’ when discussing the finer detail of the contract.

The following article highlights some of the implications when the ‘smallprint can be missed if using the internet to translate a contract.

Overseas homebuyers are running into problems because they try to cut costs by using the internet to translate foreign contracts. Those who don’t want to pay for an official translator are increasingly relying on online services to help them understand legal documents in Spanish, French or Greek.  But these services are only meant for rough translations, and can mean users miss nasty bits of smallprint.

Lost in translation: Misunderstandings in contracts could end up costing homebuyers more than expected.

Some buyers who signed Spanish contracts lost their homes because they were built on illegal land. Foreign property expert Simon Conn says: ‘Some people might think they can save money by using a free translation service. But misunderstandings in the contracts could end up costing people a lot more.’

In one example the Spanish word ‘censos’ appeared in a document. This normally means ‘survey’ but here meant ‘leasehold’, so the buyer was locked into a contract completely different to the one they had wanted.

The above article is from MONEY MAIL (published: 09:11, 28 May 2014 | UPDATED: 09:24, 28 May 2014)