Risks and Consequences of Translator Errors in Legal Documents
Translating legal documents is a challenging task. Every error can have potentially devastating consequences. Just imagine that in our medical card, someone mistranslated your condition. That's why it is so important to hire professional medical translation services. However, it is not only the case of one field. Every legal document should be translated carefully and double-checked.
Below, you can find all the most dangerous risks and consequences of errors in legal documents like financial losses, loss of reputation, legal liability, and many more. Read on and minimize your risks as much as possible!
Potential loss of reputation
Losing your reputation can be devastating for your company. If consumers think that you don't care about their interests, they will not buy your product or use your services. Being out of business means that you could lose your entire financial security. Make sure that your company's reputation is well-protected by hiring professional translators and proofreaders.
Potential legal liability
Mistranslating legal documents can result in serious legal consequences, which can cost you a lot of money. For example, missing an important term or legal requirement in a contract can lead to big financial losses. Also, if you get sued, the plaintiff may claim that you intentionally omitted some crucial information from the translation and that it was done with malicious intent.
If you don't hire a translator with the
required qualifications and experience, he will probably make mistakes in the
translation, and the document will become invalid. In this case, you will be
held responsible for the mistakes and lose your good reputation.
Loss of financial security
You may lose your whole financial security if your company cannot hold up its end of the deal. If you sign a contract with another company, and there are mistakes or gaps in it, you will have to pay for them. Hire professional medical translators to translate medical records, insurance contracts, and other legal documents to make sure you don't spend thousands of dollars on repairing the damage.
Clients could claim that you falsified the translation
If you don't use a reliable translation service provider, it is possible that your clients will claim that the translation was falsified. Falsifying a translation is considered to be illegal and will not be tolerated by anybody. If you do this, you will lose your good reputation and face legal proceedings. If there is one mistake in a translation, people will assume that everything in it was false. It is very difficult to prove that something is true and accurate when there are no sources to confirm it. That's why you should always hire professional translators who have the required skills and experience so they can translate all of your legal documents accurately and reliably.
But how can you know whether your translation is real? You need to check several things: experience, qualifications (education), and references (testimonials). A professional translator should have at least one year of experience translating legal documents. Make sure that he or she holds at least a bachelor's degree in Translation, English, or another relevant field and has experience translating legal documents successfully in at least one field (like medical translation).
You can also check whether they work as an individual contractor or part of a translation agency - this way, you can be sure that they are legitimate professionals and can provide quality services and guarantee their accuracy.
Making a mistake in the proofreading stage could result in losing your entire financial security
Proofreaders must be experienced professionals who have worked with legal documents and possess excellent knowledge of specific terminology used in courts and law firms. In addition, make sure that they have excellent knowledge of grammar rules and know how to make adjustments when needed! Having proofreaders that are not familiar with legal terms or have no experience in translating legal documents is very risky because they might overlook some essential information as they don't recognize important words used in courts and law firms They might also misunderstand some crucial phrases like "subject to change" or "in force until further notice" because they do not possess enough knowledge about certain issues discussed in legal texts.
Hiring professionals who have knowledge about legal terminology and experience translating legal documents is very important! Such professionals can easily spot mistakes made by other translators when proofreading important legal documents.
In Conclusion
Cutting corners when it comes to having your legal documents translated can result in devastating consequences. Your business's reputation will suffer, and it could also cost you financially. Be sure to use a professional translation agency with a solid track record for all of your legal translations.