Legal foreign language translations tip 五: Do not hire a non-professional legal interpreter who is not even a native speaker of the foreign language in question.

Is your legal department speaking the same language as your multilingual clients? Poorly translated documents or sub-par court interpretation can change a case's outcome, injure a company's international reputation, and even elicit a class-action lawsuit. Your reputation is literally in your legal translator's hands - and an unqualified foreign language translator can bring upon disastrous results.

Strong multilingual communication requires flawless legal translation and interpretation from a qualified translator. If your law firm or legal department requires legal translation services, beware this common pitfall that can cost your business time, money and your valuable reputation:

Legal translation pitfall 1 - Not a native speaker? We'll hire you anyway.

Your brother-in-law who took four years of high school Spanish is not a qualified translator. Nor is your bilingual secretary prepared for possible translation pitfalls. Unfortunately, many legal departments rely on non-native speakers rather than qualified legal translation companies - and this decision can literally change a trial's outcome.

A 2003 article in the Rocky Mountain News illustrates the importance of a qualified court interpreter. Poor-quality interpretation destroyed the trial against Mohammad Naim Amini, a native of Afghanistan, who spoke Dari. His interpreter was an Iranian native who spoke Farsi, with "questionable" English skills. The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled the case was unfair, as Amini would not have understood the proceedings due to "garbled translation." The result - a new trial. All because of poor legal interpretation.

Why put your client's livelihood - and your legal case - at risk? It is dangerous to use a person who simply speaks the language to interpret in court if that person does not understand the court interpreter's role of being neutral and does not abide by the code of ethics of court interpreters.

Contact our legal translation firm today for a free foreign language legal translations or interpretation quote.