Translating Documents for Court

WHY ACCURATE LEGAL TRANSLATION MATTERS IN AUSTRALIAN COURTS

When working with international clients, especially in technical or cross-border litigation, accurate translation is critical. Australian courts require all foreign-language documents to be translated by NAATI-accredited translators, not by in-house bilingual lawyers. Fiona explains why consistent terminology, context-sensitive phrasing, and qualified interpreters can make or break a case—especially when witness evidence and complex technical language are involved.

In this episode, Fiona discusses:

• why in-house translations aren’t accepted in Australian courts
• the difference between NAATI translators and interpreters
• how consistent terminology strengthens legal documents
• challenges with ambiguity in translation
• why involving translators early improves outcomes

VIDEO SCRIPT

Today’s topic is not so much relevant to working with clients in the UK, but it is one I touched on a few episodes ago. Working with a translator. Our work with our continental clients often involves the use of translators and interpreters. Every court in Australia requires all documents that come before it in a foreign language to be translated by a NAATI accredited translator.

The translator must swear an affidavit attaching his or her qualifications, which is filed with the court annexing all translations that are to be relied on. South, for example, whilst there are lawyers in our firm who speak fluent German and Italian and who often prepare translations in house, the court will not accept a translation by any one of our lawyers as a substitute for a NAATI accredited translator, even though of course it is much cheaper.

The accuracy of a translation is of course, really important. In particular, the consistent translation of terminology across all translated documents in one set of proceedings makes a huge difference to the quality of the translations and their overall usefulness in understanding the factual matrix of the evidence. This is especially the case in technical cases where there is complex technical language in English and this language is used to explain the operation of complex machinery or the working parts of machinery.

It is important to find a translator who is willing to invest the time to understand the technical evidence. Just as we lawyers have to get our heads around the complexity of this technical evidence, so too a translator must get on top of it in both languages and be able to use the terminology consistently across all translations.

 

We work with the most wonderful NAATI accredited translation for our German language translations. In every technical matter he works on for us, he prepares a Dictionary of terms so that he can be consistent in his translation of each term across all documents that need to be translated. These can include affidavits, emails, technical manuals, and scientific reports. He then often checks the translations with industry experts in both languages to ensure that they are words that each the each of the experts would use for those various terms and processes in their native language. This ensures consistency and accuracy when going between both languages.

A second common translation issue that frequently arises is where a sentence could have several possible meanings. This can lead to mistranslation when the full context is not understood. It is important to use a translator who is aware of the potential of this kind of issue and appreciates the importance of getting it right. Our translators, for example, will come back to us to check any potential ambiguity. Sometimes the correct meaning is obvious to someone who understands the full factual matrix, but other times the translation needs to incorporate both possible meanings and it needs to be left to the court to decide which meaning it prefers.

A third issue. When it comes to our witnesses giving evidence in court, we try to use the same person who carried out the translation so that the language remains consistent with the translation of their affidavits. It is important to be aware that interpretation is a separate naughty qualification from translation, so it is worth checking that the translator that you choose to translate your court documents also has the relevant naughty accreditation for interpretation.

 

Finally, whilst it is important that your translator and interpreter remain neutral in their translations, at the same time you do not want them to come to the matter cold. You will always get a better translation, and their job of interpreting will be made a lot easier the more that they are immersed in the factual matrix of the matter. The most accurate translation will always be of greatest assistance to the court and will always be of greatest assistance to your case.