Earlier we’ve blogged about the ethical challenges for bilingual attorneys who attempt to provide translation and interpretation services to their foreign-born clients. Numerous ethical questions may arise in the opposite situation as well, when an English-speaking attorney, who doesn't speak the client's language, represents a non-English-speaking client.
Legal document translations protect non-English-speaking consumers from entering into business transactions they don’t understand. The Consumer Protection for New Californians Bill of 2004, for example, was designed to protect foreign language speakers from being tricked into signing contracts and other legally binding agreements that they cannot understand, or that are not accompanied by a foreign language translation. Specifically, the bill required certain businesses to provide translation of contracts into the four major Asian languages: Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
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Foreign language document translation plays an important role in international adoptions. According to many adoption laws, such as the law in the State of Virginia, a parent cannot bring a collateral action asserting extrinsic fraud in order to set aside an adoption after six months from the date the adoption has passed. However, at least one Court of Appeals has held this type of statute to be unconstitutional when applied to a foreign language speaker. And the lack of foreign language document translation was the deciding factor in that case.
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Translation of court documents into the languages of non-English-speaking defendants plays an important role in federal criminal cases, and in the process of courtroom translation at large. It is common to provide every non-English speaking defendant with a translation of the Indictment.
Although there is no set rule as to whether or not an employment contract, or Employee Handbook, or Employee Manual, or Employee Guide need to be translated into the employee’s language- it’s simply good practice to do so.
Several jurisdictions have held if an employee cannot understand the Employee Handbook, or Employee Manual, due to an inability to understand or read English, then the terms of the Employee Handbook are unenforceable.
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According to Federal Regulations, informed consent must be received from all patients and subjects prior to performing medical treatment or testing. All information pertaining to informed consent must be presented in writing and in a language understandable to the individual. If the individual is a non-English speaker, all informed consent documentation must also contain a foreign language translation
Bankruptcy proceedings are difficult for any individual and any business. They can be even more burdensome for non-English-speaking debtors due to the language and cultural barriers. The Department of Justice helps the non-English speakers by providing Vietnamese translation, Hmong translation, Tagalog translation, Korean translation, Chinese translation, French translation, Arabic translation, and Spanish translation of Bankruptcy Information Sheet on its Web site.
There are two types of statements available on U.S. Department of State’s Web site, which have been translated into 17 foreign languages, and can be shown to foreign detainees.
They include: Arabic translation; Cambodian translation; Chinese translation; Creole translation; Farsi translation; French translation; German translation; Italian translation; Japanese translation; Korean translation; Laotian translation; Polish translation; Portuguese translation; Russian translation; Spanish translation; Thai translation; and Vietnamese translation.
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Thanks to US Department of Justice, your foreign-born clients can find Arabic translation, Cambodian translation, Chinese translation, Farsi translation, French translation, Haitian Creole translation, Hmong translation, Hindi translation, Korean translation, Laotian translation, Punjabi translation, Russian translation, Spanish translation, Tagalog translation, Urdu translation, Vietnamese translation of “Federal Protections Against National Origin Discrimination” brochure here.
A new report by the Equal Rights Center, which was referenced in American Observer, alleges that D.C. residents, who speak limited English, are not getting enough Amharic translations and Amharic interpreting, Chinese translations and Chinese interpreting, Korean translations and Korean interpreting, Spanish translations and Spanish interpreting, and Vietnamese translations and Vietnamese interpreting.
It's not always possible for attorneys to be fluent in the languages of foreign-born clients. Fortunately, professional translators and interpreters help overcome language-related difficulties in the courtroom and beyond.
Attorneys, representing foreign-born clients, should always look for the opportunities to reach out to their culturally diverse clients in their languages. Multilingual translations of many government publications make this task easy. The USCIS, for instance, offers Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Arabic, Tagalog, Portuguese, French, Haitian-Creole, and Spanish translations of "Welcome to the United States: A Guide for New Immigrants".