Translation For Lawyers

When a will is written entirely in a foreign language or uses foreign words, issues of determining the testator’s intent may arise. According to the decision of Lowenthal v. Rome, a mere foreign language translation of the foreign language term is not enough to determine intent as the court has a duty to determine the testator’s intent by “looking at the language in the light of the surrounding circumstances.” 57 Md. App. 728, 471 A.2d 1102 (Ct. App. 1984).

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As more companies are offering automated translation software programs (also known as "automatic translation", or as "machine translation") that provide foreign language translations aimed at doing away with the need for competent human language translations, done by professional translators, the issue of this evidence’s admissibility is a rather new question of law.

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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.

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As an Intellectual Property attorney you have a duty to ensure your client's property is protected from copyright and trademark infringements both in the United States and abroad. To do this, you must advise your client to seek foreign patents.

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It is a longstanding rule of law in the United States that a will does not have to be written in English in order to be submitted to probate. According to Heupel et. al. v. Heupel et. al., “In the absence of a statute to the contrary, it is not necessary that a will be written in English or any particular language.” 174 P.2d 850 (OK 1946).

Thus, unless a statute states to the contrary, as long as the will satisfies all other jurisdictional requirements, including being written, testified to and witnessed, a foreign language will may be submitted for probate.

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According to the Federal Rules of Evidence, the Best Evidence Rule requires that no evidence be admitted unless it is the best that the nature of the case will allow. However, when such evidence as electronic discovery documents are presented in a foreign language, they must be translated into English before being filed with the Court. The question that arises in this situation is what is the best foreign language evidence translation: a computer-generated translation, or a translation done by a certified, human translator?

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A recent Thomson West Report states that the global economy has caused a grand shift in the approach to legal discovery. Whereas traditionally discovery involved the requesting and gathering of information within a jurisdiction, with the increasing use of electronic data storage and multilingual communications around the globe, today attorneys struggle with the need to pursue evidentiary discovery across borders.

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