jyuan_us wrote:
I translated many documents for lawyers, police and correction departments, law-making bodies, and I also translated a lot of commercial agreements. I rarely come across any legal term that is beyond common sense, except in the commercial agreements. Those couple of terms that have particular meanings in legal sense in the commercial agreements all have established translations, which can easily be copied from the websites.
In my view, unless you are translating law school text books, legal translations are mostly general as regards to their topic areas. To be a so-called legal translator, you don't need to go to law school. Any translator who is competent in translating general texts can be a good legal translator.
Don't scare yourself by how this sector is being called. It is one of the easiest fields, much easier than marketing translation, or even easier than general press releases.
While I agree that certain types of legal texts can be translated competently by someone without a specialized training, I would caution anyone against this cavalier attitude. It is easy to mess up a legal translation really badly, and saying it is one of the easiest fields is way off base in my opinion. It is a field that requires great attention to detail and specialized knowledge and/or specialized research skills.
My translator training included one class in legal translation, so I have a tiny bit of training and a reasonable amount of experience. I take on certain types of legal translations, but I reject a lot of jobs in this area... they are not worth the headache and the potential trouble down the line.
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