Legal interpretation comes with a unique set of challenges. While accuracy is essential for all translation and interpretation engagements, language choices can carry severe implications in legal contexts. One of the most important ways to ensure quality is to select a proven partner with a solid reputation. Here are some helpful methods to determine if your legal interpretation services partner can deliver.

Is the interpretation company certified?

Certification by third parties is an efficient means of determining that a legal interpretation services provider has been found to meet or exceed the highest industry standards. Interpretation companies can receive ISO certification for translation quality, quality management processes, data protection, and industry-specific standards. Certification is a top priority for Morningside. We maintain the following ISO certifications: 9001 (international quality standard for Quality Management processes and procedures), 13485 (applies to medical devices and suppliers), 17100 (processes and resources related to translation service quality), and 27001 (data protection).

Most courts also offer interpreter certification at the state level. (Note: at the Federal level, only three languages are certifiable: Spanish, Navajo, and Creole.) To ensure quality, prioritize language services partners that can offer court-certified interpreters.

Who is on their client list?

Most legal interpretation services firms cannot share detailed client lists, but you should ask how many top Am law firms are on their client roster. Leading law firms have the resources to work with the best, so language services providers that partner with premier law firms indicate a high credibility level.

We deliver customized legal document translation solutions for 97% of the Am Law 200 and 90+ leading global brands based on the size and budget requirements of individual cases, utilizing industry-leading technology to ensure accuracy, lower costs and faster turnaround times.

Read more: Nuances of legal terminology and the impact on legal translations.

What are their coverage hours?

Legal matters are not confined to business hours, so interpreters must be available whenever needed. Look for a legal interpretation services firm that can provide qualified interpreters after-hours or on weekends. Because circumstances and needs change quickly in the legal field, a reliable interpretation partner has tools and processes in place to respond to change. At Morningside, we re-confirm every assignment the day before, ensure everyone is on the same page, and protect our clients against unexpected charges due to cancellation.

How responsive are they?

Communication should be a top priority for every legal interpretation services firm; poor communication is a sign of a poor partner. Your interpretation partner should respond quickly (under a few hours) and provide you with regular updates during engagements. At Morningside, we use digital tools to track our client response times, revealing areas we can improve efficiency.

Establishing a solid communication process should be a priority to your interpretation partner right from the outset. Reliable firms will want to get to know more about your project and your company so that they can serve you better. At Morningside, we assign a dedicated project manager who conducts an introductory call before sending interpreters out into the field. Prioritizing open communication from the start establishes a strong working relationship and supports a smooth project flow.

Do their interpreters possess subject matter expertise?

Quality legal interpretation requires three crucial factors: foreign language fluency, legal interpretation proficiency, and subject matter expertise. Deposition interpretation services are very different for a basic “slip-and-fall” versus a complex patent litigation case. Ask if your interpretation services partner can provide interpreters who specialize in your specific area of need. The more specialized the interpreters, the more likely you will receive the highest quality interpretation.

Ask your language services provider to outline their process for vetting interpreters. Ensure they confirm the interpreter’s prior legal experience, check referrals, prioritize court certifications, and require their interpreters to possess a minimum of one year of work experience.

The right partner is worth it.

Managing legal interpreters adds another layer to an already complex process. However, partnering with the proper interpretation provider can eliminate logistical headaches and quell any lingering concerns about quality. Take the time to carefully assess legal translation and interpretation partners before initiating an ongoing engagement. The questions above will help you evaluate whether a particular company will make a reliable long-term partner.

Want to know more about our legal interpretation expertise? Contact Morningside today to start a conversation.

Website translation is extremely important for companies who wish to reach foreign markets and expand national trade. Translation can easily be done by copying and pasting your website into a free literal translation service online, but will it accurately explain your company? Beyond the obvious risk of grammatical errors impacting your perceived professionalism, neglecting the importance of cultural cues can be the difference between a website that succeeds and one that just doesn’t translate.

Enter website localization.

Website localization takes the translation process a step further by accounting for the particularities of a given target market. There are professional website translation and interpretation services who understand the importance of these nuances when relating to international customers, and they can do wonders for companies looking to expand globally. However, whether you choose to do it yourself, or you want to better interact with an outsourced provider, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Pick The Right Language:

Research shows that 52.4% of Foreign Market Consumers won’t buy from websites not in their language[1] and 72.1% of international customers spend most of the time on sites in their own language[2]. The good news is that 90% of online business is done in only 13 languages. The bad news is that if you choose the wrong one, you’re chances of penetrating that market are significantly reduced.

Few business people would enter a new country without taking the time to research the potential benefits its market offered. You may look at the hold competitors have, the size of the addressable market, or the amount spent on similar products. But just as important as knowing whether there are people who could potentially buy your product, is knowing how best to sell it to them. The first step in this process is knowing which language that industry speaks. Research the country you’re entering and see what language dominates the sector you’re trying to enter. Many countries are filled with a multitude of spoken languages, but there are generally a select few used in the business world. Knowing these in advance will make sure your efforts to localize aren’t in vain.

Correct Keywords:

Incorporating the correct keywords on your website is critical for SEO and has a major impact on localization success. Keywords are highly determined by the culture and can vary greatly across regions.  For example, most Americans will type in “Vacation” when searching for a resort, but customers in the UK would use “Holiday”. Understanding these differences will help dictate what words should be present in your website’s content.

Keyword research can be a painstaking process, but you’ll have little hope of succeeding without investing in it. If you are going to outsource this type of project, make sure that your provider understands the importance of Keyword research and has the capabilities to properly maximize this critical component.

General Website Layout:

The colors, images, and graphic content can all play a big role in website localization and how it is perceived by that foreign market. Make sure the graphics you use are culturally relevant and that you don’t have any existing materials that may be insensitive or offensive. It’s important to remember that many symbols are used across cultures, but can have drastically different connotations.

Color is another important factor to consider because it can have different meanings or associations. For example, in China white is the color of death and mourning, whereas the same is symbolized by purple in Brazil. Yellow represents sadness in Greece, jealousy in France, but means sacred to the Hindus.

Also, it is important to consider the direction in which your audience reads, depending on their language–whether it be from left to right, right to left, or top to bottom–as this will most likely affect the positioning and layout of your website.

Website translation will be a critical component to your localization efforts, but in order to maximize this opportunity you must consider its full impact. If you hire an interpretation service, make sure they are aware of these issues. If you decide to handle it internally, considering these factors can be the difference between a major victory or a missed opportunity.

At Morningside Translations, we don’t just keep our watches on East Coast or West Coast time—we keep our watches on world time. It’s not uncommon for our project management team to make calls to Colombia, China or Cape Verde in the same morning.

When clients inquire about global interpretation services, the answer is always yes. Yes, we do have a network of interpreters in most time zones of the world. Yes, we can set up your firm or company with a qualified linguist in South Korea, South America or even the south of France.

When one of our clients requested a team of simultaneous interpreters in Santiago, Chile, we were able to provide them with talented individuals who worked seamlessly with their in-house staff to provide Spanish-to-English interpretation for an English-speaking individual at a conference. Firms whose members require professional interpretation services in cities 12 time zones away when they arrive on business can look to Morningside to assist with global interpretation services as well.

There are several different forms of interpretation: simultaneous, consecutive, whisper and escort. Simultaneous interpretation is relevant at conferences or events at which audience members need to listen to the interpretation at the same time as the speaker is speaking in another language. This form of interpretation often involves a team in a booth or a similar setup, in which the listeners are using headsets or earphones. Consecutive interpretation involves a speaker’s words being interpreted after they are spoken, after every few minutes or sentences. Whisper interpretation is used for very small target-language audiences, whispering a speaker’s content simultaneously. Escort interpretation is for escorting visiting political, business or civic leaders on tours, visits or interviews.

Depending on the type of meeting or event, Morningside can help determine which type of interpretation service will work best. We can arrange for a team of qualified interpreters and can also provide equipment by working with our providers worldwide. No matter what type of interpretation service your event or international trip requires, Morningside can arrange for an experienced linguist to aid in making your multilingual or global event a success.

Photo by Rebecca Siegel: Skyline of Shanghai, China, at night

The costs of legal translation incurred during litigation can be enormous. Document translation fees for a complex, cross-border litigation case can easily reach hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more. Who should pay for translation services, and should the winner be reimbursed for the huge expense?

The Supreme Court will weigh in on this issue during its 2011-2012 term, which began last month. On the court’s docket is  Taniguchi v. Kan Pacific Saipan, LTD, 633 F.3d 1218 (9th Cir. 2011) a case which will impact to what extent courts can award the winning party money spent for legal translation services during the course of litigation.

The case began when professional Japanese baseball player Kouichi Taniguchi fell through a wooden deck on Kan Pacific property and tore several ligaments. The injuries prevented him from playing, and he was forced to breach his contract. He sued Kan Pacific for negligence in order to cover lost wages, but ultimately lost the case. In addition, he was ordered to pay $5517.20 in legal translation costs to Kan Pacific for documents translated from Japanese to English. Taniguchi appealed.

In deciding Taniguchi, The 6th circuit had relied on U.S. Code § 1920. Title 28,1920 states that a court may reimburse the winning party for certain expenses like filing and printing transcripts, and also for certain interpretation services. The court relied on a dictionary definition of “interpret” which included “to translate into intelligible language.” Based on this, the court determined that “translation” and “interpretation” are interchangeable and that translation services should also be covered. Now as most translation companies will tell you, “interpretation” and “translation” are not synonymous. Translation involves written text; interpretation is oral and involves a speech or phone conversation. On appeal, The 7th circuit argued that this expansive definition of “interpreter” went too far, and split on allowing litigation costs like document translation to be included on the list of recoverable costs.

It was up to the 9th circuit to decide, and it ultimately agreed with the 6th circuit that courts could award the winning party the costs of legal document translation. Now it is up to the Supreme Court to make the final decision which could have far-reaching implications. The same reasoning that led the 9th circuit to decide in favor of reimbursing translation costs could impact e-discovery and a range of other litigation expenses. The cost-benefit analysis of entering into litigation could shift considerably given the potential reimbursement demands. Parties might agree to limit the amount of discovery and translation they do to hedge against paying the full costs later on, and the discovery process could become much more limited for certain cases. We’ll have more to say when this case is decided.