Professional Practice - Advice On Choosing A Translator

Biotechnology Law Report - June, 2003

Liz Elting, President and CEO of TransPerfect Translations of New York City, has published some advice for attorneys who wish to do business internationally. Translation is not simply replacing words in one language with those in another, and the fact that a person speaks a language other than English does not automatically mean he or she is qualified to translate legal documents to and from that language.

Translators should be experienced industry specialists. For certain types of documents, legal expertise also is needed. Ideally, the same translator will be kept throughout a case and maintain glossaries of terms to ensure consistency.

Elting also noted that prices for translation differ according to the language and time constraints. You should expect a competent translator to do about 10,000 words per week.

About TransPerfect
With revenue of over $250 million, TransPerfect is the largest privately held language services provider in the world. From offices in 66 cities on 5 continents, TransPerfect offers a full range of services in over 100 languages to multinationals worldwide. With a global network of over 4,000 linguists and subject-area specialists, TransPerfect is the largest translation company to be fully ISO 9001:2008 and EN 15038:2006 certified. TransPerfect is headquartered in New York and has regional headquarters in London and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit our website at www.transperfect.com.