What exactly is meant by English-Arabic Legal Translation?
While translation in general can be more nuanced than people think, a legal translation into Arabic or from Arabic is much more than just moving words from one language to another.
Legal translation is focused on a wide variety of documents such as wills, court and financial documents, declarations, patents or court decrees.
Legal translators of Arabic must have a good knowledge of the legal system of the country from which the document originates. In order to avoid misleading translations, they must also have an extensive knowledge of both English law and the law that applies to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates.
In a globalized world where companies from all over the world can do business, legal translation takes on a very important role. We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that not all legal translations need to be official (certified). Translations from or into Arabic should only be officially certified when requested by an official institution, agency or department. So be sure to check if an official, certified or sworn translation is required in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, or if maybe a simple translation Arabic<>English will do.
Arabic Legal Translation differ from other types of translation
Legal documents in Arabic, unlike other documents such as a general web site, have a specific terminology. Our Arabic Legal Translators are able to correctly translate these concepts into English or Spanish. They do not simply replace one word for another.
The choice of certain words in a legal text has a very specific and precise meaning. On the other hand, any ambiguity or inaccuracy can invalidate a legally binding document. A small mistake could have significant financial and/or legal consequences.
Legal jargon of each country (UK, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates…) is complex and its terminology can be very specific. Add to this the cultural and regional differences in territories where Arabic is spoken, and you can understand how difficult legal translation can be.
Legal translators translate a legal concept from English into Arabic or vice versa. To be legally binding, the English and the legal Arabic terminology must be unambiguous.
Textual references for Arabic Legal Translators
All legal translators of Arabic turn to reference works to do their job. For example, specialized dictionaries and glossaries, codes, laws and legal doctrine, both in English and from countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates.
Legal translators frequently check out civil and criminal procedure codes and regulatory rules. In these reference books they usually find precise descriptions in Arabic and in English of each legal concept.
Referral sources help translators confirm that they are using the appropriate terms used in a given legal proceeding. The work of a legal Arabic-English translator is very precise and painstaking. In addition to these specialised legal researches, Arabic translators use computer aided translation tools like TM (Translation Memories) and Multilingual Term Bases. Translation Memories let them find pieces of text already translated by them or by other translators. Specific Arabic Machine Translation engines are also used in combination with TM and have proven to be very useful.
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Where is Arabic spoken?
Arabic (in Arabic, العربية or عربي/عربى) is an official language in 20 states with 180 million speakers and a homogeneous written language (standard Arabic). In the Middle East, about 30% of the population has access to the Internet.
Other translation types from Arabic
Legal translation in other languages
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A quick overview of the Arabic language
Arabic belongs to the southern group of Western Semitic languages. It is based on dialects of North Arabia and spread with Islam in the Middle East and North Africa.
The Arabic script evolved from the Nabataean alphabet used in Aramaic. It has been used since the 4th century AD. , but the oldest document, an inscription in Arabic, Syrian and Greek, dates from 512 A.D.
Aramaic has fewer consonants than Arabic, so during the 7th century new Arabic letters were created by adding dots to the existing ones to avoid ambiguity. More diacritical signs were introduced to indicate short vowels, but these are usually only used to ensure that the Koran is read aloud without mistakes.
There are two types of written Arabic:
- Classical Arabic: the language of the Koran and classical literature It differs from modern standard Arabic mainly in style and vocabulary, with archaic words. All Muslims are expected to recite the Koran in the original language, however many rely on translations to understand the text.
- Modern Standard Arabic (اللغة العربية الفصحى / al-luġatu l-ʿarabiyyatu l-fuṣḥā): the universal language of the Arabic-speaking world understood by all Arabic speakers. It is the language of almost all written and television publications and academic activities.
Each Arabic-speaking country or region also has its own variety of colloquial Arabic. These colloquial varieties of Arabic appear in written form in some poems, caricatures and comics, plays and personal letters. There are also translations of the Bible into most variants of colloquial Arabic.