Why AI doesn’t Work for Fields such as Legal Translation
Translation takes its form into the legal procedures in the law courts or in legal settlements, when it comes to legal translation. Why would you want an AI robot to interfere into your legal proceedings? When it comes to the debate between AI translation and legal translation, there’s no question that legal translation must be done by human translators. In this article, we’ll see why.
According to Global Market Insights, AI or machine or automatic translation’s market alone was valued at USD 650 million in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 3 billion by 2027. And according to ProZ, the top three most used sectors of translation software are Tech/Engineering, Business/Financial, and Marketing. Yet, according to the same source, the two main areas that don’t use translation software are Art/Literary and Law. Why?
For more proof about why legal translation won’t work with AI translation, keep on reading.
The Debate Between AI Translation and Human Translation
What is AI translation? AI translation is the effect of using a machine to translate. Using machine learning algorithms, these computer-generated translations are deeply intelligent. These are machines trained by humans to alleviate some of the work of humans, especially when it comes to translation. There are various reasons to work with automatic translation, such as for:
- Large volumes of data – If you have a lot of data you want translated, without much discretion, you should be able to translate it via automatic translation.
- Speedy delivery – If you have a huge project that requires speed, AI translation translates automatically.
- Cost-effective – It might even be cost-effective to work with automatic translation, especially for huge projects that a human translator would have to comb through.
There are several types of automatic translation: rule-based, statistical, adaptive and neural, but most are the advanced types of adaptive and neural. Neural AI translation is intelligent and effective for what it should be used for: huge corporate or personal projects.
One example of AI translation is Google Translate. Google Translate is public for use by everyone, it costs nothing to use, and it can be used to translate large texts in a speedy time. And so, if it’s so great, then why aren’t more people using it?
That’s because, when it comes down to it, humans are still the master of machinery. They’re able to communicate accurately between one language and another. The accuracy of Google Translate is only 85%, according to Google themselves. And, it has yet to learn context, and it will never fully grasp cultural backgrounds.
A human translator, generally speaking, can take into account the local nuances of both the source language and the target language. They’re experts of the field they’re translating in, and they can connect the dots between transcreated words in different languages. They’re vital to the understanding of audiences of one language to audiences of another language.
Nevertheless, automated translation has use in the industry for its speedy delivery and its ability to translate large volumes of documents.
Why Can’t AI Work For Legal Translation?
But there is one thing for sure. AI translation can’t work for legal translation. That’s why it’s consistently a top industry that doesn’t use automated translation.
Most people come to legal translation services because they have legal concerns. These concerns have legal consequences in their lives. Sometimes, even, their lives are at stake. Those looking for legal translation services need someone who has knowledge of the legal system, not just knowledge of two or more languages.
In multilingual contexts, such as corporate hiring procedures, legal translation is necessary to build contractual agreements with employees and clients. In every stage of the legal process, translation is necessary for multilingual teams to incorporate their languages.
However, mistranslation and errors must not in any way appear in any of the translated documents. That’s legal translation services, equipped with legal experts, will vouch for translation accuracy in the eyes of the law.
Why You Need Expert Legal Translators for Your Legal Documents
You’ve got a lawyer, you’re ready to defend yourself, but it’s tricky because you don’t know English. How does one with limited English proficiency defend themselves without translation? Or perhaps you just need help filling out your income tax return, but you can’t read the government regulations because it’s in a language not your own. You need a translation.
And not just any type of translation, but one that is admissible in courts. This type of translation, any translation that is admissible in court or legal proceedings, is legal translation. Legal translation must be done by professional experts within legal translation services who accrue a level of qualification. Legal documents vary from country to country, across various regions and jurisdictions.
For legal translation to be certified, there are a few things to consider: 1. The qualification of the interpreter, who must be “certified” 2. A certificate of accuracy of translation, which may be required to be notarized by some jurisdictions 3. A legal translation service that is certified by the ATA (American Translator’s Association). These services provide ATA-certification, certified translators, and ensure that your translation is accurate and true to the original documents.
GoodFirms reviewed the best companies for legal translation services, and we found a list of verified translation services. Among this list, Tomedes stood out for having the most positive reviews out of the top companies listed there. They also garnered five stars within this rubric.
Tomedes legal translation services assists with legal needs at a critical time in the client’s proceedings. Their ATA-verified and certified legal translation services are performed by experts who have knowledge of the laws of the certain jurisdiction you need, and can provide certified translations of your legal documents.
Not just anyone can be a legal translator or interpreter, they must provide a certain level of qualification. That’s why legal translation services must be done by experts, and those experts can be found at legal translation services.
The Decision
It seems, when it comes to legal translation, only human translators can suffice rather than AI translation. According to Forbes, translation is tricky. For corporate, civil, environmental, or any other branch of law, legal translation must be accurate and of the best quality. And automation, at this stage, just won’t give you that for legal services. Whether you need to make legal documents or you need to interpret your lawyer’s legal advice, legal translation services can help by providing you with the expertise of legal translators. What the legal translators hold in their hands is the decision of the law system, and a machine can’t know that.
