The Peculiarities of the Spanish Legal Translation

Differently than many countries, the origins of Hispanic legal system are both ancient and classical, based on the Greek, Roman and French legal systems, including a participation of “legal concepts” existing in the pre-colonization period. Latin American legal systems are more similar to the continental Europe than to the U.S. legal system.

U.S. business people and foreign owned corporations doing business in Mexico must directly and indirectly deal with the Hispanic legal system, even if they do not have an actual business presence in Latin America. The Spanish legal translation is important because it is usually the “interface” between these two distinct legal words. The Spanish legal translation needs to interpret how a determined legal situation in the US is handled in Latin countries and vice-versa. Comparing to a machinery translation, one could imagine that the translation of a machine guide should take in account physic laws that are different in the source and in the target universes.

Ideally, such business people should have at least a general working knowledge of the legal system. U.S. legal counsel with clients doing business in Latin countries should have a more detailed knowledge of Latin practices, laws and courts. Unfortunately, most companies do not have the time to compare laws and to understand the nuances of the differences. The result is that the Spanish legal translation will be in charge of building a bridge between these two universes.

It is interesting to note that Latin lawyers are highly educated and many speak English. In Mexico, for example, students enter law school after 11 years of formal education. Law school is 5 years, includes liberal arts related courses and is broader and more formal and theoretical in scope and focus than is law school in the U.S. After graduating from law school, the individual usually works for a firm or government agency as a clerk until he or she presents an oral exam to become licensed.

Finally, people and companies doing business in Hispanic countries or markets, and attorneys, who represent them, should be supported by quality Spanish legal translation providers and take the time to learn about the Hispanic legal system and how it differs from the U.S. system. This learning process also encompasses the study of Hispanic countries interesting history and culture.

7 Brands Forecast for the Legal Translation Market

Legal Translation Market

7 Brands has been one of the choices for a growing number of Law Offices in the United States. The company offers legal translation in several languages, being Spanish legal translations the majority of its legal services. The company, famous for the slogan “translation in more than 400 languages”, is investing heavily in Human Resources to increase its participation in this segment.

Legal Translation is a much sought market. Because of the sensitivity and importance of the information to be translated, clients are more willing to pay a premium for quality legal translation services. Therefore, most of the large translation companies invest in efforts to have a higher penetration in this niche.

Legal Translators

Although the higher prices are an attractive for new translation companies in the Legal Translation arena, the “per word” rates charged by the Legal Translators may be an inhibitor. The Legal Translators are generally better paid than other translation professionals. They are always in high demand, and the apparently unbalance between demand and offer results in constantly increasing rates. The legal translators may be divided in two different groups: the newcomers, that charge less, but do not offer an experience long enough to be used by leading translation companies, and the second group, the seasoned and experienced translators, offering a first class translation while charging the highest rates in the market.

Patent Translation

One of the most popular subcategories inside the Legal Translation realm is the Patent translation. 7 Brands is adopting the Patent translations as one of its specialties, “second only to general legal document translations”, according to Camila Saunier, 7 Brands Marketing VP. “A Patent translation job is usually more complex than other legal translations, since it requires a comprehensive and detailed understanding of the filling rules in the target country: a single bad word choice may ruin a multi-million-dollar patent!” – says Ms. Saunier.

Expert Translators

If you are looking for an expert translator with more than 10 years in their field of expertise, we have the right professional for your job. Our translators are not "generic translators" - they carry years of experience in their specific industries as executives or consultants, recognized certifications, and years of experience in translation. An expert translator is what you need, when sensitive and confidential documents need to be translated. There is no space for poor translations, security breaches or potential deadline missing.

Quality Translations

We believe that a quality translation should go further than accuracy. It needs to be delivered on time, supported by an efficient customer service, and cost you a fair price. We also believe that you should get a quality translation - always. At 7 Brands, you will count on a seasoned and well paid team of translators that will not leave your job to be done at the 11th hour. Your job will be considered the unique priority for our translators - from the minute he receives the assignment to the minute he delivers the translation to the editor.

Certified Translators

Although a certification is not enough to guarantee the quality of a translation, certified translators has at least went through a few examinations to prove their skills. Certified translators are also able to certify their translations to be used in court and other American or foreign deparments. Most of our translators are certified translators carrying the most relevant certifications in the world. Our certification records are available upon request.

Legal Translations

Quality legal translations are not a one-man show. Legal translations envolve one single knowledge field, but two different systems. Imagine how many differences one will find in the US Law System and the Brazil Law System. A quality Legal translation will be provided by a team with knowledge in both the source legal system and in the target legal system as well.

Legal Translators
Whenever you hire our legal translation services, you will count on legal translators meeting these requirements:
• Several past sucessful assignements in the legal field
• Relevant references from Law offices served by our assigned legal translators
• Education in Law Studies in the US and/or Abroad

We will be happy to provide our legal translator's resume upon request


2008 Forecast
7 Brands forecasts an increasingly competitive Legal translation market in 2008. The company’s choice of recruiting the best Legal translators available in the market, and the selection of clearly defined legal niches to conquer should create the conditions for a constant growth in client portfolio and income.

More information about 7 Brands and its services may be obtained at http://www.7brands.com. For press requests please contact press@7brands.com or call Ms. Camila Saunier, Marketing VP, at 516-801-6917

Spanish to English Translation, English to Spanish Translation, Expert Translators, Certified Translators, Affordable Translator Agencies

7 BRANDS INC. IS READY TO TRANSLATE MORE THAN 400 LANGUAGES

After conquering its space in the Hispanic-Latino translation market, 7 Brands Inc. is ready to deploy a strategy to become one of the few companies in the world offering translation for more than 400 languages.

Since the market is already packed with dozens of translation competitors offering several languages, 7 Brands (http://www.7brands.com ) will adopt a niche approach, focusing on hardly known idioms such as: Tharu, Nivaclé, Rutul, Tsonga, Ewe, Mazanderani and Nyamwezi.

Camila Saunier, the Marketing VP, explains that offering hundreds of hard-to-find languages will enable 7 Brands Inc. to penetrate difficult markets already dominated by older competitors, “If we try to approach 500 fortune corporations offering basic languages, few doors will open. But, if we offer those rare languages that most of the big translation companies don’t bother to carry, we will become a necessary supplier for these large clients”.

The company also offers run-of-mill languages such as Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Chinese, but the idea of focusing their market efforts in difficult languages is an innovation in the translation market.

7 Brands will also count on another competitive advantage. The company has an experienced and international management team located in New York – where the company has its headquarters. Nonetheless, most of the operational procedures will be outsourced to its Brazilian office, “We have high quality standards closely managed by our New York people, while our operations are supported by an extremely cost-wise team in Brazil. The final result is a premium quality service at a pricing significantly better than what is offered by any other competitor” – says Camila Saunier.

We will see how this strategy works soon. 7 Brands Inc. promises to share with us an aggregated study about how many of the Fortune 500 companies use these hard to find idioms and which percentage of the total translation today is related to these rate idioms.

Further information about 7 Brands Inc. and its business may be obtained by contacting its headquarters through pressrelease@7brands.com or contacting the company’s toll free number 800-725-6498.


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