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Selection of Words and Phrases
The translation should convey the message of the original contract both suitably and in its totality. In legal contracts, any statement that contains vagueness could be subject to concentrated scrutiny. Also, the use of appropriate punctuation is crucial, since misappropriation could result in a modification of the original meaning.
A knowledgeable translator or translation agency must recognize that between any two languages, it is often arduous to refashion even a simple sentence with similar wordings. Besides, doing so can result in syntactic inconsistencies and will sound disjointed. Colloquial phrasings and construction often aid towards clarity.
As such dense literature has been written to help assist the process of contract translation. A good read might be a Systematic Approach to Translating Contracts into English by Robb Lunn. A legal contract might essentially be divided into -
• Set formulas which are the phrases laden with legalese,
• Structural elements like clause numbering,
• Housekeeping clauses which provides the details of contracts, which are formulaic but differs greatly among languages. They also contain more legalese and set phrases than other clauses.
• Headings (of clauses, sections, and the contract).
• Style and syntax the verbs, tenses, and sentence structure in the operative clauses. The most important part of the contract.
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