Redundant words slow readers down and obscure key information. In technical and legal texts, redundancies can creep in owing to literal translations from other...
Editing for clarity: remove vague complex prepositions to improve readability
Vague complex prepositions like “in relation to” and “with regard to” add unnecessary complexity. This complexity hinders readability. This is something you can ill...
Spain’s main registros: translations and background info
This post looks at the main public registers (registros) in Spain. It outlines what they are for and lists common translations and similar entities...
How do you translate “registro” (as in Registro Civil)?
What is a registro? A registro, as in the Registro Civil, is an official place or list for recording information or events. The one...
Five things your translator should know when translating legislation into English
Translating the legislation or regulations of a country, company or university into English requires certain skills and know-how. This post lists five things your...
Dilemmas of style when translating legislation
Many dilemmas of style arise when translating legislation into English. This post looks at the most common ones and solutions to them. By legislation...
How to translate de una parte and de otra parte into English (contract translation tip 9)
How should you translate into English the terms de una parte and de otra parte that you find at the start of Spanish contracts?...
Translating notary terms 4: Is “deed” a good translation for escritura pública?
“Deed” is sometimes used as a translation for escritura pública. Is it a good translation? What is a deed? A deed is a formal...
Translating notary terms 3: How to translate the names of Spanish public-form notarial acts into English
This post looks at how to translate the names of the two* main types of public-form Spanish notarial acts, escrituras públicas and actas notariales....
Translating notary terms 2: What are public-form and private-form notarial acts?
A public-form notarial act is a document drafted by a notary that contains the entire notarial act. It is narrated from the notary’s perspective...
Translating notary terms 1: What do notaries do?
In Spain and other civil law countries, you seem to need a notary for anything of gravity. You buy a house, you need a...
Training for legal translators. Part IV. Make at least one big study commitment.
This is the last part of a series on training for legal translators. See the first post here. To put yourself on the path to becoming...
Notary talk, METM18, references and slides
I did a talk at METM18 in Girona on translating civil-law notary terms into English. You can download a PDF file of the slides...
The lie about machine translation making translators obsolete
In his book Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, Jaron Lanier uses translation as example of how the current free...
Training for legal translators. Part IIIc. How to get better.
This is Part IIIc of a series on training for legal translators. See the first post here. This post looks at looks at how to get better...
Training for legal translators. Part IIIb. How to get better.
This is Part IIIb of a series on training for legal translators. See the first post here. This post looks at looks at how to get better...
Training for legal translators. Part IIIa. How to get better.
This is Part IIIa of a series on training for legal translators. See the first post here. This post looks at looks at how to get better...
Free inhouse seminar in BCN: How to translate contracts into English
Do you translate contracts into English? I’m looking for a law firm or company in Barcelona to give a pilot seminar on translating contracts...
Training for legal translators. Part II. Where to start.
This second part in a series on training for legal translators looks at what you need to study first. See the first post here....
Training for legal translators. Part I. Introduction.
What should you study to become a legal translator? And when you are one, what should you do to become a better one? I...
“Shall”, “must” or something else for obligation in legislation and legislation-type documents?
I normally use “must” to express obligation when translating legislation and legislation-type documents. In this post I explain why and look at some grey...
What terms should stick out like sore thumbs in a legal translation?
There is no avoiding it. Some terms should stick out like sore thumbs in legal translations. What type of terms? Non-equivalent terms. Readers should...
How to translate some key Spanish notary terms into English
Civil-law notary terms can be tricky to translate into English. This is because the notary systems in civil- and common-law countries differ. Civil-law notaries...
The most important distinction: form versus content
The most important distinction: form versus content To translate well, you must be able to distinguish between form and content. When you first try...
eBook on translating contracts — beta version 2.0
I’ve just updated my ebook on translating contracts. You can download it from this page. Apart from fixing typos and trying to make it...
