Legal translation is three services. What you need depends entirely on where the document is going: a rendering for negotiation, a certified translation for a filing, or a sworn translation by a translator registered with a particular court. Getting that choice wrong costs time you may not have — so this page sets out which is which before anything else.
Three jobs, not one
The same document can need any of the three. What decides it is the purpose, never the document type.
| What it is for | What you need | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Reading, negotiating, due diligence, internal review | Uncertified professional translation | If no one is certifying anything—if you need verification rather than a statement. Priced per word; it bears only our stamp. It is the most economical option. |
| Filing with a registry, a ministry, an authority, or a counterparty who requires proof | Certified translation | A signed certification of accuracy naming the philologist, our stamp, and an order code the receiving office can verify independently. Priced per page. |
| Court proceedings in Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Türkiye and similar jurisdictions | Sworn translation | A matter of the translator’s legal standing before that court, not the quality of the work. A certified translation will not substitute, however good it is. |
| A public document crossing into another Hague Convention country | Certification plus an apostille | The apostille authenticates the original, not the translation, and is issued by a government authority — never by us. Obtain it where the document was issued. |
If you are unsure, tell us the office or the court and we will say which applies before you order. The guide by receiving authority covers the common ones.
When you need legal translation
You need legal translation when a document is governed by law or will be used in a legal process. Common examples include contracts, court filings, powers of attorney, wills and trusts, corporate bylaws, regulatory submissions, and legal correspondence.
Some of these have their own page, because the craft differs: binding agreements, where defined terms and obligation language decide everything, and court filings, where citations must still resolve and nothing may be smoothed.
The law stays where it was
It does not move a document into another legal system. A German contract translated into English is still governed by German law; an English will rendered into Greek does not become valid under Greek succession rules. The translation makes the instrument readable to someone who must act on it — it does not convert, adapt, or localize the law inside it.
This matters because people reasonably expect otherwise, and because the translator who quietly “adapts” a clause to look familiar in the target system has altered the document. Where a concept has no counterpart — common-law consideration, trust, estoppel before a civil-law court — we render the function and keep the original term visible, rather than offering a cognate that misleads.
How the work is done
- Assigned to a linguist with demonstrated competence in that domain and language pair — never a generalist, never a machine at any stage.
- Terminology held consistent across the document and, where you send several, across the whole matter. Send a glossary or an earlier translation and it is followed.
- Numbering, clause structure, cross-references and citations preserved exactly, so the two documents can be read side by side.
- Read twice more before delivery — by a reviewer against the source, then by a senior philologist confirming the certification form. ISO 17100:2015 (TÜV SÜD, certificate No. 9931000357) requires the second reader; the third is ours.
- Handled under ISO/IEC 27001:2022 information security (TÜV NORD, certificate No. 44121231258): encrypted throughout, seen only by those assigned, deleted 45 days after delivery or earlier on request. Your firm’s own NDA or data processing agreement will be signed if you send it.
The scope of our undertaking
Our work is to give you and your lawyers a rendering that says exactly what the original says, so the legal question is about the document rather than about the translation. Whether a translated instrument binds anyone turns on local law, on choice-of-law and jurisdiction clauses, and on counsel who know the forum.
Every document is translated in full — never advised on, summarized, or improved on the way. An ambiguous clause is translated as ambiguous and flagged to you; an error in the source is reported rather than repaired. A translation tidied in transit no longer matches what the parties signed.
How pricing works
Certified translation is priced per page at the rate for that document type, confirmed at checkout before any charge. Uncertified translation for negotiation or internal review is priced per word. Volume discounts apply automatically from three pages onward, rising to 25% at seven or more — which is where most legal bundles land once schedules and annexes are counted.
Where a court requires a sworn translator registered with it, or a filing needs an apostille, we will tell you before you order rather than after. For continuing instruction, write to us.
How to prepare your file
- Send the complete document — schedules, annexes, amendments, exhibits and signature pages. A missing schedule is a defined term left undefined.
- Say what it is for. Negotiation, execution, a court filing, a regulatory submission. It decides which of the three jobs above this is.
- Name the governing law and the parties’ jurisdictions, and the forum if there is one.
- Send any glossary, house terminology, or prior translation you want followed.
Frequently asked questions
What is legal translation?
The translation of documents governed by law or relied on in a legal process — contracts, court papers, corporate records, regulatory filings, statutes. It differs from general translation in that the terminology is technical, the structure is load-bearing, and a word chosen loosely can change an obligation. It is not a single service: what you need depends on whether the document is for reading, for filing, or for a court.
Do I need certified legal translation?
Only if someone will rely on it officially. For negotiation, due diligence or internal review, an uncertified professional translation is enough and costs less. For a registry, a ministry or an authority, certified. For court in many European jurisdictions, sworn. Tell us the destination and we will say which.
Will you adapt the contract to our jurisdiction?
No — and you should be wary of anyone who offers to. Adapting an instrument to another legal system is drafting, which is your lawyer’s work and requires a license outside our scope. We translate what the document says; if a concept has no counterpart in the target system, we render its function and keep the original term visible so your counsel can see exactly what they are dealing with.
How does EnLatin ensure legal accuracy?
Three readers on every certified document, terminology held consistent across the matter, structure and citations preserved, and a named philologist signing the certification who can be held to it. ISO 17100 requires the second reader; the third is ours. And nothing goes through an artificial intelligence — machine translation on legal prose is fluent, plausible, and wrong in ways that survive review.
Can you handle a whole matter rather than one document?
Yes, and it is better — terminology, party names and citation formats stay consistent across everything, which is what an opponent comparing your documents will be checking. How a matter runs sets out the arrangement, including purchase orders and invoicing.
Related guides
Ready when your document is.
Not sure which of the three you need? Tell us where the document is going and you will have an answer before you order. salve@enlatin.net