Do US courts accept translations prepared by translators abroad? Thread poster: MNtranslates
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MNtranslates 
France
Local time: 17:44
English to German
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Hello all,
I have a potential customer who currently resides in Germany and intends to return to the States in a couple of weeks. He now needs various German documents to English, documents pertaining to a civil court case in Germany that will be needed for another trial before a US court.
This is a first for me and I have no idea if a court in the US will accept certified translations prepared in Germany.
Has anyone of you been in a similar situation before? And what ... See more Hello all,
I have a potential customer who currently resides in Germany and intends to return to the States in a couple of weeks. He now needs various German documents to English, documents pertaining to a civil court case in Germany that will be needed for another trial before a US court.
This is a first for me and I have no idea if a court in the US will accept certified translations prepared in Germany.
Has anyone of you been in a similar situation before? And what was your experience? Or are there some legal stipulations for such cases?
I appreciate any feedback/assistance I can get.
Cheers ▲ Collapse
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I am pretty sure they will, but they have to be certified translations. If the court were not sure whether the certification is authentic or not, they may require the translations to be additionally verified (stamped) by the German Consulate in the US. Also, the official court interpreter will look at them and check the translation.
| | | | Teresa Reinhardt
United States
Local time: 08:44
Member (2002)
German to English
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| US = 50 different countries | Feb 18, 2014 |
For practical purposes, there is no "US legal system"; each state or even court may have its own requirements. Please make sure that you inquire about what "YOUR court wants" BEFORE you make any decisions! Write to the court, or at least the state, and get their response in writing. Could save you a lot of money and time.
Good luck,
Teresa
- reminds me of an "interesting" experience w/a German client. They had existing translations I was supposed to match (in term... See more For practical purposes, there is no "US legal system"; each state or even court may have its own requirements. Please make sure that you inquire about what "YOUR court wants" BEFORE you make any decisions! Write to the court, or at least the state, and get their response in writing. Could save you a lot of money and time.
Good luck,
Teresa
- reminds me of an "interesting" experience w/a German client. They had existing translations I was supposed to match (in terminology, which seems to make sense). Well, in their liability clauses, they used the term "redhibitory" - which I had never heard and which, as you can easily research, is limited to the laws of Louisiana (in the Napoleonic tradition), and is NOT used in any of the other states. I tried to point this out to them, to no avail. But that's another story. ▲ Collapse
| | | | MNtranslates
France
Local time: 17:44
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Lilian, Teresa,
My apologies for the late reply.
Just wanted to thank you both for your input. I explained everything in detail to the client; but once he saw the Euro price he would have to pay he decided that it was not that urgent and he'd rather wait until he is back in the States.
Anyway, thanks a lot!!!
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In the U.S., courts have a great deal more autonomy with procedure, basically to the extent that every court sets its own rules, if not actually every judge.
| | | | Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 11:44
Romanian to English
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| Lukasz is right! | Apr 5, 2014 |
basically, as long as the translation is intelligible in US-EN , there shouldn't be any problems.
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