For people working as in-house translators in Japan, does anyone check/proofread your translations before delivery? I’m running a “one-man show”, and would like to know how other places operate.
I was hired as an in-house translator to translate internal documents, but recently they started asking me to translate terms of service, work contracts, etc., that are sent to other companies and/or disclosed to the public. I told them that I have no experience in doing so and can not guarantee a good translation. They obviously keep pushing me to do so. In the event that I do translate some kind of official contract, and something goes wrong after delivery, could someone sue me or something similar?
EDIT: Ended up suggesting them to add a disclaimer saying that only the Japanese version is the legal version.
8 comments
When I did in-house, the only person checking my translations was the other native speaker. When she wasn’t available, the E to J translator checked for me, but her English was almost native level.
When I did heavy stuff, like a formal letter from the mayor with legal repercussions, bid contracts, etc, a lawyer would go over it and we would make changes together.
​
Gotta say though, it was weird seeing my translation in newspapers/online stories all over the world. Thank God someone with authority checked it though.
Do what I do in my company, do the best you can with the translation and then ask a Japanese staff to proofread it before you send it on.
Unless you are a lawyer or have a specialty in contract law, you are playing with fire. What if you mistranslate or use the wrong word, which opens your company to liability? Do you think the company president will take responsibility? Do you think you will go home at 5 pm when the company just contracted for something they cannot produce or pay?
If it is a contract, it should be proofread by a lawyer or a legal consultant who can take responsibility for the legal aspects, assuming what was translated is correct.
Not a translator, but I deal with a lot of bilingual contracts and my wife was a translator.
I am surprised they are asking you to do that work. However, a question：in your contracts are you seeing clauses for the “controlling language” and for the “governing law”?
If the contracts are governed by Japanese law and they are bilingual contracts with Japanese as the controlling language then I would be less concerned. I still think it is not a good practice but less concerned.
My company sends contracts to a bilingual lawyer. My wife did regulatory translation. That was not double checked if for internal use unless it was going to a bucho or senior team. But it was also not contractual.
They can’t sue you directly since the contract or whatever would be in your company’s name. Your company could of course punish you for doing a poor job but that’s the same for any position. My company often has its partners sign the Japanese version and gives them my English version as only a reference just in case things do go south. In some other cases a Japanese person may go over the English and we’ll work out a suitable final version that we can both live with. Otherwise, it’s on me to deliver my best product.
Just do your best and try to improve where you can. Your company obviously trusts you enough to let you do this so this is a good chance to get more specialized knowledge and improve your market value.
As long as they understand that your translation of a legal agreement is just that: a translation.
Usually, in cases where the Japanese agreement is the original and the English is provided merely as a convenience to the other party, a boilerplate clause may be added to make this explicit.
Something like this: *This agreement has been prepared in both Japanese and English, and in the event of any discrepancies or differences between the versions, the Japanese version shall prevail.*
Or this: *This Agreement is created in and governed by the Japanese language, and any translations thereof in any other languages shall be for the purpose of convenience only and shall not be binding on the parties hereto.*
If a Company plans to make the English translated version the original without getting it checked by a lawyer, then they probably should not be in business.
No one proof-reads my translations which is nerve wrecking (especially because I translate into 2 languages, 1 of which I’m not a native of), but I’ve had no issues so far. Luckily.
When I was working with translation for gatcha games. It was checked by the senior dude, and ultimately someone from the game company that would for whatever reason change and fuck it up sometimes.