Category: Legal Translation

Imagine leafing through a menu and spotting outlandish entries such as “Roasted Husband”, “Deep Fried Baby”, “Lung Slice” or “Cat Ear and Rotten Child”. These are not titles from a horror novel but real  –  albeit ill-fated  –  outputs of machine or automated translation systems, lacking human oversight. Such translations, catalogued in sources such as…

In a justice system founded upon fairness, the ability of every individual to understand and to be understood is indispensable. When language barriers exist, professional interpreters perform a necessary function that safeguards due process and ensures that proceedings retain their integrity. This is not merely a procedural formality; it is a legal and ethical obligation.

Did you know that, even though they are everywhere, emojis don’t always translate into shared understanding? Recent academic research reveals that these colourful pictograms while powerful can also mislead, confuse, or simply mean different things to different people. Here’s what the latest studies say, distilled with a bit of wry humour, but grounded in prestigious…

Intellectual property (IP) has become the silent force powering international trade, investment, and innovation. As innovators and businesses seek to protect their inventions in multiple jurisdictions, the demand for precise, legally compliant patent translation in the UK has never been greater. Translating patents, trademarks, licences and regulatory documents requires not only linguistic fluency, but deep…

The concept of untranslatable words arises when a lexical item in one language cannot be directly rendered into another language without loss of meaning. Such terms are not limited to rare dialects or literary traditions; they appear across the world’s major languages. The German term “Schadenfreude”, denoting the experience of taking pleasure in the misfortune…

Certified translations are required whenever parties put foreign-language material before a UK court. Recent amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) and related Practice Directions clarify both how witness evidence must be prepared and what a compliant certification must contain. This note summarises the key requirements and sets out how IMD Translations delivers court-ready work.

The words yes and no are often considered universal. Yet, in many languages, these direct equivalents do not exist, or they function differently from English. Instead of using a single lexical item for affirmation or negation, speakers employ echo-answers, verb repetition, or contextual phrasing. This phenomenon poses intriguing challenges for linguists and practical considerations for…