Translating with AI has revolutionized the way translations are done, especially in the complex legal world. However, automated translations face a particular challenge: the loss of context in legal translations.
Legal documents are fundamentally complex and context-sensitive. Each word and phrase has significant and specific regulatory implications, and a small translation error could completely alter the meaning of the transcribed content. This is the main problem of translating with AI
The cultural and juridical setting in legal translations
Legal translation requires exploration of the social and forensic environment that affects the source and target languages prepared for translation. This implies knowing the cultural definitions, their differences, as well as the legal concepts specific to both jargons.
On the other hand, legal documents are often affected by intentional ambiguities and expressions that require interpretation. Artificial Intelligence may have trouble deciphering the hidden intent typical of legal content.
Thus, translating with AI does not satisfy all the exploratory requirements and their analysis, which significantly affects the context and the translation results.
Consequences of the loss of context when translating with AI
The lack of proper context in automated translations can lead to misinterpretations, distortion of the translation intent, and unfortunate legal consequences. An example of this is the automatic and literal translation of legal semantics when its meaning is not compatible with the corresponding forensic system.
Juridical consequences of loss of context in legal translation
The most regrettable effects of the loss of context in legal translations are the juridical ones since they may generate liability. Such liability may be of a civil or criminal nature.
These are civil consequences for the translator:
- The obligation to compensate for the damages.
- Restitution.
- Indemnification for moral damages, among others.
These are criminal consequences:
- Imposition of fines or pecuniary sanctions.
- Suspension or prohibition from practicing as a translator.
- Restriction of personal freedom.
How to avoid loss of context Translating with AI
To address the challenges that come with automated translation, while safeguarding the context of the translated content, human intervention is essential. That means that a translator with experience in the legal field reviews and corrects the AI-generated text to ensure accuracy and consistency.