Affidavit Translations

What is an affidavit?

It is a sworn, signed statement of facts which is used in a trial or any other court
proceeding where the requirement is to provide a verified statement. It is often prepared
by a witness for the benefit of ac defendant in a court case. Any affidavit filed in court to
support a case must be presented to all parties involved in the case including lawyers.

The signing of the affidavit

The person who is creating an affidavit called the deponent is required to sign the bottom
of all pages of the affidavit when an authorized person is present. This could be a Justice of
the Peace (JP) or a lawyer.

When you reach the affidavit’s last page you must include the following details. This is
referred to as the jurat:

• the person’s full name who is responsible for creating the affidavit, as well as their
  signature
• if the affidavit is affirmed or sworn
• the place and day the person has signed the affidavit,
• the authorized full name and occupation as well as their signature.

If any corrections, crossings- outs or additions are added to the affidavit, the person
responsible for creating the affidavit and the witness are required to put their initials on
each of the alterations.

Affidavit translation

• If the affidavit has been created in a language that isn’t English, it is unlikely that the
  court or tribunal would accept it unless it is accompanied by an affidavit
  translation from a qualified translator who:
• Has sworn an oath or made an affirmation that the affidavit had been accurately
  translated from the prescribed words from English to the deponent's language;
• provided a written translation of the deponent's affidavit in English.

Because the affidavit creator has to swear that the content of the affidavit is true if s/he is
not fluent in English it is a requirement that an interpreter is present to witness the
swearing.

The process for using an interpreter is as follows:

• The interpreter makes an ' the interpreter's oath' which helps to make sure that
  what the interpreter hears is accurately translated to the best of his/her ability and
  in obeyance of the law.
• The interpreter should read the affidavit translation to the deponent.
• The interpreter will translate the affirmation or oath for the deponent. The
  deponent might repeat the oath in his/her own language.

Translation software for legal documents such as an affidavit

There are many different types of online software available to help the translator for
affidavits create an accurate affidavit translation.
Geoworkz by Lionbridge promotes its translation software to freelancers and translation
agencies with different tools available that support all types of translations including
affidavits. Its set of features includes a live assets tool that offers live updates to all types
of translations and glossaries. It also provides project managing tools such as asset aliasing
which protects customer security.

Computer-assisted Affidavit Translation Tools

For any affidavit translator who is new to CAT tools for affidavit translations, their
purpose is to decrease the length of time for an affidavit translation to be completed. The
translator will organize the affidavit into small translatable segments.

For any affidavit translator who is new to CAT tools for affidavit translations, their
purpose is to decrease the length of time for an affidavit translation to be completed. The
translator will organize the affidavit into small translatable segments.

memoQ, which runs off Microsoft Windows and delivers both quality and productivity for
an affidavit translator who performs an affidavit translation and then edits and reviews
the translations. It also allows affidavit translators to form a glossary with terms that can
be reused because they have come from previous translations. It also has good translation
memory and stores context information for both language directions.