Nimrod Translations
NIMROD
TRANSLATIONS
Translation of Spanish legal documents into English
by Darius Grigg
About me
I was born and raised in London. My mother is Spanish and so I have spoken Spanish since I was a child. I have an LL.B. Law Degree from University College London (1995), and then I did the Legal Practice Course at the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice. Instead of going on to do a training contract, I spent several years teaching English in Spain (Huesca and Zaragoza) before finally getting the opportunity I had always wanted, to move out of teaching and into translation. In 2001 I began work in-house at Marsden Wirga & Asociados in Madrid, a small translation firm dedicated to serving Spanish and international law firms in Madrid, set up in 1998 by Greg Marsden (an American lawyer) and Frank Wirga (an English lawyer), formerly of the Bufete Armero law firm. With them I worked on translations for firms such as Freshfields, Uría & Menéndez, Garrigues, Deloitte, Cuatrecasas, Ramón y Cajal, and other clients such as Indra, Egeda, Ecoembes, Asociación Española del Tabaco, Mapfre, and Bankinter. In 2005 Deloitte offered me an in-house translation job which I declined because Greg Marsden was leaving Marsden Wirga & Asociados, giving me the opportunity to become a partner. Had I accepted I would have worked in the Windsor building which burnt down a few weeks later. In 2008 the financial crash hit the market, work dried up and our prices were squeezed. My wife was pregnant and I decided to leave Madrid and work from home. I carried on working with Frank Wirga remotely until he retired, and since leaving Madrid I have built up my own loyal portfolio of clients from around Spain, many of which are agencies that sub-contract their legal translations to me. It’s not as glamorous as it once was in Madrid, but I like being my own boss. I am always on the lookout for new opportunities with new clients who want someone reliable who can deliver a quality product every time, on time.
What I offer
The translation of your Spanish legal document into English. You will get an accurate and readable rendition of your original document, to the same standard as would be produced by the in-house translation department of an international law firm.
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For the purpose of example and not limitation (as they say) this means contracts, financial statements, terms & conditions, judgments, company by-laws, affidavits, certificates, deeds, court documents, powers of attorney, non-disclosure agreements, audit reports, wills, and so on, both from Spain and Latin America.
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I translate documents in Word or PDF format, and return them in Word or PDF format, as preferred by the client. I do not translate Excel or PowerPoint documents.
Likewise I do not translate CVs, or birth / marriage / death certificates, or academic or medical certificates.
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If you require a sworn translation, I can arrange for one of my colleagues to certify my translation for you. Likewise if you require a translation from English into Spanish, I will pass your document on to one of my experienced colleagues, and the final product will be verified by me before return.
How I work
Quality
I aim to draft a document that is so well-written that no one will know it is a translation. Whatever the quality of the original Spanish document (and I see the full range), I do whatever it takes to produce a natural-sounding English document that smooths over any problems in the original to become the document that the original author would have wanted. This can involve re-arranging sentences, clarifying ambiguities (wherever possible), changing the word order to eliminate unnecessary parentheses, fixing typos, switching between active and passive voices, cutting out repetitions, and all sorts of other tweaks to produce a document that will not contain any unnatural-sounding expressions or literal circumlocutions that no one English would ever say. In other words, a document that is as good as – or even better than – the original, while still saying exactly the same thing. I also take great care with the appearance of my work, returning a professional-looking document that faithfully reproduces the formatting of the original while also fixing any inconsistencies that may be detected such as irregular spacing or indentation, so that again, it is often better than the original. This is what makes my translations the best in the business.
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Each document receives detailed attention beyond even what is required of proof-readers, and is translated in a multi-stage process:
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The first stage is to write a first draft of the translation, which is often quite basic and literal, in order to get the feel of the document, to understand it as a whole, and to ‘soften up’ the difficult parts.
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The second stage is to re-write the first draft, improving its legibility while also dedicating as much time as necessary to the difficult or incomprehensible parts, which often become clearer once I have a sense of the overall document.
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The third stage is to comb through the document in exhaustive detail to make sure it is as good as it can be and sounds English, checking for unnatural constructions or turns of phrase which, while perfectly-good English, no one English would ever write. Translators can become used to literal translations and start believing they sound natural and stop noticing them, which is why I make a point of reading English documents regularly, i.e. documents drafted in English by English or American lawyers received by colleagues of mine for translation into Spanish: they help me to brush up on my English legalese and remind me of how English lawyers express themselves, as well as alerting me to any emerging new terminology.
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The fourth stage is for a colleague of mine to read out the original Spanish document while I quietly read my translation. The purpose of this stage is to make sure that the process of polishing the English has not made it depart from the original meaning. Sometimes what sounds best in English isn’t exactly what the author said and this stage serves to redress the balance wherever necessary.
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Finally there is the spell-check and the correction of any formatting issues such as page breaks, automatic numbering, or tables of contents. Only then is the document ready to go to the client.
A translator reads a document more diligently than any proof-reader, because unlike proof-readers he then has to say the same thing again in other words. For an additional 1 cent / word, I will provide you with a report detailing every single mistake, error, omission, typo, inconsistency, inaccuracy, or ambiguity in your document. If you then choose to amend your original on the basis of my report, I will then amend my translation as many times as necessary so it fits your improved original, and through a process of teamwork we will ensure that both your original document and the translation are word-perfect. If you request this service, I reserve the right to waive the surcharge if your document is perfect or near-perfect from the outset, so it costs you nothing if your document doesn’t need it. If you do not request this service then I will not query your document and just translate what is says. I have learned from experience that busy lawyers dislike being bothered with questions about their drafting, and resent their inferiors finding fault with their work, even when their professional image is at stake.
Punctuality
There are two kinds of document: those that come with a deadline imposed by the client (e.g. “I need it first thing tomorrow”), and those for which the client asks me how long it will take. In the first situation, the deadline is either feasible or it is not. If it is and I agree to do the document, then the client can be sure that it will be ready on time. I have completed over 3500 translations in my time and only once did I deliver a document late. It was in July 2008 and that client has never sent me any more work. If the deadline is not feasible then the client will have to find someone else. Just because someone else can do it does not mean that I am slow. Someone else will split the document across two or more translators, one of whom might be in Australia to take advantage of the time difference, and this inevitably compromises the quality and consistency of the translation. In the second situation, when I am asked how long it will take, I will always give my best time taking into account the length and complexity of the document and my current workload. Clients who send me regular work and pay promptly may find that they are offered better terms than those who only call me in an emergency or who are slow to settle their account.
Rushing a job is best avoided. It affects the quality and increases the chance that errors will creep in. I will only accept jobs for which there is reasonable time available, and for which I am certain I can meet the deadline. I will never split a job with another translator, or sub-contract if my workload precludes me from doing it myself. Unlike many agencies, I do not normally charge an urgency supplement (preferring to just say no), but in extreme circumstances requiring dedication beyond the call of duty I may offer to do the job only upon payment of a 50% supplement.
Fees and invoicing
Many agencies are coy about their fees (because they don’t want their team of translators to know what their mark-up is), and instead ask you to submit a document for which they will then give you a quote. I am upfront about my fees: €0.09 / word + VAT. Jobs for clients based outside of Spain are VAT exempt. There is no minimum fee. If you want me to report on errors in your original document, then my fee is €0.10 / word + VAT. This additional service is described above under Quality. The fee is charged on the number of words in the original document. If the original document is a scanned PDF that cannot be copied and pasted into Word, then the fee is charged on the number of words in the final document (which is always nearly the same). Payment within 7 days is greatly appreciated. Payment within 30 days is the longest I consider acceptable, especially when I have to work to your tight deadlines.
If you make changes to your original document after I have translated it and then want me to introduce those changes into the translation, this will be charged at the normal rate if the changes are mostly additions of new text. However, if the changes amount to a redraft with additions here and deletions there and sentences recast and rephrased, then I offer an hourly rate of €60.00 + VAT. If you want me to check and improve the quality of a translation done by someone else, then my fee is €0.04 / word + VAT. If you want me to check and improve the English of something you have drafted yourself in English, then my fee is €0.03 / word + VAT.
Most agencies expect you to pay in advance. Only long-established clients that send regular work are allowed to run an account and pay in arrears. In contrast, I invoice my clients at the end of the month for all jobs done since the last invoice, or for those that prefer it I invoice each job individually as soon as it is completed. I know I am not going to get paid until the client is fully satisfied.
Try me for free
If you are a new client then I will do a short translation (maximum 1000 words) for free so you can see what to expect. Or if you prefer you can send me a longer document and I will knock 1000 words off your first invoice.
Why pay for a premium service?
Agency websites are full of self-congratulatory waffle about “what sets us apart” or “our attention to detail” or how they are “setting new standards”, all of which leaves you feeling that you’ve heard it all before. They will have you believe that standard practice such as translators only translating into their native tongue, or work being checked thoroughly before being returned, or translators having a nodding acquaintance with their specialist subject, are unique to them and unheard of anywhere else. They also pander to customers who are unfamiliar with how translation works, suggesting that brilliant quality is available quickly and cheaply, and then plaster the logos of multinational corporations on their website to make you believe that these well-known companies trust no one else. But all agencies know the same truth: most customers want a translation that is just good enough to get by, delivered quickly, the cheaper the better, and the bottom end of the market is well-served by such agencies. In this environment it is difficult for quality outfits to stand out from the crowd, but demanding customers, including those who speak the language they need the translation in, do not take risks with their documents because haste saves no time and cheapness saves no money, and they invariably choose a small firm they trust, recommended by word of mouth. This is where I come in. I have spent the past 20 years delivering a quality product to discerning clients who often have a very good command of English and who will query anything they don’t like, and they expect me to understand that they require a reliable service that will not cause them any hassle or delays. A satisfied customer is the best advertisement, and it is satisfied customers who have sustained me through 20 years, 3500 translations, and 9 million words translated. There are few translators who can earn a living doing nothing but translations in a cut-throat market, but I am one of the few.
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It is easy to cut costs in translation, and that is why there are so many cheaper options than using me. Some translators work for cash and so save €300 / month on crippling Social Security contributions. They tend to have a day job and so only translate in their spare time. Working from home is also a way to save money, and this is the only money-saving option I am guilty of. I used to have an office in Madrid, near Paseo de la Castellana, with a secretary in the mornings and three telephone lines. That was before the 2008 financial crash when I only had one mouth to feed. Nowadays the internet makes it possible to work anywhere, and I have never met a client who cares where I work. Another way to cut costs is to pay under-qualified subordinates to do the bulk of the work and then just have the guy with the knowledge, the figurehead who parades his qualifications and many years’ experience, check the work before it goes out and take all the credit. I do all my translations myself. I never split up large documents and I never sub-contract. Automated translation tools can also help to cut costs. These are programs that combine a word-processor with a memory of all previous translations, so that any coincidences between the document being translated now and other documents translated in the past can be exploited to save time and improve uniformity. It sounds like a dream come true, but in truth these tools are clunky and are as much a distraction as a help. At Marsden Wirga, just out of curiosity, we bought a Trados licence and installed it on one of our computers and took turns to learn how to use it. We all agreed it was more trouble than it was worth, especially when the source document was a PDF, and gave up. Times have changed, and while I do not use automated translation tools in normal circumstances (I write every document from scratch), some clients demand their use for specific projects, such an Insurer client of mine that is constantly writing new policies where 90% of the document is the same as last time, and in this case I use MemoQ, but only because this is a specific requirement of the client.
