Translation of Contracts into English

Translation of a Developer Agreement

2021.11.24

Translating contracts into English (translation of contracts) is a quite common service for which I am invited to the notaries. Today I faced a 24-page long developer agreement…. twice.

• Place: Notarial Office Ilona Sądel-Bendkowska, Agata Perczyńska sp.p. · ul. Piękna 16 Warsaw City Centre
• Interpreter: sworn translator of English, Maciej Wróblewski
• Nationality of the Client: Indian
• Client’s official languages: Hindi, English
• Service: translation of a contract – Translation of a developer agreement
• Planned interpretingtime: 1h
• Interpreting time: 2h
• Price: rate per hour of the interpreter’s availability + cost of a 1-hour contract translation extension

Translation of Property Transfer Agreements

Today’s translation of a developer agreement turned into a translation of property transfer agreements. It simply turned out on the spot, first, that this was about finalising a transaction with a developer, and second, that the Client would be signing two agreements rather than one. As soon as I arrived at the notarial office and reviewed the agreement template, I realised that it would be virtually impossible to fit reading and translation into one hour.

As someone who is not afraid of challenges and puts the Client’s needs first, I was looking for an opportunity to condense the translation. Circumstances and the notary came to my rescue. Well, it turned out that the recipient of the translation was a person who ultimately would not be the owner of the real estate. This was the first information. The second was that, as this was a translation of property transfer agreements, their content overlapped, because it had to overlap, with the developer agreements, which Clients were already familiar with.

Notarial Translation – 24 Physical Pages of a Notarial Deed

That is why the notary talked about the deed, reading out only the most important fragments. I performed what the clients call a “notarial translation“. So, it was a quasi-simultaneous translation of contracts. Thanks to the above, we almost managed to fit the translation of a 24-page deed into one hour. Unfortunately, as it was a translation of contracts and not a single contract, we had to extend the service by another hour so that the Client had time to read the second one.

Translation of a Contract of Sale

2021.11.10

Today I translated a real estate sales contract – notarial translation in the City Centre. I performed the translation for an Italian citizen who was fluent in English.

• Place: Notarial Office, ul. Twarda, Lwowska, City Centre
• Interpreter: sworn translator of English, Maciej Wróblewski
• Nationality of the Client: Italian
• Client’s official languages: Italian
• Service: translation of a contract of sale
• Plannedtranslation time: 2h
• Interpreting time: 6h – the service time was extended (check: interpreting rate per hour)
• Price: interpreting, basic rate for 2 hours and a surcharge for extension of the interpreter’s availability by 4 hours

Why such an extension of the translation? The Client informed us that he needed a translation of a contract of sale done orally – interpretation at a notarial office. Usually, this kind of services concern the real estate market, so I had expected this from the outset. This time, however, it was different. As it soon turned out, it was not even a notarial deed, but only a signature certification. I thought ok, such services usually take very little time, one hour at the most. The Client surprised me also in this case as he had booked 2 hours of my availability.

Translation of Contracts into English

When I arrived at the notarial office, it turned out that I was indeed supposed to translate contracts into English, with signatures to be notarised. However, it soon turned out that the Client was right in his estimation of the time needed for the translation, as the document proved voluminous. What is even more interesting is that the sworn translation of the contractwas actually the least time-consuming task I was supposed to perform that day at this notarial office.

Translation of Negotiations

This was because thetranslation of a contract turned into interpreting during negotiations. The parties were not in full agreement on one of the more important elements of the contract, i.e., t he payment security. Despite the goodwill of both parties and their genuine intention to conclude the deal, the talks dragged on. The interpretation of the talks moved from consecutive, liaison (sentence by sentence) to sometimes even simultaneous form. Lawyers painstakingly revised the terms of the deal as the parties moved closer to reaching an agreement. The contract took its final shape after just under six hours after I had arrived at the notarial office. Finally, the parties shook hands fully satisfied with the arrangements.

These kinds of challenges are something that a sworn English interpretermust be ready for. As luck would have it, I had no other interpreting engagements scheduled for the same day. Nevertheless, in order to meet the deadlines of other commitments, I had to leave the office much later than usual. I do not despair, however, because, as I have already mentioned, a sworn interpreter must take into account that the situationduring the provision of a service may change dynamically.