The Most Common Hebrew-English Legal Translation Mistakes that My Clients Ask About

Translation is one those fields where the principle that “the client is always right” can be particularly tricky. As a company that prides itself on exceptional service, we would want to resoundingly adhere to this important service principle; however, translation, by its very nature, involves converting text written by a client in its native language to a language with which the client is (almost always) far less familiar. This poses a very specific service challenge – the client is always right, of course,… except for when the client is wrong.

In a series of short articles, I'm going to share a few examples of common legal translation mistakes that our clients ask us about and that we come across on an all-too-regular basis.

In Limine –

One extremely common mistake that keeps cropping up in the field of legal translation is the often incorrect translation of the Hebrew phrase “?? ???” (literally – “on the threshold”) into “in limine.” This translation mistake can be very confusing to the English speaker receiving the translation.

A motion in limine is not, as is often mistranslated, a general threshold motion. As explained by the American Bar Association in a recent article, a motion in limine is a motion asking the court to ascertain whether to exclude or admit evidence in advance of its presentation at trial.

Without going too deeply into the complexities of legal translation and the tightrope walking that is involved in finding the perfect fit in a different legal system, with its own unique set of rules (for our purposes – an English speaking legal system) for a term/concept in the original system (the Israeli system), there are times where a clear preference arises. In this case, more often than not, the correct translation for ?? ??? would be “summary” (i.e. a motion for “summary dismissal” or “summary judgment”). 

Stay posted - we're looking forward to tackling a few other common mistranslations. Drop a comment and let us know if you have any specific questions for us!