The implementation of the Judicial Affidavit Rule which took effect on January 1, 2013 has required lawyers to prepare the judicial affidavit of their witnesses which shall be in the language known to the witness and, if not in English, it must be accompanied by translation in English or in the official national language of the country.
Legal translation service may not be very common to us lawyers here in the Philippines because the translation is traditionally done in open court, during hearings, by no less than the government-employed court interpreter. But with the advent of the new rule requiring the lawyers to prepare the direct examinations in written form, there is a need for them to learn or avail of legal translation services that would help them to properly translate answers given to them in the local dialect or other language other than English.
Back in college, I have observed from the court once that the judge asked the English translation of singkamas when the witness mentioned it during his testimony. The court interpreter was at a loss of words and doesn't seem to know the translation. But the judge said that it is "turnip." I didn't know that! So what if your witness is one of the people from indigenous tribes, or one who speaks his local dialect that you don't know of? I'm sure that you will need professional legal translation services for you to finish your judicial affidavit on time.
If you are looking for professional legal translators who could help you translate your affidavits, contracts, depositions, and other documents, you might want to check out Linguistic Systems Inc. which has been serving the legal community since 1967 with their translation and interpreting services.
