Dear reader,<\/p>\n
Many of the words we explore in this column have to do with everyday culture: yapa<\/em> and “lagniappe”; “¡Felicidades!”<\/em>and “¡Felicitaciones!”<\/em> as two varieties of congratulation; the nearly untranslatable piropo.<\/em><\/p>\n Much of our translation work, in contrast, is legal in nature: contracts, wills, powers of attorney, lawsuits.<\/p>\n In that work, it’s common to have to translate the title “notary public”.<\/p>\n “Notary”: what a trap that word lays for the unwary!<\/p>\n Because the obvious, direct translation to notario <\/em>or notario público<\/em> is wrong.<\/p>\n It’s a “false friend”, linguists’ term for words with similar appearance and origins but different meanings.Thus Spanish fábrica<\/em> (factory) is not fabric, a sentencia<\/em>(ruling, judgment) is not a sentence (punishment), a compromiso<\/em> (commitment) no compromise.<\/p>\n In Spanish-speaking countries, notarios <\/em>(they’re público<\/em> by definition, as the position requires government authorization) are lawyers specialized in legalization of documents and related matters. In Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, the title is escribano.<\/em><\/p>\n US notaries<\/em> are not attorneys; the requirements to become one are minimal.<\/p>\n Thus the frequent mistranslation of “notary” as notario<\/em> can, in effect, mislead Spanish speakers into thinking of these officials as attorneys.<\/p>\n In fact, this erroneous direct translation is expressly prohibited by law in various states, including Texas and Florida.<\/p>\n Our general recommendation is to translate “notary” as fedatario,<\/em> the Spanish term for an official authorized to attest to the legitimacy of signatures and oaths.<\/p>\n ¡Buenas palabras!<\/em><\/p>\n Pablo<\/p>\n Copyright ©2013 Pablo J. Davis. All Rights Reserved. This essay was originally written for the January 27, 2013 edition of La Prensa Latina<\/em> (Memphis, Tennessee), as part of the weekly bilingual column Mysteries & Enigmas of Translation\/Misterios y Enigmas de la Traducción.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear reader, Many of the words we explore in this column have to do with everyday culture: yapa and “lagniappe”; “¡Felicidades!”and “¡Felicitaciones!” as two varieties of congratulation; the nearly untranslatable piropo. Much of our translation work, in contrast, is legal in nature: contracts, wills, powers of attorney, lawsuits. Typical notary stamp in the US. The mistranslation of the title into Spanish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[95,190,299,297,298,44,10,300,301,45,302,47,48,303,304,14,305,306,307,308,51,52,310,309,17,53,54,235,55,19,20],"class_list":{"0":"post-624","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-interflows-language-culture-blog","7":"tag-pablo-j-davis","8":"tag-certificado","9":"tag-certified-translator","10":"tag-como","11":"tag-como-traducir","12":"tag-davis","13":"tag-english","14":"tag-error","15":"tag-escribano","16":"tag-espanol","17":"tag-fedatario","18":"tag-ingles","19":"tag-julian","20":"tag-law","21":"tag-legal","22":"tag-memphis","23":"tag-mistake","24":"tag-mistranslation","25":"tag-notario","26":"tag-notary","27":"tag-pablo","28":"tag-pablo-julian-davis","29":"tag-public","30":"tag-publico","31":"tag-spanish","32":"tag-tennessee","33":"tag-traduccion","34":"tag-traducir","35":"tag-traductor","36":"tag-translation","37":"tag-translator","38":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n