Solicitor made me translate a document

[Szesze11]

Hi, I feel my solicitor made me translate a contract document unnecessary. This cost me money.
I am in the process of buying a property and a small amount of the deposit came from a sold property from Hungary. I am buying the property in the UK. The contract is in Hungarian and they made me translate to English, which cost me money.
I supplied the original contract along with all transaction receipts relating to the transaction.
I thought the translation was needed for the mortgage application, but this wasn't the case. We actually received the mortgage application before sending the translated document.
When I questioned the solicitor they told me: "The checks completed by your lender are usually less in depth as they are completing affordability checks where as we are sourcing the funds as they travel through our accounts."
I just feel like the translation was totally unnecessary, as they could see the transaction details from the original contract, matched by all the other transaction receipts / bank statements.
What do you think?

Google Translate is briliiant for European languages to English BUT it doesn't meet the highest standards, Google will not let you sue them if you rely on their translation for a legal document. I'd want a human to vouch for the translation on a legal document.

Do you not understand that it’s the notary aspect they need?

Solicitors can only rely on translations by certified translators. And as others have said, they are simply doing their duty. You are being very, very, unreasonable.

I do find it frustrating that so many on MN assume bad faith on the part of lawyers.

THIS IS A ZOMBIE THREAD

Agreed.

I've experienced this in a medical context; Doc in country A speaking language A needing a translation of dossier written by Doc B in country B, who speaks a different language.

Requirement could only be fullfilled by me paying for a professional translation which came with a certificate completed by the translator attesting as to the accuracy of their work.

Google translate certainly was not acceptable.

Pop this sentence into an online translator and see what it comes up with! 🙄 A human stands a better chance of translating human garbage than Google translate. (Hint @Szesze11 ‘per say’ doesn’t mean what you are trying to say. However, as a human capable of picking up nuance, I can see what you are clumsily trying to say.)

I use Google translate frequently to correspond with competition entry secretaries throughout Europe. I know when I translate their emails, there are often words and phrases Google translate cannot manage. I also spend a lot of time working with maps, and I’ve come across a lot of written notes on maps that don’t seem to have a direct translation, but when I ask a native speaker of that country what the note means, they are easily able to explain despite Google translate struggling. There is a definite role for professional translators, especially where a document is legally binding, and could be written in archaic language, and you want to ensure that it is correctly translated.

I have bought and sold a house abroad in a small country that speaks a language not spoken by any other countries around the world. We were required to have all purchase and legal documents in this language professionally translated then witnessed by a notary. In the grand scheme of things, it was no big deal. Hungarian is a similarly rare language, I would imagine that a suitably qualified translator is difficult to find, and charges accordingly. But it’s just one of those bits of buying a property abroad that you have to suck up.

OOhh. I can tell that you don't deal with translations for a living!

Translation is a very skilled job - google can give you a general gist, but it can get some pretty important things very wrong.

And that's before you get on to figures of speech used in certain contexts and not others - especially in things like contracts - direct translation isn't always accurate.

A company I worked for once used an employee to translate their website (totally fluent in both languages) - but when we showed it to clients, they burst out laughing - the employee had used casual language in a business situation and it made the website read as though it was in 'teen speak' - utterly the wrong impression

Exactly; Resurrected by someone who came on to say 'hi' deliberately.

It might be a zombie thread, but it’s interesting.

I realised yesterday that 2/3 of the residential property consultants at the law firm I work for are bi- or trilingual. It means their clients don’t have to pay for translations in those languages, which must really help them get work.