Typo in my name in Power of Attorney, can it be corrected in the legal translation?
Thread poster: Meeno
Meeno
Meeno
United Arab Emirates
Feb 28, 2020

Hi, I'm an end customer that wants to legally translate a Notarized and Attested Power of Attorney from Spanish to English. The problem I'm facing is that there is a one letter typo in my name in the header of the POA but it's correctly spelled alongside my passport number in the body text of the POA which is the most crucial part.

My question is can the typo in the header be corrected when the POA is legally translated from Spanish to English or does it have to be translated as it
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Hi, I'm an end customer that wants to legally translate a Notarized and Attested Power of Attorney from Spanish to English. The problem I'm facing is that there is a one letter typo in my name in the header of the POA but it's correctly spelled alongside my passport number in the body text of the POA which is the most crucial part.

My question is can the typo in the header be corrected when the POA is legally translated from Spanish to English or does it have to be translated as it is? If it can be corrected in the legal translation, how would that look like in the translation? Will there be a note referring to the correct spelling in the body text?

Has anybody come across an issue like this before when legally translating a Power of Attorney or any document where the name has a typo in one part of the document but correctly spelled in another part?

I would appreciate any advice I can get.

[Edited at 2020-02-28 10:34 GMT]
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:16
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
@Meeno Feb 28, 2020

In Belgium, a sworn translator has to reproduce exactly what the original says (I was a sworn translator in Belgium for 15 years). In such a case what I used to do was writing the word sic after the typo or very occasionally a translator’s note. I don’t know if other countries are more flexible regarding this issue.

B D Finch
Adam Warren
Hedwig Spitzer (X)
 
Meeno
Meeno
United Arab Emirates
TOPIC STARTER
How to place note when typo is made in source document? @Teresa Borges Feb 28, 2020

Teresa Borges wrote:

In Belgium, a sworn translator has to reproduce exactly what the original says (I was a sworn translator in Belgium for 15 years). In such a case what I used to do was writing the word sic after the typo or very occasionally a translator’s note. I don’t know if other countries are more flexible regarding this issue.


Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me, I really appreciate it.

I just have one more question, if the translator puts a note rather than [sic.], where would the note be placed and what would the translator's note be if the name is misspelled once in the header and is correctly spelled next to my passport number in the body text? Would the note refer to the correctly spelled name that's beside my passport number in the body text?

This is an example of how the header looks like in the Power of Attorney with the typo in my name if translated from Spanish to English:

No. WRITING: 20300402022D03217
WRITING OF GENERAL POWER
GRANTED BY: ANONYMOUS
IN FAVOUR OF: MMENO


And this is an example of the name correctly spelled beside my passport number in the body text of the POA:

...on behalf of his brother Mr MEENO with passport number 0123456 of nationality OMAN domiciled in the city of ABU DHABI.


In the header, the error is the duplicated letter M, but the correct spelling has double E not double M.

Thanks again for your assistance.


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:16
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
@Meeno Feb 28, 2020

The translator’s note should be placed immediately after the misspelled name the first time (the only time?) it appears and should read something like: “Misspelled name in the original”. Hope this helps…

P.S. Are you both the beneficiary of the power of attorney and the translator?


Tina Vonhof (X)
 
B D Finch
B D Finch  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 15:16
French to English
+ ...
Do not correct it Feb 28, 2020

The most important question is whether the power of attorney is defective because of the typo (which I would have thought unlikely, but I'm not a lawyer). If in doubt over that, you should get a legal opinion. However, for that very reason (which illustrates the reason behind the general principle), it would be wrong for a translator to correct the misspelled name in the translation. As suggested by Teresa, the translator should add a translator's note.

[Edited at 2020-02-28 13:35 GMT]


Adam Warren
 
Meeno
Meeno
United Arab Emirates
TOPIC STARTER
Reply Feb 28, 2020

Teresa Borges wrote:

The translator’s note should be placed immediately after the misspelled name the first time (the only time?) it appears and should read something like: “Misspelled name in the original”. Hope this helps…

P.S. Are you both the beneficiary of the power of attorney and the translator?


No, I'm just the beneficiary, I just roughly translated it for this post to get a second opinion while the certified translator that I'm in contact with gets back to me on how she might handle the typo in the translation.

And yes, it's only misspelled once in the header and it's correctly spelled alongside my passport number in the body text of the POA.


B D Finch wrote:

The most important question is whether the power of attorney is defective because of the typo (which I would have thought unlikely, but I'm not a lawyer). If in doubt over that, you should get a legal opinion. However, for that very reason (which illustrates the reason behind the general principle), it would be wrong for a translator to correct the misspelled name in the translation. As suggested by Teresa, the translator should add a translator's note.

[Edited at 2020-02-28 13:35 GMT]


I appreciate you taking the time to reply and yes, whether the POA is invalidated because of this typo is the first thing I questioned when I noticed the mistake. But I just wanted to explore the option of correcting it or making a note of it in the legal translation in case correcting the POA itself is going to be difficult.

From the legal advice that I found and received online, the consensus seems to be that a typo in the name shouldn't be an issue or invalidate the POA, since my name is only misspelled once and it's correctly spelled in the body text alongside my passport number.

But I'm thinking now since the translator would most likely not correct the spelling in the translation and will leave a note, I think it will cause issues and raise many questions when I try to execute the POA which I don't want to deal with. I'll probably end up notarizing a new POA with the correction.

[Edited at 2020-02-28 15:01 GMT]

[Edited at 2020-02-28 21:18 GMT]


 
Meeno
Meeno
United Arab Emirates
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you so much for responding to my inquiry Feb 28, 2020

I just wanted to say that I really appreciate all the advice I've received in this thread, thank you @Teresa Borges and @B D Finch

You've been very helpful.


 
Paweł Hamerski
Paweł Hamerski
Poland
Local time: 15:16
English to Polish
+ ...
A sworn/certified translator cannot change any essential typo Feb 29, 2020

(especially in the names and other basic particulars) unless it is obvious (but then it shall be obvious to anybody and no translator notes are needed) and correction seems logical (but what for?). Anyway sometimes I correct it under the translator's note if leaving it without correction/comment may be misleading - like contract/contact.

[Edited at 2020-02-29 12:34 GMT]


ivan tran
 


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Typo in my name in Power of Attorney, can it be corrected in the legal translation?







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