Insurance Translation

The second feature of the sector is that its documents are written with a dispute in prospect. Policy conditions are drafted to be read at the moment an argument over a claim breaks out. The translation has to be made with the same care, and without adding any interpretation of its own.

The typical set of documents

Insurance business generates documents at three stages: before the contract, at the moment of loss, and between companies. Each stage has its own language and its own urgency.

Which of these documents call for sworn translation or a further layer of approval is set out in our document guide. In claim files above all, the medical reports, invoices and official statements attached to the file fall within the scope of the translation as well, and that is usually overlooked at the outset.

Where does the terminology risk concentrate?

Much of insurance terminology consists of words that carry a quite different meaning in everyday speech. Turkish terms such as muafiyet, sovtaj, rücu and ristorno each have a precise technical counterpart, and an approximate rendering can alter the calculation of a claim. Working the other way, the Turkish equivalents of English terms such as subrogation, deductible and excess themselves diverge according to context.

The second risk lies in the logic of exclusion and condition clauses. In nested constructions of the type “the following are outside cover, but are within cover provided that…”, losing one’s bearings reverses the scope. The third area is the way dates and periods are expressed in claim files; where a notification period or a limitation period is at stake, a date carried across wrongly can decide the fate of the claim.

The regulatory context

In Türkiye, insurance and private pensions form a field with a regulatory framework of its own. The headings to keep in view when translating insurance documents are these:

• Insurance activity falls within the regulatory and supervisory remit of SEDDK, and institutional terminology is expected to sit consistently with the official framework.
• The general conditions of a policy are standard texts; a translation should not rewrite these standard formulations freely, but should keep to their accepted equivalents.
• In documents put before reinsurers abroad, matching the technical terms to international usage is important.
• In documents addressed to consumers, a balance has to be struck between readability and technical accuracy.

SEDDK is a real institution; the procedure that applies to any given document, however, varies with the case in hand. Official sources should be taken as the basis for current practice.

Speed, volume and consistency in claim files

The heaviest translation item in an insurance operation is the claim file, and these files carry two opposing pressures at once: speed and consistency. A claim is expected to move quickly; yet the policy, the survey report and the correspondence within one and the same file have to agree with each other in their terminology. Giving up consistency for the sake of speed produces a file that is open to challenge later.

Volume is a difficulty in its own right. In a large loss the file can run to hundreds of pages and exceed the capacity of any single translator; once it is divided, drawing up the term list at the outset and keeping the final review in one pair of hands is what makes the split text read as a single piece. Nor is every page of the file of equal weight; establishing first which documents are critical and taking only those into full translation saves both time and cost.

The attachments to such files should not be missed either. The medical reports, invoices, official statements and photograph captions appended to a claim file usually need translating too, and bringing them within scope from the start prevents surprises halfway through.

Why specialist translation is needed

In insurance texts the wrong equivalent for a single term can change the scope of a claim even where the sentence itself reads smoothly. A team that knows the architecture of a policy, the course of a claim and the reinsurance relationship keeps the terminology consistent and can also tell which part of a claim file is the critical one. A glossary specific to the organisation makes that consistency hold across similar policies.

Since most insurance texts are written in the expectation of being read again later, leaving nothing ambiguous in the translation is essential. Where the source policy is obscure at some point, the answer is to clear that up rather than to paper over it in the translation; an approximate equivalent can turn into an argument once a claim is made.

A sound translation process therefore involves asking as well as translating. An exclusion that is not understood, or a date that contradicts another, is settled by verification rather than by guesswork. A team at home in the language of policies and claims sees from the outset which points call for a question, and clears the file of risky assumptions.

How we work

Choosing the right model in insurance depends on how regular the work is. A company with constant claim traffic and a broker translating a few reinsurance treaties a year do not need the same arrangement. The first step settles the typical types of file, the turnaround times expected and the confidentiality terms, so that these headings need not be discussed afresh with every new file.

For companies with a steady flow of claim files and policies, the framework model is the right fit; most claim files call for a flow that is fast but consistent. Individual reinsurance or litigation documents can be run on a project basis. Our rates, tiered by volume, are on our pricing page, and for an arrangement at organisation level you can get in touch with us.

The account below summarises typical practice; an institution’s own practice may differ. For the terms that apply, consult the institution’s current list of required documents.