Spanish written, not translated
You'll be able to: tell the difference between a translated template and one written in Spanish, and fix the common problems.
A translated message carries the English structure into Spanish. It reads like a form letter from another country. A message written in Spanish starts from how a Spanish-speaking person in South Florida would expect a law office to talk to them.
Three common problems in translated intake copy:
Literal legal terms. English intake copy borrows terms of art. A literal translation can be correct and still confusing. "Consulta" is clear; a literal rendering of "initial case evaluation" may not be. Prefer the plain word your callers use.
Register drift. English templates are often casual. Spanish templates should usually default to usted, not tú, for a first contact with a stranger about a legal problem. Some firms with younger clients choose tú; that is a firm decision, made once and used everywhere.
Country variation. South Florida callers come from Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Central America, and elsewhere. Words for everyday things differ. Neutral, clear Spanish works for everyone. Avoid slang from any one country.
LegalCRM's Spanish templates in each practice pack were written in Spanish, and your attorney approved them at setup. Your staff will write new messages every day, though, and the inbox is where translation habits creep back in. A short house style guide fixes most of it: usted or tú, the words for "consultation," "attorney," "fee," "appointment," and "documents," and a rule that nobody runs a message through a machine translator and sends it unreviewed.
Who writes Spanish? Only staff who write it well. Speaking fluently and writing professionally are different skills. If a staff member speaks Spanish but writes it informally, they can take Spanish calls and use the approved Spanish saved replies, and a stronger writer reviews anything new.
Do it in LegalCRM
- Open the Spanish saved replies from Lesson 1.2. Read each aloud. Fix anything that sounds translated.
- Write a one-page house style guide (register, preferred terms, banned slang) and attach it to the user onboarding checklist.
- On each user's profile, record the languages they handle by phone and by writing.
- Set the language field to route Spanish conversations to users who write Spanish.
Ask the Guide
Paste this into the AI guide, without client names or matter facts:
"Here is a Spanish message our staff wrote, with names removed: [text]. Does it read as written in Spanish or translated? Rewrite it in neutral Spanish using usted."