The benefits of computerized translations are their speed, accessibility, and cost. The risk is whether they are sufficiently precise for a given need. This note assesses the options available to translate legal text for socio-legal research. We evaluate three tools—DeepL, Google, Microsoft—and assess each one’s ability to translate similar legal content enacted by the Brazilian, Chinese, French, Japanese, and Mexican governments. We demonstrate that machine translators are reliable and effective, particularly at higher levels of generality. They are fallible, however, and each is prone to making critical errors that may jeopardize research. We show that employing human translators to edit automated translations produces high-quality translations in one-third the time and at a fraction of the cost. This methodological contribution promises to enrich socio-legal research by establishing a translation protocol that is affordable, rigorous yet simple, and transparent. We propose that scholars use this method for comparative socio-legal research.
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