Magnify it!

Example of Magic Lens Max

If you work with any number of scanned legal documents, you will be well aware of the eye strain that this involves. They are inevitably filled with smudges, spots, cut-off words, text that is either too dark or too light, and if that were not enough, abominable handwriting! In addition to the discomfort and tiredness caused by this strain, you run the risk of mis-transcribing or mistranslating a word or words from not reading the image text properly.

One solution is to simply enlarge the entire text. Depending on the application you are using, this can be achieved different ways. In Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Word, I like to zoom in and out by pressing Control + Scroll Up/Scroll Down. This tactic usually does the job, but if you have many portions of your document that need to be enlarged, you might find it awkward as the document's entire width may not fit inside the window. This will force you to either scroll right and left or move the document right and left with the hand tool, thus taking your hands off of the keyboard and diverting your concentration from the task at hand.

If your scanned text image file is a PDF, you can use Adobe Acrobat's loupe tool. This is a small magnifying glass like window that allows you to adjust the size of the area being magnified and zoom percentage. You can activate it by going to Tools -> Loupe. If your source document is not in PDF format, you can always convert it to PDF in order to take advantage of the loupe.



Nonetheless, disk space and RAM permitting, I like an overall solution that takes care of every instance instead of seeking an individual one according to the application being used. I recommend Magic Lens Max. I downloaded it as a Giveaway of the Day, and have been using it ever since.



Magic Lens Max accomplishes everything that the other application-specific tools do, and it also lightens and darkens the magnified area -a real help in the case of overly dark or light text.

Custom made terms

Translators search for the right word just as carpenters search for the right tool. In the legal world, many terms can be successfully pulled out of a dictionary. Other times, there is simply no equivalent in English, be it a legal or everyday term.

How do you translate apellido paterno and apellido materno? Most Americans only have one last name and are unaware that in Spanish speaking countries, people use two last names, their father's followed by their mother's. I have invented paternal surname and maternal surname.

¡Caso Cerrado!

¡He dicho! ¡Caso cerrado!

Such are the famous last words of Dra. Ana Polo of the much watched TV court show Caso Cerrado. I used to change the channel when I saw her show was on. Nevertheless, with time, I have realized that it is an excellent vehicle for understanding the U.S. legal system and how it applies to Spanish-speaking immigrants.

Sure, the show is theatrical, and you can expect to see litigants attempting to strike each other, and you will hear lots of shouting, but what Dra. Polo rules is based on the law, and well explained. Incidentally, Dra. Polo came to Chile for the Teletón. I suspect that she is an acquaintance of Don Francisco, as they are both based in Miami.

Immigration link

To learn more about immigration to the United States, you might like to sign up for the SHUSTERMAN'S IMMIGRATION UPDATE. It is a newsletter that comes out occasionally, and it is a good way to learn about immigration procedures and laws.

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