Conclusions

The Conclusions discuss the theoretical models put forward in this interdisciplinary practitioner research project on outsourced legal translation, and their potential application in order to enhance the fitness-for-purpose of translated texts. Emphasis is placed on the need for comprehensive briefing due to serious ensuing risks with consequent effects on the outcomes of litigation, the proper administration of justice, and the fight against crime. A review of legal translation performance constraints on textual agency and relational agency that have emerged from the data is provided. A number of avenues for future research are sketched out, and the importance of translator professionalization is foregrounded, as is bidirectional dialogue between clients and translation practitioners, in the performance of what, in the light of this extensive market survey, proves to be an arduous and highly sensitive task.

A Comprehensive Legal Translation Brief

The potential benefits of voicing performance constraints and addressing risk by means of a comprehensive legal translation brief are the subject of Chapter 4. A review of academic work in this area and of briefing in comparable sectors of the market prepares the ground for a discussion of interactional and relational dysfunctions. This emphasizes the importance of the translator assuming a central role as an expert partner in a collaborative service provision process. Having reported some existing market initiatives, the author sets out the components for a legal translation brief to be used as a template by practitioners to optimize the delivery of these expert professional services.

A Triangulated Survey of the Outsourcing of Legal Translations to External Practitioners

Chapter 5 presents the results of this empirical study—a global survey of the legal translation outsourcing market, polling both principals and agents (those commissioning translation and translators), with dual focus—briefing processes and translation performance. The scope and design of the survey are described, as are data analysis methods. Quantitative and qualitative data are organized according to the components of the legal translation brief proposed and according to facets of legal translation performance. Examples from the very extensive data set illustrate the critical outcomes that have come to light, such as (i) resulting from the briefing process: lack of access to source text drafters, failure to communicate intended purpose and end-users of translated texts, and absence of reference material, and (ii) in performance of the translation: logistic dysfunctions, source text quality, linguistic and legal issues as these relate to the fitness-for-purpose of translated texts.

Constraints on the Outsourced Legal Translation Process

Chapter 3 tackles the manifold constraints on the outsourced legal translation process, including various types of norms. The author presents a practice-based model dividing these constraints into three categories—those applying upstream, during, and downstream of translation performance. Each category is further enumerated, and the crosscutting issues of logistics and briefing inadequacies are also discussed. To add further depth to the model, a distinction is drawn between constraints on textual agency and those on relational agency. Fitness-for-purpose is explored as a quality assessment benchmark, particularly in relation to insufficiently briefed assignments and translator liability. The model has potential for application both in theoretical and practical environments, to elucidate difficulties, refine interactions, and achieve more effective client-translator and translator-client dialogues.

Facets of Legal Translation Performance

In Chapter 2, the performance of legal translation is analysed, seen as a negotiation and informed, inter alia, by comparative law, genre theory and functionalism, from four perspectives: language/discourse; legal systems; genre; and textual purpose. These comprise the underpinnings of the author’s multidimensional model of the legal translation practitioner’s textual agency, seen as a set of dynamic and non-linear interactions. Each facet is discussed individually to provide the background for the model which is presented at the end of the chapter. Levels of (c)overtness are also highlighted as a way of assisting clients in expressing their requirements, and emphasis is placed on the relevance and importance of differentiating translation status when work is commissioned.

The Outsourced Legal Translation Environment

Chapter 1 situates outsourced legal translation in its environment, examining the specific features of the market, and introduces corporate agency theory as a lens through which to research the commissioning and performance of legal translation from and by external practitioners, enriched with certain functionalist translation theories. Issues of status, cursory orders, and heterogeneous quality are discussed, together with the effects of accelerated technological developments and globalization. The complexity of interaction and power play between actors in the market and associated risk potential are discussed, and a model of the chain of supply is presented, along with profiles of key stakeholders.

Introduction

The Introduction sets the scene for legal translation and its outsourcing in a globalized context, and, to show how the project described is positioned in the discipline, reviews developments in ‘Legal Translation Studies’ in recent decades, including its flourishing interdisciplinarity. Key definitions are provided, with an overview of the research objectives and boundaries. The guiding thread of the book is outlined, consisting of the tensions between the briefing and performance of outsourced legal translation, constrained by context and contextual resources, and the potential risks involved, in which the translator’s textual and relational agency forms a crucial hub. The author’s profile is sketched out, to give background to the underpinnings of this practitioner research project, since her position in the field provided unprecedented access to those involved in practice—translators, clients and intermediaries—enabling a wealth of empirical data to be collected on legal translation as it is performed outside institutions.