Creating Multilingual Legal Texts

2019 ◽  
pp. 157-182
Author(s):  
Janny H.C. Leung
Keyword(s):  
Target Language ◽  
Official Language ◽  
Legal Certainty ◽  
Power Struggles ◽  
Certainty Equivalence ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Legal Translation ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
The Law ◽  
Linguistic Engineering

This chapter assesses the challenges in producing multilingual legal texts, especially where these texts are supposed to be equally authentic. The first of these challenges is translation. The risk is that a failure to achieve translation equivalence compromises legal certainty. Equivalence aside, there are also deeper political tensions in the process of legal translation: power struggles among speakers of the source and target language may be reflected in translation strategies adopted. Apart from translating the law, the legislature also needs to revise drafting procedures to ensure that different language versions of the law are consistent with one another, and that they respect linguistic equality where it is emphasized by the law. Where the new official language has not developed a legal vocabulary and a formal register, further linguistic engineering may be necessary. Sometimes ideological engineering is also called for.

Legal metaphors in translation

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 330-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Vegara Fabregat
Keyword(s):  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Supreme ◽  
Interesting Aspect ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Spanish Translation ◽  
Legal Concept ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Legal Translation ◽  
Legal Texts

There is wide literature on metaphor and legal language (e.g., Henly 1987; Twardzisz 2008, amongst many others). Certainly, metaphor is a part of legal language (Alcaraz and Hughes 2002: 43), but not just an ornamental part. Metaphors may play a very important role in legal texts, a cognitive role. They can convey intricate legal notions and may also communicate certain opinions and perspectives (Dickerson 1996: 374; Joo 2002: 23). Another interesting aspect connected with metaphors in the language of law is translation. We must bear in mind that legal translation has its own special difficulties, such as complex terminology and usually two very dissimilar legal systems as background (Soriano 2002: 53; Gémar 2002: 167). Metaphorical expressions constitute an additional hindrance for legal translators since they transfer a metaphorical image together with a legal concept. In the present study we aim at analysing some metaphorical expressions found in the United States Supreme Court opinions and their translation. We will focus on the scrutiny of some English–Spanish translation strategies in order to comment on the solutions adopted. Our hope is to shed some light on the field of legal translation regarding metaphors.

No creativity in legal translation?

Babel ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 355-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sieglinde E. Pommer
Keyword(s):  
Legal Systems ◽  
Creative Activity ◽  
Complex Problems ◽  
Legal Translation ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
The Law

Whereas translating is generally considered to be a creative activity, mentioning this in the context of legal translation is, rather paradoxically, widely frowned upon despite the fact that the ­incongruency of legal systems makes finding exact equivalents particularly difficult in legal texts. Convinced that in fact translating the law requires taking insightful judgments, detecting interesting alternatives, coming up with novel ways to communicate ideas, and finding useful ­solutions to complex problems, the author examines the dynamic concept of creativity and redefines its meaning with regard to legal translation.

scholarly journals Translation Strategies in Legal Texts: Selected Articles of the Translation of the US-Iraqi Security Agreement

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 134
Author(s):  
Ahmed Ibrahim Abed ◽  
Omar A. Shihab ◽  
Mushtaq A. Jameel
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Text Segment ◽  
Legal Translation ◽  
The Us ◽  
Legal Texts

Legal language is characterized as the professional use of words. Thus, it can be said that the international law (as a result of translation and interpretation as well) has become more crucial. Therefore, legal translation has become important among the other domains of translation. This study aims at investigating the translation strategies adopted in translating the US- Iraqi security agreement from English into Arabic. So, there is a set of translation strategies that help translating the two texts properly and accurately. The translation strategies followed in translating the US- Iraqi security agreement will be investigated in the two of the two English and Arabic texts as there are many strategies in the linguistic theory of translation. Dr. As. Safi in his model covers both the local strategies which belonging to text segment and global ones that have to do with the whole text. Translation strategies are divided into general ones which deal with all types texts and specific strategies that deal with specific kinds of texts; specific ones are divided into domestication, compensation, (in kind, in place, by merging, or splitting and compensation by addition) , addition, elaboration and explication, and approximation and compromise. Thus, the text under study is a legal one and, of course, has a specific type of text; only specific strategies are applied in this study.

scholarly journals TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES ON INDONESIAN SWORN TRANSLATOR’S LEGAL TEXTS TRANSLATION

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aris Wuryantoro ◽  
H.D. Edi Subroto ◽  
M.R. Nababan
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Birth Certificate ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Scientific Texts ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Legal Translation ◽  
Translation Technique ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Translation Techniques ◽  
Language Text

Legal translation is the transferring the meaning from source language text into target language which not only consists of language system but also legal system. This research aims to analyze the translation  techniques  used  by  the  Indonesian  sworn  translators  in  translating  legal  texts  from English into Indonesian. This research uses descriptive qualitative method. Data obtained through content analysis on translations of the Indonesian sworn translators containing Certificate of Live Birth, Certificate of Marriage, Principles Statement of Terms and Conditions. The result of the research reveals: a) single translation technique dominates the translation technique in translating legal and law scientific texts from English into Indonesian obtains (66,67%) data consisting  of 10 variants (literal, amplification, recognized, reduction, borrowing, modulation, transposition, adaptation, colque, and description); b) couplet translation technique (32,%) data consisting of 16 variants (literal and borrowing, literal and recognized equivalent, literal and reduction, literal and adaptation, literal and amplification, literal and transposition, literal and modulation, literal and colque, borrowing and amplification, literal and description, borrowing and modulation, borrowing and adaptation, borrowing and transposition, modulation and colque, reduction and colque,  and reduction and adaptation), and triplet translation technique (1,19%) data consisting of 4 variants (literal + borrowing + modulation, literal + amplification + transposition, literal + amplification + borrowing, and literal + transposition + reduction). Researcher concludes that translation technique of legal texts from English into Indonesian conducted by Indonesian sworn translators contains three kinds of translation techniques, <em>i.e. </em>single translation technique, couplet translation technique, and triplet translation technique with 30 variants

A study of legal translation from the perspective of error analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pi-Chan Hu ◽  
Le Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Error Analysis ◽  
Ordinary Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Legal Translation ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Reference Tools

AbstractIn this research, we established a small scale corpus with abstracts in English and Chinese from the law reviews of Taiwan. We identified problems found in these abstracts and classified them into several categories. After analyzing the problems, we found that translators are faced with numerous problems when translating legal texts: the influence of ordinary language, lack of reliable reference tools, insufficiency of legal knowledge, deficiency in the target language or source language, and the peculiar characteristics of legal language. These problems simply render the task of translating even more intricate. Strategies will be proposed to enhance the ability of legal translators and to help them to overcome these obstacles.

scholarly journals An Inventory of the Problems Related to Translating and Revising Legal Texts Issued by an African Court: A Case Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
pp. 72-84
Author(s):  
Servais Martial Akpaca
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Legal Translation ◽  
Legal Term ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Lexical Approach ◽  
General Translation

The aim of this paper is to make an inventory of the problems that translators encounter when they translate the documents issued by a specific African human rights court. More specifically translating at the ACHPR requires the knowledge of legal language and familiarity with a particular type of legal texts as well as competence in human rights conventions and charters and general translation skills. In an attempt to address these issues, this paper adopts a threefold approach, namely a historical approach recalling some legal systems and traditions upheld by courts, a theoretical approach throwing light on some key concepts and a lexical approach that makes it possible to extract legal terms from texts issued by the court and match them with their equivalents in the target language. The result of this research work is that legal translation is a specialised area due to the legal terms and systems involved in it. Unlike other specialised areas where the link between the signifier and the signified is fixed, in legal translation, the signified may be inflected due to differences between legal systems. Finding an equivalent for a legal term in another legal system or in a target language may beat times difficult and even impossible.

scholarly journals Green Colour-based Metaphorical Terms: Translating EU Documents from English into Lithuanian and Italian

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 51-70
Author(s):  
Aušra Kamandulytė
Keyword(s):  
Legal Discourse ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Green Colour ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Increasing Trend ◽  
Word Translation

The object of this article is metaphorical terms in EU legal discourse. It discusses the concept of a metaphorical term, the usage of such terms in EU legal acts and their role in modern LSP texts, with a focus on their translation. The study analyses metaphorical terms with the lexeme “green” as used in secondary legislation, published between 2016 and 2017, and the motivation of term formation in the source language and translation strategies of rendering these terms into Lithuanian and Italian. The results suggest that in most cases word-for-word translation is used when translating colour-based metaphorical terms, thereby preserving the colour lexeme of the source language in the target language and, thus, the metaphorical character of the term itself. Although the study covers a relatively short period, it confirms the idea that has already been raised in some papers on terminology about an increasing trend of using metaphorical terms in Lithuanian legal texts, even though this is less persistent than in Italian, the language chosen for comparison.

scholarly journals An Analysis about the Influence of Culture Transfer on Legal Translation from the Perspective of Intercultural Communication

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Chunxu Qian
Keyword(s):  
Social Development ◽  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Transfer Process ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Legal Translation ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
The World ◽  
Study Process

With the increasingly rapid social development, collusion and integration of different culture around the world, legal translation also becomes an exceedingly important tool in exchanges of laws. Legal translation, in essence, is a non-negligible aspect of intercultural communication, because legal translation is not only a transfer process from one language to another language, but also a study process of various legal cultures. In traditional researches about legal translation,most scholars only have a preference to pay more attention to the faithfulness and exactness of target language, but ignore the significance of cultural elements that are key limitations to the readiness of legal translation. Researchers can take advantage of culture transfer, which is a strategy to avoid misunderstandings in process of legal translation for the intention of improving the quality of legal texts. In this paper, legal translation refers to translation between English legal texts and Chinese legal texts.

scholarly journals Free vs. Faithful – Towards Identifying the Relationship between Academic and Professional Criteria for Legal Translation

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-239
Author(s):  
Mette Hjort-Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Target Language ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Binding Force ◽  
Legal Translation ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

For many years translation theorists have discussed the degree of translational freedom a legal translator has in rendering the meaning of a legal source text in a translation. Some believe that in order to achieve the communicative purpose, legal translators should focus on readability and bias their translation towards the target language community. Others insist that because of the special nature of legal texts and the sometimes binding force of legal translations, translators should stay as close to the source text as possible, i.e., bias their translation towards the source language community. But what is the relationship between these ‘academic’ observations and the way professional users and producers, i.e., lawyers and translators, think of legal translation? This article examines how actors on the Danish legal translation market view translational manoeuvres that result in a more or less close relationship between a legal source text and its translation, and also the translator’s power to decide what the nature of this relationship should be and how it should manifest itself in the translation.

Pengatuan Hukum Terhadap Narkotika Jenis-Jenis Baru yang Belum Terdaftar

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rizky Maulana Hakim
Keyword(s):  
Hazardous Materials ◽  
Legal Certainty ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
The Law

We realize that in the community, it is still close to the night world which can plunge the nation's next generation, through drinking, gambling, and especially Narcotics. There are many rules related to this problem, it is still possible that the minimum knowledge of the community is what causes users to become victims of the rigors of using drugs.In discussing this paper, we will take and discuss the theme of "Legal Certainty and Role of Laws on Narcotics (Narcotics and Drugs / Hazardous Materials) by Users and Distributors." The purpose of accepting this paper is, first, to be agreed by the reader which can be understood about the dangers that need to be discussed regarding the subjectivity of the drug itself; secondly, asking the reader to get a clue about actually addressing the urgency about the distribution of drugs; round, which is about knowing what the rules of the law and also the awareness in the surrounding community.Keywords: Narcotics, Role of Laws, Problem, Minimum Knowledge, awareness

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