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

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.

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 330-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Vegara Fabregat

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.


Babel ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 180-185
Author(s):  
Klaus Rossenbeck

This book would certainly become a standard work for the theory and practice of legal translation if it had been written in a more internationally accessible language than Swedish. In this review, the book's main ideas are presented more extensively than would otherwise be necessary so that those readers who do not have a good command of Swedish can form an idea of the work's merits. The book treats, with great competence, the following problems: Linguistic and legal problems connected to international agreements that exist in different authentic versions or in a language that is not that of the parties who are making the agreement; quality control of legal translations, especialy those in Sweden; the translation of general language vocabulary that is found in legal texts; the question of equivalence relationships in the translation of legal terms; the translation of culturally bound vocabulary; translation of names of different courts, authorities and organizations; problems in the translation of designations for different crimes as well as for legal terms with ideological connotations; linguistic limitations within any given language due to incongruities in certain terms that are used not only within the context of national law but also within international law. The book's theoretical commentaries are characterized by balance and are accompanied by a great deal of useful advice for solving practical problems of translation. This reviewer would like to see better bilingual dictionaries that are based on complete and thorough comparative analyses of legal systems and that are of the same type as that which Vogel has carried out using only a limited number of examples.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-121
Author(s):  
Robert Knox ◽  
Ntina Tzouvala

Abstract Despite minimal prospects of success, international lawyers spent the first few months of the global pandemic discussing whether the rules of state responsibility could be invoked against states, especially China, for their acts and omissions regarding COVID-19. In this piece, we take these debates seriously, if not necessarily literally. We argue that the unrealistic nature of these debates does not make them irrelevant. Rather, we propose an ideology critique of state responsibility as a legal field. Our approach is two-fold. First, we argue these debates need to be situated within the rise of geopolitical competition between the US and its allies on the one hand and China on the other. In this context, state responsibility is always laid at the feet of one’s opponents. Secondly, we posit that my emphasising the role of states, recourse to state responsibility renders invisible the role of transnational processes of capitalist production and exchange that have profound effects on nature and set the stage for the emergence and spread of infectious diseases. Drawing from the work of the geographer Neil Smith, we argue against the ‘naturalisation’ of disasters performed much of the international legal discourse about COVID-19.


2022 ◽  
Vol 3 (33) ◽  
pp. 86-102
Author(s):  
Hasan Said Ghazala ◽  

Among the newly developed ideas in the relationship of translation to style is the strong link between translation and cognitive stylistics. The result of this link is the introduction of cognitive conceptualization to translation as one way of comprehending and rendering meaning of the SL into the TL. On the other hand, it can help solve some problems of legal translation based on cognitive cultural conceptualization of legal terms and expressions. This paper is an attempt to introduce new clues for sorting out a number of legal terminology in the light of latest cognitive approaches to the conceptualization of style which can be applied to legal language in the translation between the two languages, Arabic and English. This is achieved through introducing cognitive stylistic approaches to the conceptualization of the style of legal language in translation and how untrodden ways of legal meanings and implications can be traced and unearthed in the process. The paper ends up with some conclusions about suggesting way-out solutions to several problems of legal translation between the two languages concerned, to be put in use later by legal translators.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 51-66
Author(s):  
Piotr PIEPRZYCA

Preamble to the Constitution is a special type of legal text, which differs significantly from the other legislative texts, both in terms of vocabulary, syntax and semantics. This paper aims to make the characteristics of the legal language of the preamble to the Constitution – its content, form and function it plays in the legal system. The linguistic corpus is composed of over twenty preambles to constitutions of European countries. The results show that, despite some differences between the preambles of individual European countries, there are many features in common – almost all mention the values and principles, considered as fundamental to the nation, such as independence, freedom or democracy. Some preambles also refer to the history of the country or religion and to the person of God – both indirectly and directly. Despite the fact that the preamble in terms of language is not like other legal texts, it has the characteristics of a normative act.


Author(s):  
Hanne Grøn

It is impossible to set up standards of translation performance and equivalence which will apply to any legal translation because the "languages of law" are as varied as the cases that reach the courts every day. Moreover, the translation of legal texts is often complicated by the lack of exact lexical equivalents in the TL's own legal system so that a transfer involves a high amount of "creative production". Obviously this production should be based on a profound extra-linguistic knowledge of both legal systems involved to avoid the pitfalls which the difference in conceptual meaning necessarily entails. Thus research into the TL's substantive law must be the first requirement in any legal translation context.


Author(s):  
Janny H.C. Leung

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.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pi-Chan Hu ◽  
Le Cheng

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.


Author(s):  
Panagiotis G. Krimpas

<p>Like translation in general, and even law itself, legal translation is an interdisciplinary field. Legal linguistics (jurilinguistics), comparative law, general law, terminology, text-linguistics and pragmatics, all have a share in legal translation. The latter is generally viewed as a sort of technical translation (Venuti 1995: 41) and legal language as a technical language (Cao 1997: 18). Those who argue for its special status often claim that legal translation is the antipode of technical translation (Bocquet 2000: 16). On the other hand, there are scholars who argue against this special status of legal translation, claiming there is nothing special about legal translation (Harvey 2002: 180). More moderate views are also found (Herbots 1987: 814). In such questions it takes no true/false answer. Rather, there are many sorts of legal translation. Of course, each view has different implications as far as the legal translator’s skills are concerned. Our discussion starts with a presentation of some key-views about legal translation, with particular emphasis on opposing ones. Then we present the main professional profiles of the legal translator in Greece and the relevant legislation. Who does translate legal texts? What skills do they have? How do they describe their profession and/or services in social media and/or professional websites? Who is the ideal legal translator for the several categories of clients? Which is the right kind of education and/or training for every sort of legal translator? Those are some of the questions that this article tries to give an answer to. After presenting the main functions of translated legal texts, the article closes with a comparison of legal translator’s professional profiles in Greece on the basis of those text functions.</p>


2020 ◽  
pp. 253-262
Author(s):  
Maria Jelda Doria

The study presents the freedom of the arts and sciences and the principles regarding the protection of intellectual property, and it is aimed at analyzing the complex balance between the former and the latter. In order to thoroughly understand this relationship, it is first necessary to clarify what the two elements of this balance are: on the one hand, the freedom of the arts and sciences, which is intimately related to the individual right to access to scientific, artistic and cultural developments, and, on the other, intellectual property regimes. Secondly, it is essential to examine the possible interferences of the protection of one of the two elements under discussion on the other element. Finally, it is fundamental to discuss how different jurisdictions have approached this issue. The whole contribution is conducted in a Comparative and International Law perspective: Italian, European and International Law will be examined. Besides, there will be some interesting hints about the solutions adopted in the US legal system, which are particularly interesting.


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