Author: johnoshea

“It is generally accepted in the general public that the legal language spoken in court and written in legal documents is hard or even impossible to understand. Studies show that there are indeed some differences between ordinary and legal language (in particular, in vocabulary and the standards of drafting). However, legal language must appear incoherent to the general public for another reason – in addition to the words used, and their grammatical structure. Legal language must appear incoherent not just because of what is said in this language but also because of what goes in it without saying: the professional legal knowledge presumed, as a rule, in legal texts. This knowledge is presented explicitly only rarely but typical legal texts can be thoroughly understood only if it is regarded as implicit in them.”

 

Professor Le Cheng (Zhejiang University)

It would seem therefore that legal translation is, at best, an approximation. Indeed, many lawyers acknowledge that this is so and that equal meaning and exact translations between legal texts are illusions that cannot be achieved in practice. Thus, many claim that the task of the legal translator is ‘to make the foreign legal text accessible for recipients with a different (legal) background’. However, that claim only works with regard to texts that do not have force of law in the target language.

Karen McAuliffe: Translating Ambiguity,The Journal of Comparative Law, Vol 9(2)

Legal translation is concerned with comparative law and the incongruency of legal systems: elements of one legal system cannot simply be transposed into another legal system. In legal translation the comparison of legal terms precedes their translation. Legal translators must compare the meaning of terms in the source and target legal systems, which will make them aware of similarities and differences in their use across languages.

Karen McAuliffe: Translating Ambiguity,The Journal of Comparative Law, Vol 9(2)

Problems in legal translation generally arise because legal systems conceptualise reality in different ways. Legal translators do not translate words. They translate terms embedded in specific cultural models. Legal systems reflect principles and values that underlie the organisation of a society. This is why the translation of legal rules is considered not as a translation of words or ideas but as an import of foreign methods of organisation of a society.

Karen McAuliffe: Translating Ambiguity,The Journal of Comparative Law, Vol 9(2)

The most recent edition of the University of Malaga’s TRANS journal (http://www.trans.uma.es) explores the current state of play of interpreting in legal settings in Europe.Continue Reading..

The University of the Aegean’s Department of Information & Communication Systems Engineering has recently released a GR-EN / EN-GR glossary of e-Government terms.

To view it click here: http://icsdweb.aegean.gr/project/lexiko/

I just came across a Workshop on Precedent in EU Law: the linguistic aspect. Many thanks to the Words to Deeds blog for the information.

Continue Reading..

[when talking about legal texts], a successful translation should communicate the content of a document, all the while employing equivalent, accurate syntax, semantics and pragmatics.

Aleksandra Matulewska, Lingua Legis in Translation, Peter Lang Press, 2007

“What translators should aim at is such a relationship between a source term and a target term that the latter may be used as an equivalent for the former in a given context. Those terms are not identical but they may be used as equivalent if they are similar enough at the concept level.”

Aleksandra Matulewska, Lingua Legis in Translation, Peter Lang Press, 2007

“Legal translation is extremely difficult because it involves not only translating terms but also the underlying legal system hidden behind them.”

Aleksandra Matulewska, Lingua Legis in Translation, Peter Lang Press, 2007


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