Legal Translation

This volume investigates advances in the field of legal translation both from a theoretical and practical perspective, with professional and academic insights from leading experts in the field. Part I of the collection focuses on the exploration of legal translatability from a theoretical angle. Covering fundamental issues such as equivalence in legal translation, approaches to legal translation and the interaction between judicial interpretation and legal translation, the authors offer contributions from philosophical, rhetorical, terminological and lexicographical perspectives. Part II focuses on the analysis of legal translation from a practical perspective among different jurisdictions such as China, the EU and Japan, offering multiple and pluralistic viewpoints. This book presents a collection of studies in legal translation which not only provide the latest international research findings among academics and practitioners, but also furnish us with a new approach to, and new insights into, the phenomena and nature of legal translation and legal transfer. The collection provides an invaluable reference for researchers, practitioners, academics and students specialising in law and legal translation, philosophy, sociology, linguistics and semiotics.

The translation of law has played an integral part in the interaction among nations in history and is playing a greater role in our increasingly interconnected world today. The book investigates legal translation in its many facets as an intellectual pursuit and a profession. It examines legal translation from an interdisciplinary perspective, covering theoretical and practical grounds and linguistic as well as legal issues. It analyses legal translation competence and various types of legal texts including contracts, statutes and multilateral legal instruments, presents a comparative analysis of the Common Law and the Civil Law and examines the case law from Canada, Hong Kong and the European Court of Justice. It attempts to demonstrate that translating law is a complex act that can enrich law, culture and human experience as a whole.

One of the first attempts to present a comprehensive study of legal translation, this book is an interdisciplinary study in law and translation theory. It is not bound to any specific languages or legal systems, although emphasis is placed on translation between common law and civil law jurisdictions. The main focus is on the translation of texts which are authoritative sources of the law; examples are cited primarily from statutes, codes and constitutions (Canada, Switzerland and Belgium), as well as instruments of the European Union and international treaties and conventions. Dealing with theoretical as well as practical aspects of the subject matter, the author analyses legal translation as an act of communication in the mechanism of the law, thus making it necessary to redefine the goal of legal translation. This book is intended for both lawyers and linguists, translation theorists, legal translators and drafters, legal lexicographers, as well as teachers and students of translation.

Focusing on the problems of translating English legal language, Alcaraz and Hughes offer a wide-ranging view of one of the most demanding and vital areas of contemporary translation practice. Individual chapters deal with legal English as a linguistic system, special concepts in the translation of legal English, the genres of legal translation, and offer a series of practical problems together with discussions of proposed solutions, as well as insight into the pragmatic ways translators go about finding solutions. The numerous examples and discussions of specific terms make the book useful both as a manual in the translation class and as an invaluable reference work for students, teachers, self-learners and professional translators.

In this anthology renowned scholars working in the area of legal translation studies (LTS) focus on current issues and challenges in legal translation emerging from today’s globalisation and internationalisation. Considering both theoretical and practical points of view the contributions present interdisciplinary approaches to legal translation dealing with legal systems in national, EU and international settings, and include civil law and common law as well as supranational and private international law. In addition to the historical evolution of legal systems and of legal translation the papers discuss specific features of legal language and challenges in legal translation, as well as new didactic strategies to deal with the future profiles of legal translators.

As a result of globalization, cross-border transactions and litigation, and multilingual legislation, outsourcing legal translation has become common practice. Unfortunately, over-reliance on such outsourcing has given rise to significant dangers, including information asymmetry, goal divergence, and risk. Legal Translation Outsourced provides the only current reference on commercial legal translation performed outside institutions. Juliette Scott casts a critical eye on the practice as it now stands, offering an analysis of key risks and constraints. Her work is informed by empirical data of the legal translation outsourcing markets of 41 countries. Scott proposes original theoretical models aimed both at training legal translators and informing all stakeholders, including principals and agents. These include models of legal translation performance; a classification of constraints on legal translation applying upstream, during and downstream of translation work; and a description of the complex chain of supply. Working to improve the enterprise itself, Scott shows how implementing a comprehensive legal translation brief--a sorely needed template--can significantly benefit clients by increasing the fitness of translated texts. Further, she opens a number of avenues for future research with an eye to translator empowerment and professionalization.

The translation of legal documents in today’s globally interconnected world calls for novel approaches to overcoming traditional language barriers. The verbal language used in legal documents can be accompanied or even replaced by various types of semiotic resource, such as symbols, diagrams, and icons, while the advancement of digital tools and the introduction of new technologies offer those drafting contracts and other legal documents access to an ever-expanding toolbox for the translation process. This book makes a significant contribution to the existing literature on legal translation and intersemiotic translation by sharing valuable insights and opening up new avenues of inquiry, fostering further exploration of this evolving domain and enabling practitioners to use these diverse communication tools responsibly and effectively. Given the book’s structured multidisciplinary approach and extensive analyses of the characteristics of intersemiotic legal translation, its potential, and the complexities that arise at the intersection of law, language, and semiotics, it will appeal to legal practitioners, translators, semiotic scholars, and legal philosophers alike. Whether you are a legal professional aiming to expand your expertise, an academic seeking a new research direction, or are simply intrigued by the fascinating interplay of law, language, and semiotics, this book offers a valuable resource that sheds light on the unique dynamics of translating legal concepts using approaches other than traditional verbal communication. As such, it is an essential read for anyone who is interested in the changing landscape of law, language, and translation.

This study concentrates on three major issues creating a basis for the making of the "Czech-English Law Dictionary with Explanations", namely language, including terminology, in both the Czech and Anglo-American systems of law; the process of legal translation; and the lexicographic method of producing a bilingual law dictionary. Terminology has been considered the most significant feature of language for legal purposes. It encompasses a wide range of special-purpose vocabulary and higher syntactic units, including legal jargon. Conceptual analysis is to be pursued whenever an identical term in the target language does not exist or its full equivalent is in doubt. Legal translation should be based primarily on comparative legal, linguistic and genre analysis in order to make the transfer of legal information as precise, accurate and comprehensible as possible. The primary objective of legal translation is for the target recipient to be provided as explicit, extensive and precise legal information in the target language as is contained in the source text, complemented (by the translator) with facts rendering the original information fully comprehensible in the different legal environment and culture. A dictionary which will help its users to produce legal texts in the target language should be founded upon a profound comparative legal and linguistic analysis that will (a) determine equivalents at the levels of vocabulary, syntax and genre, (b) select the appropriate lexicographic material to be included in the dictionary, and (c) create entries in a user-friendly manner.