Abstract
This study scrutinizes the problems and strategies involved in the translation of legal terms from English into Arabic and vice versa, whether in relation to international accords or agreements. Despite the significant differences between English common law and the civil or Islamic law systems in Arabic, this piece of research tries to look into how translators surpass challenges to maintain legal accuracy and cultural appropriateness. In this regard, the present study has taken up a qualitative research design that analyzes ten samples of legal terms in selected international agreements, such as the United Nations Charter, the Paris Agreement, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Besides this, open-ended questions were administered to 20 legal translators to trace the challenges they encountered and their coping strategies. The outcome of the study reveals that the largest problem is related to the absence of most equivalents in legal expressions - especially those containing culturally related contexts. Functional equivalence, consultation with legalists, and the use of explanatory footnotes are the most frequent means to ensure legal accuracy. In addition, cultural adaptation is the major strategy that allows translation to be accurate and applicable in areas such as family law and finance. The need to integrate linguistic, legal, and cultural competencies is nowadays quite urgent in translating international legal documents between English and Arabic.
Published Version
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