Abstract
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.
Highlights
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
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"
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
Summary
The task of legal translation is often difficult because a particular legal concept does not EXIST in the TL’s own legal system. In the process of producing equivalents or near-equivalents the translator should seek to avoid reference to terms of art which have a unique conceptual status in the TL’s substantive law and a choice of a "neutral" term is preferable. This is the solution adopted in most international organizations whose translators must constantly endeavour to avoid reference to unique national concepts. Apart from the extralinguistic knowledge the legal translator is required to have some knowledge of the most important "stylistic" features in the TL to achieve formal equivalence. The recent criticism of the English legal language has, resulted in new drafting recommendations within the profession itself and these trends will be treated briefly in the closing part of this article
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