Abstract
This article deals with the project on legal terminology in the African languages. It focuses on terminology aspects relating to the coining of terms for the legal profession. Terminology development in South Africa has been hampered by a number of sociolinguistic factors. During recent years South Africa has seen considerable changes regarding the function of the indigenous languages, and this situation gave rise to an urgent need for terminology in various subject fields and knowledge domains. A demand arose for legal terminology in African languages. This need for legal terminology gave rise to the establishment of the Centre for Legal Terminology in African Languages. The aim of the Centre is to make legal terminology more accessible to the local indigenous population. The background of the legal terminology project is given and the various principles on which the working procedure is based, are discussed. Various aspects regarding the present project (such as financing, time-schedule, training and terminological problems encountered) are treated.
Highlights
There are several factors influencing the terminological development of South African languages
Terminology development in South Africa has been retarded by a number of ideological, historical, and educational factors, "the most fundamental of which are the language policies adopted in the Republic of South Africa (RSA)" (Mtintsilana and Morris 1988: 109)
With English and Afrikaans being the official languages in the RSA up to 1994, the State actively supported terminology development in Afrikaans to try to ensure parity with English
Summary
There are several factors influencing the terminological development of South African languages. During an annual general meeting of the South African Institute for Translators (SAT!) in 1985, translators, interpreters and other officials of the selfgoverning states in South Africa indicated that they encountered numerous problems when dealing with legal terminology. They came across problems when translating legal documents, when compiling legislation for their various states, and when interpreting in court. The colours of the coat of arms, are two typical South African colours and the counterbalance in colour reinforce the source- and target-language image
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