General problems of translating legal terminology from English into Russian

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legal-glossariesDue to the growing demand for legal translation into different languages, it is especially important to pay attention to specific terminology which can cause certain problems while dealing with translation. In this article, I will refer to some linguistic aspects of translating English legal texts into Russian. Although some issues of legal translation have already been discussed by M. Baskakova, S. Vlasenko, M. Gamzatov and many other researchers in this field, it is still relevant to discuss them, because, along with language development, new translation problems arise.

The first problem which I would like to address is the inappropriate and random use of such linguistic methods as generalization and concretization. In fact, the language of law needs to be precise which means that terminology should be as monosemantic as possible. Those terms which do not have equivalents in Russian should be explained with the help of another technique known as a descriptive (explanatory) method in two or three words. All these techniques are quite helpful due to English “laconism” which often results in a descriptive translation into Russian.

Russian linguist O. Burukina (2010) mentioned another method called “constructive translation” used mostly for terminological word combinations absent in the target language or in the culture of the country into whose language the translation is being done. A translator needs to look for an appropriate equivalent for each part of the terminological expression and combine them into a terminological word combination (term) proper for a certain terminological system (Burukina, 2000).

Another issue can be the lack of neutrality which inevitably leads to a subjective attitude towards translated legal texts, which should not contain any emotional elements. This point concerns both English and Russian terms. The main problem is that even when original texts meet the requirements of legal language, translations often reveal extra components of personal attitude towards the texts in question. Moreover, they often appear to be written in a completely different style.

One of possible reasons for wrong terminology use can be differences in legal and legislative systems of different countries. For instance, D. Kravchenko and O. Babenko refer to English terms barrister and attorney, which are linked to legal issues and have different connotations in the source language. Obviously, when the concept does not exist in the target language, the “translatability” of the source term is minimalized. It is important to bear in mind that a translated text should be composed according to the legal system of the corresponding country. That is why translation implies also some background knowledge in the field of law.

Apart from a huge number of lexical gaps, also called lacunae, in the target language, there are a lot of pronouns typical only for the source language. Therefore, such terms as hereof, thereof, or therein can be confusing for native speakers of Russian. In such cases, the best strategy is learning this kind of formulas, clichés and set expressions by heart, along with their equivalents in the target language.

TerminalogyThe problem of polysemy in the target language occurs when Russian dictionaries give two or more terms for a single concept in English. For instance, the term “coercion” has two equivalents in Russian («принуждение», «насилие»). Both words are used in legal texts, and the only difference can be explained by some shades of meaning, although the negative connotation is explicit anyway.

What can also be a cause of mistakes while translating legal texts from English into Russian is the so-called legal doublets which have a Latin origin and are still quite popular in French as well. The most frequently used are the following: null and void (“invalid”), over and above (“in addition to”). They have a one-word equivalent in Russian and should not be used as “double synonyms”, i.e. words repeated twice for imitating the structure of the source term, in order to avoid tautology.

As a result of this brief overview of legal terminology translation problems, we can conclude that a qualified translator needs to have a good knowledge of the legal systems in both countries, cultural differences which directly influence the language use, and translation methods, techniques and strategies which serve as starting points for achieving a good result.

Literature

By Asmik Avagyan

Translator and student of the “Master in Learning and Communication in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts”

University of Luxembourg.

Terminology Trainee at TermCoord