Specific issues in legal texts translation

Lviv

Annotation

legal document translation semantic

Taking to account the expansion of international cooperation in various fields, as well as the integration of cultural and national legal systems, the study of the peculiarities of legal documents translation becomes especially relevant. Various organizations and enterprises entering the international market need high-quality translation of their regulatory documentation.

Legal translation is considered as one of the most difficult types of translation, since, first of all, it is a great responsibility: the slightest inaccuracy or error in the translation of a legal text can lead to serious consequences, to significant material damage, therefore such translation requires special knowledge, due to a number of differences from artistic or any other. Legal texts must provide the recipient with accurate, objective and reliable information; therefore, the translator needs to ensure maximum semantic and structural similarity between the original and the translation.

Legal texts, like texts of other types, have a number of features. The lexical features of the style of legal documents include the use of terms and terminological combinations, ready-made stamps and cliches, the presence of abbreviations, most of which are used exclusively in legal texts and documents, Latin words and expressions are actively used.

To convey non-equivalent terms, the method of transcription and transliteration, as well as tracing, and descriptive translation are used.

The syntax of legal documents is characterized by the use of unusually long sentences with subordinate clauses of assignment and condition; lack of substitute pronouns and, in connection with this, repetitions of lexical units; a large number of passive constructions, participial phrases, circumstances in postposition. Taking into account the peculiarities of syntax in the Ukrainian language, when translating sentences, transformations such as replacing part of speech, part of a sentence and type of sentence are used.

Key words: legal translation, translation transformations, text, term.

Марія ІВАНЧЕНКО, кандидат філологічних наук, доцент, доцент кафедри іноземних мов та перекладознавства Львівського державного університету безпеки життєдіяльності (Львів, Україна)

Тетяна ЛИПЧЕНКО, викладач кафедри українознавства та міжкультурної комунікації Львівського державного університету безпеки життєдіяльності (Львів, Україна)

Наталія ПУСТОВА, студентка І курсу магістратури Інституту психології та соціального захисту Львівського державного університету безпеки життєдіяльності (Львів, Україна)

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ПЕРЕКЛАДУ ЮРИДИЧНИХ ТЕКСТІВ

Зважаючи на розширення міжнародного співробітництва в різних сферах, а також інтеграцію культурних та національно-правових систем, особливо актуальним стає вивчення особливостей перекладу юридичних документів. Різні організації та підприємства, виходячи на міжнародний ринок, потребують якісного перекладу своєї нормативної документації.

Юридичний переклад вважається одним із найскладніших видів перекладу, оскільки, перш за все, це велика відповідальність: найменша неточність або помилка в перекладі юридичного тексту може призвести до серйозних наслідків, до значної матеріальної шкоди, тому такий переклад вимагає особливих знань, зважаючи на ряд відмінностей від художнього чи будь-якого іншого. Юридичні тексти повинні повідомляти реципієнту точну, об'єктивну та достовірну інформацію, отже, перекладачеві необхідно забезпечити максимальну смислову та структурну близькість оригіналу та перекладу.

Юридичні тексти, як і тексти іншої спрямованості, мають ряд особливостей. До лексичних особливостей стилю юридичних документів відноситься використання термінів та термінологічних поєднань, готових штампів та кліше, наявність скорочень, більшість з яких використовується виключно в юридичних текстах та документах, активно використовуються латинські слова та висловлювання.

Для передачі безеквівалентних термінів використовується метод транскрипції та транслітерації, калькування, а також описовий переклад.

Для синтаксису юридичних документів характерно використання надзвичайно довгих речень з підрядними реченнями умови; відсутність займенників-замінників та у зв'язку з цим повтори лексичних одиниць; велика кількість пасивних конструкцій, обставини у постпозиції. З урахуванням особливостей синтаксису української мови при перекладі речень використовуються такі трансформації, як заміна частини мови, членів речення та типів речення.

Ключові слова: юридичний переклад, перекладацькі трансформації, текст, термін.

Statement of the problem

Taking to account the expansion of international cooperation in various fields, as well as the integration of cultural and national legal systems, the study of the peculiarities of legal documents translation becomes especially relevant. Various organizations and enterprises entering the international market need high-quality translation of their regulatory documentation.

Legal translation is considered one of the most difficult types of translation, since, first of all, it is a great responsibility: the slightest inaccuracy or error in the translation of a legal text can lead to serious consequences, to significant material damage, therefore such translation requires special knowledge, due to a number of differences from artistic or any other. Legal texts must provide the recipient with accurate, objective and reliable information; therefore, the translator needs to ensure maximum semantic and structural similarity between the original and the translation.

Research analysis

At the current stage of the linguistics development, the translation scientists attention is focused on terms and texts of various science branches, in particular legal. Researchers study general theoretical characteristics of legal terminology (Lyubchenko, 2015), its features as a specialized system of legal concepts (Shestakova, 2018), peculiarities of terms' translation (Shumilo, Karpushyna, 2017), texts (Klymenko, Zorenko, 2016) and literature (Chernovaty, Karaban, 2017) of the mentioned branch.

The purpose of the article is to identify the main issues and difficulties of translating English legal texts.

Articles of the English-language periodical Lawyer Monthly (LM) and the dictionary of legal terms Legal Dictionary (LD) served as research material.

Presenting main material

The difficulties of legal translation are caused by the specifics of the legal language itself. There is a spesifice term to denote the concept of legal style presentation - legalese. This style is characterized, first of all, by a high level of presentation abstraction, the use of stylistically neutral and bookish vocabulary, the presence of cumbersome syntactic structures, the use of outdated words and phrases that are not used in everyday speech, as well as special terms and formulations. In addition, legal documents tend to strive for uniformity in the ways of expressing thoughts in similar situations, which determines the presence of ready-made cliches in them. All this makes legal texts difficult to understand for people ignorant of jurisprudence.

Legal texts, like texts of other types, have a number of features. The lexical features of the legal documents style include the use of the terms: remedy - засіб судового захисту, deterrence - засіб утримання від скоєння злочинних дій у вигляді залякування, indictment - обвинувальний акт, proxy - довірена особа, доручення, insolvent - неплатоспроможний та інші.

Legal documents are characterized by the use of ready-made cliches: bone of contention, in accordance with, all things considered, for the purpose of, when implementing, make an order, the court determines, cost and expenses, according to law and others. This is due to the fact that thoughts in identical situations are expressed in the same way.

In addition, legal documents are characterized by the presence of abbreviations, most of which are used exclusively in legal texts and documents: ALJ (Administrative Law Judge) - суддя адміністративного суду, USJC (United States Judicial Code) - кодекс законів США про судоустрій, CtApp (Court of Appeals) - апеляційний суд and others.

Latin words and expressions are actively used in legal texts: mensrea, staredecisis, interalia, pre pro curationem and others.

An important characteristic of legal documents is the frequent use of paired synonyms, for example: null and void, disputes and disagreements etc.

There are special idiomatic expressions and phraseological combinations in legal oral and written speech that are rarely used in general literary language: to make default - не з'являтися на виклик до суду; не виконувати (обов'язки), Marshal of the Court - судовий виконавець etc.

The method of transcription and transliteration (solicitor - соліситор, barrister - баррістер), tracing - стеження, вистежування; розшук (особл. тих, хто зник без вісті тощо); jury box - лава присяжних) is used to reproduce terms into Ukrainian.

The correct choice of a word or phrase in translation primarily depends on its semantic and stylistic adequacy to the original. This can be clearly demonstrated using the example of equivalent correspondences. Equivalents are considered to be such correspondences between words of two languages that are constant, equivalent and, as a rule, independent of context (Bilokon, 2019). For example: mortgage - іпотека, fraud - шахрайство, revenue stamp - гербова марка, arbitration - арбітраж, competent court - компетентний суд, суд належної юрисдикції.

Latin expressions that have become popular in many languages, including English and Ukrainian, can also be considered as equivalents. For example: de facto - де-факто, gratis - безоплатно, act pro se - діяти від власного імені (без представництва адвокатом тощо), jus civile - римське (цивільне) право, post-mortem - розтин (трупа), після смерті, res communis - спільна річ, спільне надбання, ultra vires - поза компетенцією.

Here are a few examples oftranslating abbreviations in legal documents: CIF (cost, insurance, freight) - сиф (транскрипція); COLA (cost-of-livingallowance or cost-of-living adjustment) - надбавка до заробітної плати на дорожнечу (описовий переказ).

Translating paired synonyms can cause difficulties, because sometimes one of the synonyms is omitted, and sometimes it is necessary to transfer exactly the pair into Ukrainian. When translating paired synonyms, the technique of omission is used to eliminate redundant elements of the original. For example: null and void - недійсний. However, it is always worth using the omission technique.

Legal texts are also characterized by the use of phraseological combinations, which are often translated into one word. For example: in cold blood - холоднокровно, безжально, a knight of industry - пройдисвіт, шахрай. However, when translating certain combinations, the translator must use the technique of holistic rethinking: Caesar's wife людина, яка має бути поза підозрою.

The special nature of legal documents requires consideration of various linguistic aspects of their translation and the used translation strategies. The legal manner of presentation is considered particularly formal. This formalism manifests itself in long, polysyllabic sentences and cumbersome phrases. At the same time, the presence of very voluminous syntactic constructions, along with the neutral tone of presentation, the use of standard formulations and the repetition of individual phrases, gives legal documents a certain monotony of presentation and indicates the extreme conservatism of the language.

The syntax of legal documents is characterized by the use of unusually long sentences with subordinate clauses of assignment and condition; the absence of substitute pronouns and, in connection with this, repetitions of lexical units; a large number of passive constructions, participial phrases, circumstances in postposition. Taking into account the peculiarities of syntax in the Ukrainian language, when translating sentences, transformations such as replacing part of speech, part of a sentence and type of sentence are used.

Let's consider the specifics of translating legal texts from the grammar and syntax point of view.

The following types of grammatical transformations are distinguished: changing the order of words, changing the structure of a sentence (full and partial), replacing parts of speech and members of a sentence, adding words, deleting words (Klimenko, Zorenko, 2016).

The need to change the word order during translation depends to some extent on the article (Chernovaty, Karaban, 2017). This is explained by the fact that the presence of a definite article before the subject shows that the subject does not carry new information, therefore, the semantic center is at the end of the sentence. In this case, the word order does not change during translation, since the place of the semantic center in English and Ukrainian sentences is the same. The indefinite article implies the presence of new information, therefore, the place of the semantic center of Ukrainian and English sentences does not coincide, which necessitates changing the word order during translation (Klimenko, Zorenko, 2016): There are three basic propositions underlying the American federal system. - В основі федеративного устрою США лежать три базові ідеї'; The present Agreement shall come into effect from the date hereof and its validity term shall not be defined - Цей договір набирає чинності з дня підписання його сторонами і діє протягом невизначеного строку.

Due to the inherent brevity of the English language, when translating into Ukrainian, there is often a need to add words. Cases of words omission during translation are observed much less frequently (Klimenko, Zorenko, 2016): Under contract law, there is no contract if there is no consideration - Відповідно до договірного права угода не може існувати без зустрічного задоволення.

Grammatical transformations also include syntactic assimilation, division of sentences, combination of sentences, grammatical replacements (Chernovaty, Karaban, 2017).

Syntactic assimilation is a method in which the syntactic structure of the original is transformed into a similar structure of the target language. Syntactic assimilation is accompanied by some changes in structural components (omission of articles, linking verbs, changes in morphological forms), but this does not affect the structure of the sentence itself, since the same set of sentence members and the sequence of their arrangement in the text are preserved (Chernovaty, Karaban, 2017). For example: Paragraph does not apply to a payment, repayment, purchase, redemption, defeasance or discharge which is a Permitted Payment or is permitted under the Intercreditor Agreement - Параграф не застосовується до оплати, відшкодування, купівлі, викупу, анулювання або погашення, які є Дозволеним платежем або є дозволеним за Угодою між кредиторами.

Conclusion

Thus, when translating legal documents, in view of the requirement for maximum similarity between the original and translated texts, syntactic structures must, if possible, be transferred by similar structures in the target language, i.e., use syntactic assimilation. For the same reason, translation methods such as dividing and combining sentences cannot be used. Due to differences in the grammatical structure of English and Ukrainian, as well as the need to accurately convey the meaning of a statement, the syntactic structures of the source language often require certain transformations.

Legal documents are characterized by an abundance of special legal terminology, abbreviations, synonymous pairs, Latinisms and phrases. Each type of lexical units characteristic of legal documents has its own translation features. Transcription, transliteration, tracing, and descriptive translation are used most often to translate legal terms.

The prospect of the study is to analyze the peculiarities of the legal terms metaphors translation.

Bibliography