English language in Ukrainian domestic law: translation of legislation

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

English language in Ukrainian domestic law: translation of legislation

Kateryna Khmelenko, The 4^th year of studying Higher Education Applicant; Kozubai I.V. Senior Lecturer of International Relations and Social and Humanities Chair Educational and Scientific Institute of Law and Innovative Education Dnipropetrovsk State University of Internal Affairs

Modern society development means permanent use of the English language. The legal area is not an exception. States, natural persons, and legal entities are interested in making partnerships with each other. The basis of any cooperation is an agreement (contract, treaty etc.) that is grounded in the norms and provisions of the current legislation. To reach an agreement, the p arties should actually «speak the same language». If the languages of the parties are different, they have the right to engage an interpreter. However, sometimes the interpreters do not have all the necessary skills to translate legislation because of the availability of specific vocabulary and other objective reasons. So it is important to explore how the Ukrainian legal acts are translated as our state is an active participant in international relations.

The introduction describes only one possible example. The translation of legislation is important in private international law, family relations, commercial and maritime law, IT law, military law etc. Platforms for searching legislative acts or documents are official websites of state institutions such as parliament, ministries, customs and tax authorities and others. Moreover, the president's official website, pages of the ombudsman, and special country representatives may include some laws, instructions and explanations.

The issue is that the translation of legislation from Ukrainian into English language has to be professional and must reflect the meaning and main idea of the document. Furthermore, Ukrainian and foreign lawyers face the problem of the absence of translation or its incorrectness, which creates obstacles in establishing legal relations between participants. The difficulties of official translation lie in the selection of terminology (especially in terms of semantics), the use of grammatical structures etc. Low-quality legal translation becomes a legal risk for a practitioner [1].

In 2022 the Verkhovna Rada - Ukrainian parliament, presented an official translation of the Civil and Criminal Codes of Ukraine. After this news, Ukrainian citizens started to discuss the English version of the legislation. Journalists of “Judicial and Legal newspaper” asked the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine: does the law designate a state body responsible for the official translation of the texts of laws into a foreign language? A nd who exactly (which organization) is responsible for translating the texts of laws into English? According to the official response of The Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the law does not define who is responsible for the official translation of the texts of laws and a commercial translation agency was responsible for translating the texts [2]. The interesting issue is what measures can the Verkhovna Rada Apparatus take in case of translation failures.

It is necessary to provide a practical example. So that we will demonstrate the norms of the current legislation of Ukraine.

It is necessary to provide a practical example. So that we will demonstrate the norms of the current legislation of Ukraine.

1. The Criminal Code of Ukraine

- Incorrect translation of the article's title:

Ukr. Стаття 134 «Незаконне проведення аборту або стерилізації» [3].

Eng. Article 134 «Illegal abortion or a sexualisation» [4].

Instead of «sexualisation» must be «sterilization».

- Absence of translation of the column «Structure».

It creates difficulties in the Code orientation.

2. According to the information of journalists [2], the published translation of the Civil Code of Ukraine contained many failures.

For instance,

The article was partly in English and partly in Ukrainian:

«Article 395. Види речових прав на чуже майно

1. Речовими правами на чуже майно є:

1) право володіння;

2) право користування (сервітут);

3) the right to use land plots for agricultural purposes (emphyteusis);

4) the right to develop a land plot (superficies)».

Besides, a translation included incorrect terminology that changed the sense of the article. In the Civil Code of Ukraine there are the terms «власник» (owner) and «володілець» (bailee). A definition of «bailee» is written in the Cambridge dictionary: a bailee is a person who has the right to take possession temporarily of someone else's property [5]. According to P.1 Art.397 of the Civil Code a bailee is the person who holds other people's property [6]. So, bailee does not have ownership of the property. However, a commercial translation agency used the term «owner» in the context of «bailee»: «The obligation of the unscrupulous owner to immediately return the property to the person who shall have the ownership right another right to it or who is a bona fide proprietor» [2].

Now the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine deleted this translation from their website.

3. The problem is the absence of translation of the Law of Ukraine «On Securities and Stock Market». This law is one of the fundamentals in the investment area. However, there are translations of the Law «On Investment Activity», «On Protection of Foreign Investments in Ukraine» etc.

In 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine issued a Resolution «On Approval of the Procedure for Translation into Ukrainian of Acts of the European Union Acquis Communautaire and into English of Acts of Ukrainian Legislation Related to the Implementation of Ukraine's Obligations in the Field of European Integration» №451 of 02 May 2023. This document refers to Ukrainian obligations in the field of European integration. One of them is a translation of Ukrainian legislation into English.

According to P.5 of the Resolution, translation of the legislation is performed by the state institution «Investment Attraction and Support Office». Funding for the translation is allocated from the state budget or international technical assistance. The Resolution establishes the conducting of the terminology verification. Paragraph 8 of the Resolution states that translations are sent by the state institution to the initiator of the translation, as well as to the interested state bodies, institutions and organizations of any form of ownership whose competence includes issues regulated by an act of Ukrainian legislation, to conduct a terminological verification of the translation of the Ukrainian legislation within a reasonable period and, if necessary, to submit relevant proposals for editorial changes, taking into account the specifics of professional terminology. At the same time, to ensure the quality of the translation of the Ukrainian legislation, in particular the correct use of professional terminology, a working (expert) group for assessing the quality of translation of the EU acquis and Ukrainian legislation (hereinafter referred to as the working group) shall be established at the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which shall involve relevant English language specialists, representatives of Ukrainian scientific institutions and representatives of the initiator of the translation (if necessary), depending on the subject matter of the agenda of the working group meeting [7].

The initiative is expected to provide the organized translation of legal acts and influence the development of legal relationships between different subjects on the territory of Ukraine. But the question arising from this Resolution, is who will provide terminological verification in institutions enshrined in paragraph 8 and how it will be regulated. In conclusion, nowadays the English language plays a key role in international private law, maritime law, military law, IT law and others. So, the Ukrainian legislation translation is an essential element of the law field functioning.

In 2022 the presented official translation of Civil and Criminal Codes of Ukraine contained significant failures in terminology selection. In 2023 to implement the plans for European Union integration the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted the Resolution, dedicated to translation of Ukrainian legislation. It involves conducting a terminological verification, but its regulation and who exactly will conduct it is still unknown.

ukrainian legislation translation english

References

1. Kamenskiy D.V. Practical Nuances of Legal Translation in the Field of Comparative Criminal Law (based on works by Ukrainian and American comparativists). Comparative and Analytical Law. №4, 2020.

2. В Апараті Верховної Ради розповіли, хто переклав закони англійською мовою з помилками та скільки на це витратили.

3. Кримінальний кодекс України: Кодекс України від 05 квітня 2001 року №2341- III. Відомості Верховної Ради України.

4. The Criminal Code of Ukraine: the Code of Ukraine of 05 April 2001 no.2341-III. The Bulletin of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

5. Цивільний кодекс України: Кодекс України від 16 січня 2003 року №435-IV. Відомості Верховної Ради України.

6. Про затвердження Порядку здійснення перекладу на українську мову актів Європейського Союзу acquis communautaire та на англійську мову актів законодавства України, пов'язаних з виконанням зобов'язань України у сфері європейської інтеграції: Постанова Кабінету Міністрів від 2 травня 2023 р. № 451. Відомості Верховної Ради України.

Размещено на Allbest.ru