Abstract
Legal terminology is deemed a key feature of legal discourse and a pivotal constituent of competence evaluation and quality control in the translation of legal texts. Problems of terminology unequivocally prove the need for analysing factors governing changing situations as well as macro-textual parameters and measures for the sake of making strategic decisions at a micro-level. There have been a lack of translation methodology among practitioners and trainees and a lack of a practical operational model that comprises all the primary measures and criteria for analysing translation. The present paper seeks to test the efficacy of the integrative model proposed by Prieto Ramos (in: Le Cheng, King Ku Sin & Anne Wagner (eds) The Ashgate Handbook of Legal Translation, Ashgate Publishing Limited, Surrey, 2014) in surmounting terminological problems of Arabic-English legal translation through applying the said model to the translation of the three Arabic Islamic legal terms: ‘bayʿu al-tawliya’, ‘bayʿu al-wafāʾi wal-amāna’ and ‘takhliya’ into legal English. The present paper claims that the integrative model proposed by Prieto Ramos (in: Le Cheng, King Ku Sin & Anne Wagner (eds) The Ashgate Handbook of Legal Translation, Ashgate Publishing Limited, Surrey, 2014) proves useful and fruitful in coping with terminological incongruencies and particularly successful in surmounting problems of rendering legal terms from legal Arabic into legal English. This may be owing to the fact that the said integrative model encompasses all the steps and criteria required for adopting plausible strategic translation decisions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abū-Ghazāl, Qāssim. 1996. Major problems in legal translation. Unpublished MA Thesis. Irbid: Yarmouk University.
Albahūtī, Manṣūr. 1636a. Kashshāfu alqināʿi ʿan matni alʾiqnāʿ. Vol. III. Cairo: Almaṭbaʿatu Alʿāmiratu Alsharqiyya.
Albahūtī, Manṣūr. 1636b. Sharḥu Muntahā Alʾirādāt. Vol. II. Almadīna Almunawwara: Almaktabatu Alsalafiyya.
Alwazna, Rafat Y. 2013. Testing the precision of legal translation: The case of translating Islamic legal terms into english. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, special issue the process of translabiliting: Translating and transferring law, its concepts, notions and language 26 (4): 897–907.
Alwazna, Rafat Y. 2013. Translating Ḥanbalī Sharīʿa code from Arabic into english. Saarbrücken: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing.
Alwazna, Rafat Y. 2014. The cultural aspect of translation: the workability of cultural translation strategies in Sranslating culture-specific texts. Life Science Journal 11 (11): 182–188.
Alwazna, Rafat Y. 2014b. “Important Translation Strategies Used in Legal Translation: Examples of Hooper’s Translation of the Ottoman Majalla into English.” In The Ashgate Handbook of Legal Translation, eds. by Le Cheng, King Ku Sin & Anne Wagner, 237-254. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited.
Alwazna, Rafat Y. 2017. Culture and law: the cultural impact on islamic legal statements and its implications for translation. International Journal of Legal Discourse 2 (2): 307–323.
Alwazna, Rafat Y. 2019. Translation and legal terminology: techniques for coping with the untranslatability of legal terms between Arabic and English. International Journal for the Semiotics of law 32 (1): 75–94.
Biel, Łucja. 2009. Organisation of background knowledge structures in legal language and related translation problems. Comparative Legilinguistics 1: 176–189.
Brand, Oliver. 2007. Conceptual comparisons: towards a coherent methodology of comparative legal studies. Brooklyn Journal of International Law 32 (2): 405–466.
Cao, Deborah. 2007. Translating law. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Cao, Deborah. 2010. Judicial interpretation of bilingual and multilingual laws: A European and Hong Kong comparison. In Interpretation of law in the global world: From particularism to a universal approach, ed. Joanna Jemielniak and Przemyslaw Miklaszewicz, 71–86. Heidelberg: Springer.
Constantinesco, Léontin. J. 1974. Traité de droit compare [Comparative Law Treaty]. Paris: Librairie Générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence.
Dickins, James, Sándor. Hervey, and Ian Higgins. 2002. Thinking Arabic translation. A course in translation method: Arabic to English. Oxon: Routledge.
Dullion, Valérie. 2000. “Du document á l’instrument: Les fonctions de la traduction des lois.” In La traduction juridique: Histoire, théorie(s) et pratique [Legal Translation: History, Theory/ies, Practice]. Paper presented at the conference on Legal Translation: History, Theory/ies, Practice, Bern/Geneva, Switzerland 2000, 83–101. Bern/Geneva: ASTTI and ETI.
Engberg, Jan. 2013. “Comparative Law for Translation: The Key to Successful Mediation between Legal Systems.” In Legal Translation in Context: Professional Issues and Prospects, eds. by Anabel B. Albi and Fernando Prieto Ramos, 9-25. Bern: Peter Ling AG, International Academic Publishers.
Fakhourī, Marām. 2008. Legal translation as an act of communication: The translation of contracts between English and Arabic. Unpublished MA Thesis. Nablus: An-Najāḥ National University.
Halimi, Sonia. 2018. Rethinking the English-Arabic legal translation course: Restructuring for specific competence acquisition. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law 32 (1): 117–134.
Ibn Qudāmā, Muwaffaq. 1997. Al-Mughnī. Vol. Vi, 3rd ed. Riyadh: Dāru ʿĀlami Alkutubi Lilṭibāʿati Walnashri Waltawzīʿ.
Garzone, Giuliana. 2000. ‘Legal Translation and Functionalist Approaches: A Contradiction in Terms?” In La traduction juridique: Histoire, théorie(s) et pratique [Legal Translation: History, Theory/ies, Practice.] Paper presented at the conference on Legal Translation: History, Theory/ies, Practice, Bern/Geneva, Switzerland 2000, 395–414. Bern/Geneva: ASTTI and ETI.
Harvey, Malcolm. 2000. “A Beginner’s Course in Legal Translation: The Case of Culture-bound Terms. In La traduction juridique: Histoire, théorie(s) et pratique [Legal Translation: History, Theory/ies, Practice.] Paper presented at the conference on Legal Translation: History, Theory/ies, Practice, Bern/Geneva, Switzerland 2000, 357–369. Bern/Geneva: ASTTI and ETI.
Megale, Fabrizio. 2008. Teorie della traduzione giuridica. Fra diritto comparator e translation studies. Napoli: Editoriale Scientifica.
Nord, Christiane. 1991. Text analysis in translation: Theory, methodology and didactic application of a model for translation-oriented text analysis. Amsterdam/Atlanta: Rodopi.
Nord, Christiane. 1997. Translating as a purposeful activity. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.
Prieto Ramos, Fernando. 1998. La terminología procesal en la traducción de citaciones judiciales españolas al inglés [Procedural Terminology in the Translation of Spanish Court Summons into English]. Sendebar 9: 115–135.
Prieto Ramos, Fernando. 2011. Developing legal translation competence: An integrative process-oriented approach. Comparative Legilinguistics 5: 7–21.
Prieto Ramos, Fernando. 2013. “¿Qué estrategias para qué traducción jurídica?: por una metodología integral para la práctica professional [What Strategies for Legal Translation ?: A Comprehensive Methodology for Professional Practice].” In Translating the law: Theoretical and methodological issues / Traducir el Derecho Cuestiones teóricas y metodológicas, eds. by Icíar Alonso Araguás, Jesús Baigorri Jalón and Helen Campbell, 87–106. Granada: Comares.
Prieto Ramos, Fernando. 2014. “Parameters for Problem-solving in Legal Translation: Implications for Legal Lexicography and Institutional Terminology Management.” In The Ashgate Handbook of Legal Translation, eds. by Le Cheng, King Ku Sin & Anne Wagner, 121-134. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited.
Sandrini, Peter. 1996. Comparative analysis of legal terms: Equivalents revisited. In Terminology and knowledge engineering (TKE ’96), ed. C. Galinski and K.D. Schmit, 342–351. Frankfurt am Main: Indeks.
Sandrini, Peter. 1999. Legal terminology: some aspects for a new methodology. Hermes 22: 101–112.
Šarčević, Susan. 1985. Translation of culture-bound terms in laws. Multilingua 4 (3): 127–133.
Šarčević, Susan. 1989. Conceptual dictionaries for translation in the field of law. International Journal of Lexicography 2 (4): 277–293.
Šarčević, Susan. 1997. New approach to legal translation. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.
Smith, Sylvia A. 1995. Culture clash: Anglo-American Case Law and German Civil Law in translation. In Translation and the Law, ed. M. Morris, 179–197. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Vanderlinden, Jacques. 1995. Comparer les droits. Diegem: E. Story-Scientia.
Weston, Martin. 1991. An english reader’s guide to the French legal system. New York/Oxford: Berg Publishers Ltd.
Funding
None.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Alwazna, R.Y. The Efficacy of the Integrative Model Proposed by Prieto Ramos (2014) in Surmounting Terminological Problems of Arabic-English Legal Translation. Int J Semiot Law 35, 737–752 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-021-09863-5
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-021-09863-5