The object of fidelity in translating multilingual legislation
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Janny HC Leung
Janny HC Leung (b. 1980) is an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong 〈janny@cantab.net〉. Her research interests include the intersection between language and the law, especially legal multilingualism and language rights. Her publications include “On the edge of reason: Law at the borderline” (2012); “Statutory interpretation in multilingual jurisdictions: Typology and trends” (2012); “Judicial discourse in Cantonese courtrooms in postcolonial Hong Kong: The judge as a godfather, scholar, educator, and scolding parent” (2013); and “Translation equivalence as a legal fiction” (2013).
Abstract
Should fidelity in legal translation be judged in terms of approximation to the source text? What are the possible alternatives? Multilingual jurisdictions see great needs in the translation of texts of the law and tend to be particularly concerned with the uniform application of the law in its different renditions. As a response to new sources of legal indeterminacy created by legal multilingualism, approaches to statutory interpretation in multilingual jurisdictions have shifted in focus. Through analyzing the way linguistic indeterminacy in legislation is resolved in various multilingual jurisdictions, I argue that an understanding of approaches to statutory interpretation can help translators better grasp the nature of the legislative texts they are dealing with and potentially illuminate strategies of legal translation.
About the author
Janny HC Leung (b. 1980) is an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong 〈janny@cantab.net〉. Her research interests include the intersection between language and the law, especially legal multilingualism and language rights. Her publications include “On the edge of reason: Law at the borderline” (2012); “Statutory interpretation in multilingual jurisdictions: Typology and trends” (2012); “Judicial discourse in Cantonese courtrooms in postcolonial Hong Kong: The judge as a godfather, scholar, educator, and scolding parent” (2013); and “Translation equivalence as a legal fiction” (2013).
©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Communication and culture mediation techniques in jurilinguistics
- Legal translation: A sociosemiotic approach
- Adopting and adapting an international model law in a multilingual and multicultural context
- Sur la jurilinguistique, la traduction, et l’interprétation
- Théorie et pratique de la traduction juridique ou sur les lieux d'une rencontre
- Teaching and learning legal translation
- Making sense in legal translation
- L'évolution conceptuelle dans le langage juridique international ou la traduction d'une nouvelle littéralité
- Chinese translations of legal terms in early modern period: An empirical study of the books compiled/translated by missionaries around the mid-nineteenth century
- A study on the process of legal translation
- Legal translation -- an impossible task?
- The object of fidelity in translating multilingual legislation
- Les phraséologismes verbaux en droit: Une étude de cas à partir du terme responsabilité civile
- A sociosemiotic interpretation of police interrogations
- How disputes are reconciled in a Chinese courtroom setting: From an appraisal perspective
- Courtroom setups in China's criminal trials
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Communication and culture mediation techniques in jurilinguistics
- Legal translation: A sociosemiotic approach
- Adopting and adapting an international model law in a multilingual and multicultural context
- Sur la jurilinguistique, la traduction, et l’interprétation
- Théorie et pratique de la traduction juridique ou sur les lieux d'une rencontre
- Teaching and learning legal translation
- Making sense in legal translation
- L'évolution conceptuelle dans le langage juridique international ou la traduction d'une nouvelle littéralité
- Chinese translations of legal terms in early modern period: An empirical study of the books compiled/translated by missionaries around the mid-nineteenth century
- A study on the process of legal translation
- Legal translation -- an impossible task?
- The object of fidelity in translating multilingual legislation
- Les phraséologismes verbaux en droit: Une étude de cas à partir du terme responsabilité civile
- A sociosemiotic interpretation of police interrogations
- How disputes are reconciled in a Chinese courtroom setting: From an appraisal perspective
- Courtroom setups in China's criminal trials
