A study on the process of legal translation

Kexing Li

doi:10.1515/sem-2014-0031

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A study on the process of legal translation

Kexing Li
Kexing Li (b. 1952) is an associate professor and PhD student tutor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University 〈ctkli@polyu.edu.hk〉. His research interests include applied translation studies and legal translation. His publications include Legal translations explained (2011); Advanced legal translation & writing (2013); New perspectives on advertisement writing and translation (2014); and A comprehensive study of the writing and translation of general clauses in contracts (2014).

Published/Copyright: July 31, 2014

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From the journal Semiotica Volume 2014 Issue 201

Abstract

This paper explores the process of legal translation aiming to gain an insight into the mechanisms that guarantee the quality of translation for legal work. The first part of the paper introduces static equivalence theory, which was developed by the author and serves as a basic framework under which a legal translator operates. In order to achieve static equivalence between the source and the target languages, the author, based on his several-decades of experience doing pragmatic translation (legal translation in particular) and an in-depth retrospective examination (concept-based), has constructed in the second part of the paper a five-step model for the process of legal translation. The model articulates all the essential steps that a legal translator needs to go through in his work, and the interconnections among them. These steps include (1) browsing the text to determine an applicable translation strategy, (2) perusing the text to decode the writer's intent, (3) conducting operative analysis to select a best way of expression, (4) cross-linguistic transfer, and (5) equivalence check by back-translation.

Keywords: static equivalence; dynamic equivalence; translation process; operative analysis; writer's intent; equivalence check

About the author

Kexing Li

Kexing Li (b. 1952) is an associate professor and PhD student tutor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University 〈ctkli@polyu.edu.hk〉. His research interests include applied translation studies and legal translation. His publications include Legal translations explained (2011); Advanced legal translation & writing (2013); New perspectives on advertisement writing and translation (2014); and A comprehensive study of the writing and translation of general clauses in contracts (2014).

Published Online: 2014-7-31

Published in Print: 2014-8-1

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/sem-2014-0031

Keywords for this article

static equivalence; dynamic equivalence; translation process; operative analysis; writer's intent; equivalence check