Functional Equivalence in Translating Legal Terms from Engli

Functional Equivalence

in Translating Legal Terms

from English into Romanian

Actuality

Types of Equivalence

in Legal Translation

Formal equivalence

Transcription

Descriptive Translation

Functional equivalence

Types of

Functional Equivalence

Tatiana Popescu, 3LM2 Group

Near-equivalence

The Parties agree to cooperate in order to ensure a high level of protection of personal data in accordance with the European Union, Council of Europe (CoE) and international legal instruments and standards.

Părțile convin să coopereze în vederea asigurării unui nivel înalt de protecție a datelor cu caracter personal în conformitate cu instrumentele juridice și cu standardele internaționale, ale UE și ale Consiliului Europei.

Eu-RM Association Agreement. Article 13

The national legislation correlates the right of a person to participate in political and public life with his/her judicial capacity. According to article 13 of Electoral Code, people who are recognized unable by an indefeasible decision of the court, they don’t have the right to choose.

Legislația națională corelează dreptul persoanei de participare la viața politică și publică cu capacitatea juridică a acesteia. Conform art.13 din Codul electoral, persoanele care sînt recunoscute incapabile prin hotărîre definitivă a instanţei de judecată, nu au dreptul de a alege.

Eu-RM Association Agreement. Article 15

“the relationship of the target language receptors to the target language text should be roughly equivalent to the relationship between the original receptors and the original text.”

Partial-equivalence

To identify the characteristics of legal translation;

lexical expansion

Language and Culture, Eugene Nida

The Parties will cooperate fully on the effective functioning of institutions in the areas of law enforcement and the administration of justice.

Părțile cooperează pe deplin cu privire la funcționarea eficace a instituțiilor în domeniul asigurării respectării legii și al administrării justiției.

Eu-RM Association Agreement. Article 12

To define the term equivalence -> functional equivalence;

Non-equivalence

• it provides a much sounder basis for making about translation as a form of communication, since the focus is on what a translation does or performs.

To determine the peculiarities of functional translation in translating legal terms;

The Parties shall cooperate on preventing and combating all forms of criminal and illegal activities [...] such as:

(a) smuggling and trafficking in human beings;

(b) smuggling and trafficking in goods, including in small arms and illicit drugs

Părțile cooperează în ceea ce privește prevenirea și combaterea tuturor formelor de activități infracționale și ilegale [...] cum ar fi:

(a) traficul de migranți și traficul de persoane;

(b) contrabanda și traficul de bunuri, inclusiv în domeniul armelor de calibru mic și al drogurilor ilicite;

Eu-RM Association Agreement. Article 16

!Back-Translation!

To present examples of legal texts and documents in English and Romanian;

To determine the role of translator within the process of translating legal terms from English into Romanian.

• Correspondence to already existing terms

E. g.: Constitutional Council = Consiliul Constituțional

Notary = notar

Court of Appeal = Curtea de Apel

Rendering the tripartite division of offences in Romanian criminal procedure

Where no knowledge of the source language presumed in the reader, transcription is accompanied by a gloss or a translator’s note.

• minor offences
• major offences
• serious crimes

• contravenții
• delicte
• crime

act autentic = an authenticated document usually drawn up by a notary.

Conclusions

Student: Tatiana Popescu, 3LM2 Group

Scientific advisor: Natalia Grosu,

university lecturer

1. We have identified the way the functional equivalence occurs in legal texts.

2. We have analysed the legal texts and their translation via comparative method.

3. We have mentioned the role of a translator in the process of legal translation.

4. We have proven the actuality of the topic by means of researching such an important document as Association Agreement.

5. We understood that the importance of this paper is marked by a new step in researching the field of law from the translators’ point of view.

Institute of International Relations of Moldova

Chisinau 2016

Thank You

for Your Attention!