How equivalent is equivalence in Arabic‑English legal translation?
The objective of equivalence in translation is to assign equal meaning to legal terms in two
languages, keeping the same legal effect based on the legal interpretation of the source legal culture. However, this
ideal objective seems difficult to capture in Arabic-English legal translation because there are factors that mask key
conceptual incongruence involved therein. This paper outlines the major factors that blind legal translators to the
conceptual asymmetry between Islamic law and western law, namely historical shifts, functional approach and
equivalence, the practice in the translation industry (translators, localizers and machine translation), as well as
terminology resources (legal bilingual dictionaries). We will argue that a viable way to avoid masking conceptual
asymmetries is to provide translators with well-organized term bases.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Historical shifts in Islamic law
- 3.Conceptual asymmetries
- 4.Functional equivalence
- 5.Translators’ practice
- 6.Localization
- 7.Law bilingual dictionaries
- 8.Term base for sharia legal terms
- 9.Conclusion
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Notes
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References