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Article published In:
Legal and institutional translation: Functions, processes, competences
Edited by Fernando Prieto Ramos
[Target 33:2] 2021
► pp. 228–253

Translators’ and revisers’ competences in legal translation

Revision foci in prototypical scenarios

ORCID logo | University of Granada

This article proposes a hierarchy of translator and reviser competences in prototypical scenarios in legal translation with a view to determining the most appropriate revision foci to ensure translation quality. Built on a prior characterisation of the most common professional translator profiles in legal translation, the proposal for a hierarchy of competences derives from two premises: (1) The professional profile of those who translate and revise legal documents is very diverse in terms of competence and qualifications (training and experience), and (2) translation competence and specialist knowledge in legal fields (i.e., domain competence) are fundamental when revising to guarantee the quality of legal translations. The proposal is framed by quality assurance in legal translation through a revision process based on (1) the coherent management of the work of the translators and revisers involved in the translation project, and (2) the appropriate methodology for revision applied to legal translation by adapting the revision mode’s focus to ensure its effectiveness. Six common scenarios are identified in light of the translators’ profiles, for which revisers’ profiles are then proposed in order to detect any legal translation competence deficiencies among translators, and thus ensure quality.

Keywords: legal translation competence (LTC), professional profiles in legal translation (LT), hierarchy of competences, translation revision, translation quality assurance (TQA)
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Why do we need a hierarchy of translator and reviser competences in legal translation?
  • 2.Theoretical framework
    • 2.1Legal translation competence
    • 2.2Quality assurance in LT
    • 2.3Translation revision effectiveness for quality assurance in LT
  • 3.Designing the hierarchy of translator and reviser competences
    • 3.1First phase: Characterisation of professional profiles in LT
    • 3.2Second phase: Analysis of legal translator profiles and job contents
    • 3.3Third phase: Adaptation of revision modes to LT
  • 4.Proposal of a hierarchy of translator and reviser competences in prototypical LT scenarios
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 25 May 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.21065.gal
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