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Between specialised texts and institutional contexts – competence and choice in legal translation
Edited by Valérie Dullion
[Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts 3:1] 2017
► pp. 20–46

Contextualizing translation decisions in legal system-bound and international multilingual contexts

French-Arabic criminal justice terminology

| University of Geneva

The present study uses the notion of frames as a model of concept representation to map the investigation process in three criminal justice realities: the Algerian, Egyptian and French Criminal Procedure. Specifically, the mapping of the investigating process is carried out with the aim of examining conceptual variations when national laws interact with one another and highlighting problems of contextualization in translation. The study shows that, when considering legal translation from an international perspective, all instances of reciprocal connection between laws and international multilingual legal communication should be examined in order to present relevant contextual variables in translation. This approach brings to light specificities at the procedural level that the legal translator and legal expert must be aware of in determining the translation situation, if conceptual inaccuracies, terminological discrepancies and awkward calques are to be avoided.

Keywords: contextualized translation variables, French-Arabic criminal justice terminology, Arabic legal terminology, Arabic system-specific terminology, international multilingual context, legal system-bound context
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The translation purpose: instrumental or documentary?
  • 3.Acquiring legal knowledge: the example of the investigation process
  • 4.Representing the investigation process with frames
  • 5.Contextualizing translation decisions from a comparative perspective
    • 5.1Preliminary examination under the Algerian, Egyptian and French Criminal Procedure Codes: a case study
  • 6.Contextualizing translation decisions from a descriptive perspective: Overcoming terminological obstacles in an international legal system
    • 6.1Heterogeneity
    • 6.2Discrepancy
    • 6.3Confusion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 1 June 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.3.1.03hal
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