MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF LAW GRADUATION THESIS B. DEGREE IN ENGLISH Major: Legal English (OBSTACLES TO ACCURATE LEGAL TRANSLATION AND FEASIBLE SOLUTIONS TO THIS PROBLEM) Supervisor: LUONG MINH HIEU, MA Student: PHAM THI THAO LINH Student ID: 1852202010038 Class: LE43B Ho Chi Minh City, 2022 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Even though I am the author of my thesis, I could not have finished it without the assistance of others around me. I want to thank everyone for your support, which helps the process of writing this thesis become easier. The feedback, suggestions, and compliments boost my confidence and motivate me to believe in myself.
First and foremost, I want to send an appreciation to Mr. Luong Minh Hieu, my mentor, who put the most time and effort to help me finish this thesis. He was the one who patiently sat down to guide me when I felt tough and confused during this process. Obviously, the process of doing a thesis would be even more difficult and strenuous without the teacher's dedicated guidance.
Since I have never conducted any research projects during my time at university, this project for me is a very advanced experience, but also full of difficulties and challenges. The submission of this thesis marks my maturity after a four-year academic career at the University of Law and opens up new opportunities for the future. Besides, I would like to thank the other lecturers of the Legal English department as well as the teachers who have taught our class. All teachers and professors gave us the most fundamental knowledge in the industry.
Moreover, the enthusiasm of the teachers in the teaching process is the biggest motivation for me to do the thesis. I want to leave a research project as a very special mark in this student journey. Pham Thi Thuy Dung – my head teacher, she always takes the time to answer our questions as soon as possible. In addition, I would like to express my sincere and deep gratitude to Mr.
Tran Thang Long (Deputy Head of Department of Legal English), Ms. Tran Ngoc Luong Tuyen, Ms. Le Nguyen Thao Thy (lecturer in Deparment of Legal English), and all the lecturers and staffs in Ho Chi Minh City University of Law for all the values and knowledge I have received on her 4-year journey. I also thank all Dat Bike staff, thank you Ms.
Nguyen Thi Phuong Mai – Human Resources Manager, Mr. Pham Duc Nam Trung – Head of Finance and Operation, Ms. 1 Truong Phan Cao Hoang Phuc – Legal Executive, and the entire Human Resources team and Supply Chain team, who created a good environment for me to conduct surveys and interviews, giving me a lot of lessons and additional useful information for me to complete your thesis. Additionally, from bottom of my heart, I would want to express my gratitude to my best friends Hoa, Long, Nhi, and Ngoc for always being there and giving me the support, and courage to go through all of the challenges I had to face while attending university.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to making my time in college more memorable and colorful. Last but not least, I would like to express my gratefulness to my family for always being there for me, protecting me, and helping me succeed in my decision. Family is always my reliable spiritual support when I am at my most vulnerable stage, loving me without conditions and encouraging me every step of my journey of life. I sincerely appreciate my parents for providing me with a superb learning and training environment so that I can move forward with more confidence.
I am unable to mention everyone who has stood by me in silence over the past few months because there are so many people supporting me in my very significant turning point. However, in the end, for those whose names are not mentioned above, I still want to send sincere appreciation to all people I love most, who lifted me up during my most desperate time to become a better version of myself. Ho Chi Minh City, 27th June, 2022 2 ABBREVIATION SL: Source Language TL: Target Language CAT: Computer-Assisted Translation 3 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The complex factors affect to legal translation process. 38 Figure 2: Number of each object doing my survey.
46 Figure 3: The number of years students learning English. 47 Figure 4: The fields which surveyors working in. 47 Figure 5: The obstacles which people meet most when translating Legal English. 48 Figure 6: Characters of Legal Translation.
51 Figure 7: Common errors in Legal Translation. 52 Figure 8: The satisfaction of legal translators. 52 Figure 9: Tool usually used in Legal Translation. 54 Figure 10: Useful methods for Legal Translation.
54 Figure 11: Legal translation process. 55 Figure 12: Stages in Pre-translation process. 56 Figure 13: Factors for successful target text in Legal Translation. 57 Figure 14: CAT tools.
68 Figure 15: Legal Translation process. 70 4 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Challenges which translators have to cope with :. 50 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. 3 LIST OF FIGURES.
4 LIST OF TABLES .1 Background to the Study .3 Aims of the Study and Research Questions .4 The Scope of the Study .5 The Significant of the Study .3 Subject of the Study .7 Outline of the Study. 19 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.1 Translation in General .1 Definition of General Translation .1 Word-to-word Translation .1 Definition of Legal Translation .2 When is a Document a Legal Document? .3 Characteristics of Legal Translation .1 The Nature of Legal Discourse .2 A System-bound Discipline .4 Ambiguity and interpretation .3 Complexities of the Legal Translator.4 Strategies of Legal Translation .1 Definition of Quantitative and Qualitative Research .2 The Design of the Research .2 The Procedure of Data Collection .1 The Subjects of the Survey .2 The Obstacles and Challenges which Translators Meet Most.3 The Characters of Legal Translation .4 Common Errors in Legal Translation.5 Useful Methods for Legal Translators.6 Legal Translation Process .7 Factors for Successful Target Text in Legal Translation .1 The Obstacles that Prevent Translators from Producing Accurate Target Documents .1 The Influence of Linguistic Aspect on Legal Translation .2 The Influence of Legal Aspect on Legal Translation .2 The Possible Solutions to Overcome above Mentioned Obstacles .1 Improve Knowledge and Experience. Applying the Legal Translation Process .3 The Aid of Technology in Legal Translation .3 The Legal Translation Process .2 Limitations of the Study .1 Background to the Study In the integration process of globalization and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, international trade and the massive exchange of products occurs on a regular basis between countries, which leads to the development of cooperation between Vietnam and the rest of the globe. Furthermore, thanks to the advent of science and the support of modern technology, international crimes are evolving and becoming more sophisticated, especially cybercrime.
According to Cyber Security Ventures, the damage that cybercrime cause in 2021 is $6 trillion, which is much more severe than the damage caused by natural disasters. That is the reason why more and more legal documents are promulgated and translated into many languages to become the common legal basis for international cases. Szmigiera (2022) studies and reports in her statistic that approximately one-third of the world's population, or 1.5 billion people, speak English. However, the vast majority are not natural English speakers.
English, in addition, to be widely spoken, is by far the most widely learned foreign language on the planet, with French a distant second. Moreover, in terms of international economic integration and globalization, English become one of the most important means to communicate and absorb the elite knowledge all over the world. English is not only a vital tool to help people approach the most high- tech devices and learn from developed countries but also the advantageous one to spur the quality of material and spiritual life. Because of its widespread use, English is always chosen as the common language for most sorts of international contracts and legal agreements, in order to eliminate any disadvantage of misunderstanding to cause damage to people or property.
Language is the primary means of communication in all fields and social aspects. As a result, the legal translation method is significantly different from the literary 9 translation method. However, each new assignment involves a mix of old routines and new challenges, depending on the translator's experience and the nature of the task at hand. It should be noted that categories such as "scientific translation" and "literary translation" are not completely self-contained.
Legal texts, like other types of texts, are hybrids: for example, knowledge of the history and culture maybe would be useful when translating international treaties or multilingual statutory instruments (Harvey, 2002). Therefore, legal translation requires a high level of expertise. It's even been called the "ultimate linguistic challenge". However, law firms or corporations that obtain translations from self-employed translation practitioners frequently struggle to understand the complexities of the task.
Following extensive fieldwork examining how legal translation is commissioned and performed in various contexts, this paper aims to create a mini handbook that illustrates the textual agency of the legal translator, with the goal of communicating the complexities of translation performance to clients and other stakeholders. It may also be used to train new legal translators and to make practicing translators more aware of their overall task. The final result of this process will assist related people in understanding the significance of Legal English translation by providing reasons they need to understand, such as the full brief of the need for legal translators or the layers of skills involved. That is the reason why this paper focuses on "Barriers in Legal English translation", recognizing the challenges and focusing on how new changes can influence the value of translated legal documents technique at the moment.
Legal English is usually a root of phobia for those who work and study in the legal field, because if the translation is incorrect, it will immediately jeopardize many people's rights and duties in that transaction. Obviously, the extremely difficult legal terminology and specific structure of legal documents prevent people from working with them. As a result, in order to reduce the difficulty and complexity of the translation process, it should be homogeneous according to common standards and methods. To begin, the legal translation must be precise, shortened, and clearly defined in both the source and target texts to avoid unforeseen misunderstandings during commercial discussions or 10 negotiations.
Then, in order to make the process of translating legal documents easier, it is critical to find ways to limit the obstacles encountered. The purpose of the law is to protect the legitimate rights and obligations of individuals and organizations. Law spreads widely and justifies all social relationships The impact of law on social relations usually occurs in two directions: - For social relations in line with the process of social development and meeting the interests of the people, the law protects, strengthens, and creates conditions for them to develop. - For social relations that do not meet the interests of the people and do not conform to the rules of society's development, the law prevents and inhibits their development and gradually excludes them from social life.
Therefore, law affects all different aspects and fields, particularly the numerous jobs relating to international commercial transactions, such as purchasing, sourcing, supply chain, logistic, and so on. Employees in this field have to manage and deal with crucial English contracts and documents on a daily basis. Small errors can have far- reaching consequences for a company. Despite the importance of law as well as legal translation, it is still depreciated by law firms and other corporations.
It becomes apparent that the market is severely impaired because the final edited version of the translation is deficient in information.