MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING LE THỊ HA LINH STUDENT DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGMENT A thesis is never successfully completed in isolation. I received help, encouragement, critique, and consolation from many people who deserve acknowledgement. The researcher is greatly indebted to the invaluable assistance and support of the following generous and talented people who have made otherwise abstract, complex and random thoughts come into shape this work right now, she wishes to express her sincere gratitude to all those who helped herin the completion of this humble research work which she hopes to give as her contribution to the efforts of teachers to provide excellence in the completion of her research. They are legion, but because of limited space, only a few are named here, while most are treasured more in her memory and heart.
First and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Vu Van Tuan, for his unwavering support and guidance throughout this research. His insightful comments, constructive feedback, and invaluable expertise have been instrumental in shaping this dissertation. Iam immensely grateful for his patience, generosity, and encouragement.
I would also like to thank the faculty members and staff of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hanoi Law University, whose dedication to teaching and research has been an inspiration to me. Their support, guidance, and encouragement have been invaluable throughout my studies. I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to my family, who have been my constant source of love, support, and encouragement. Their unwavering belief in me has been the dnving force behind my success, and Iam forever grateful for their love and guidance.
iv Last but certainly not least, I would like to thank my friends and classmates, who have beena source of inspiration and motivation throughout my studies. Their encouragement, help, and support have been invaluable to me, and J am thankful for their unwavering beliefin me. In conclusion, I am deeply grateful to all those who have supported me in completing this graduation thesis. Without their help, guidance, and ABSTRACT In the global integration era, legal professionals are now required to have comprehensive knowledge of different legal jurisdictions.
Although the characteristics of legal English pose significant obstacles in understanding foreign legal texts, translation plays a crucial role in helping legal professionals. For training purposes of future legal translators, the researcher feels it necessary to conduct:a study on the difficulties in translating legal texts of legal English students. This graduation thesis focuses on examining the hardships that Legal English major undergraduates undergo while translating legal texts at Hanoi Law University, accordingly, some resolutions would be proposed to get rid of these hindrances to legal English translation. In the process of conducting research, the researcher employed a mixed-methods approach that involved both qualitative and quantitative methods.
The data were collected thanks to primary sources such as questionnaires and interviews. The results of the study reveal that the main difficulties leamers face in translating legal texts are related to the lexical characteristics of legal English The study recommends that more effective and inclusive legal English translation techniques should be employed by English major undergraduates, depending on their autonomous learning From this perspective, they should be promoted to use information technology, especially utilising Internet resources for broadening their knowledge about not only laws but also legal English to satisfy career expectations. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Student deciaration Acknowledgement 1. Legal English btHA®YoDị =° 1.
Research question restated 18 equivalent meaning in Vietnamese legal terms when translating legal texts 3. The analysis of solutions to overcome the difficulties of 35 ordinary words with special meanings when translating legal texts 3. The analysis of solutions to deal with the use of doublets 36 and triplets conveying a single legal concept when translating legal texts 3. The analysis of solutions to translate archaic expressions 37 in legal texts PART III.
Summary of the main finding 47 4. Limitations and suggestions for further research 50 4. Suggestion 50 REFERENCES 51 APPENDIX a LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Profiles of the respondents involved in the study 23 Table 2.
Lexical-related difficulties 37 able 11. Solutions to deal vath metonymies when translating legal texts Table 12. Solutions to overcome the problems of doublets and 42 triplets conveying a single legal concept when translating legal texts Table 13. Solutions to overcome Foreign WWordsiMaams 44 borrowing from Latin or French origin in legal texts Table 14.
Solution to address the issues of reciprocal words in 45 translating legal texts LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Vietnam : the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. C500 : People's Security Academy e : Margin of error EAP : English forAcademic Purposes MOET : Ministry of Education and Training n : Number of samples N : Population size NEU : National Economic University sD : Standard Deviation SL Source language Courses 45 :K45 Courses 46 :K46 PART I. Rationale of the study Legal regulation of society includes using language to mediate national and international social relations in law In the era of globalisation, international contracts and treaties have significantly increased. This includes a wide range of new-generation free trade agreements, which come with high- quality.and,complex,commitments,As,a,result, professionals arerequired to have a deep understanding.
English legalese is known for its professionalism (Matsyupa et al. 64-66) and complexity, thus making it hard to understand its terms. Since language is the only means to develop legal concepts, translation is believed to be focal in the modem world, especially for legal professionals. Furthermore, translation can help narrow the differences in the field of economic, social, and technological progress between developed and developing countnes by providing access to legal concepts and terminology that may be unfamiliar to legal professionals in certain regions Not only do developing nations depend on translation to fill the gap with other developed countries, butit also affords access to a core meaning that some legal professionals need help understanding a foreign language.
Equally important to nations, translation plays an essential role in leaming As mentioned, facilitating the transfer of knowiedge presented in different languages is essential, and translation playsa crucial roleinaccomplishing it For this reason, professional leamers, in the process of developing their skills, can use translation as an aid to enhance foreign languages and as well as professional knowledge (Mart, 2013, pp. 103-105) In the field of English language teaching (ELT), there isa specific focus on teaching and learning English for particular purposes, which is known as English for Specific Purposes (ESP) rather than general English (GE) or English for Academic Purposes (EAP) (Vu & Tran, 2023). Learning ESP is becoming increasingly necessary in today's worid as the demand for specialised language skills continues growing. ESP is designed to cater to students' specific English needs for a particular field or profession For instance, medical professionals require ESPs to communicate effectively with patients and colleagues within their field.
In reality, the need for ESP is not limited to professionals; only students who plan to study abroad or pursue a specific academic vocation need ESP to achieve and communicate effectively in their field of study. As a result, the necessity of leaming ESP must be considered. Implemented in the legal field, likewise, ESP legal English, known as legal English, is necessary in today’s world. In this regard, in the joumey of pursuing legal professions in the era of globalisation, legal English is needed to understand legal terminologies in native English countnes and multilateral intemational relations.
Legal English is known for its complexity and professionalism, and it includes either specific terminology or concepts which are essential to the legal study. This distinctive language is used to facilitate legal mediation of social relations between nations and individuals on a global scale, and it plays a significant role in legal documents, contracts, and treaties as well. In contrast, one of the primary difficulties in learning legal English is the complexity ofits terminology and concepts (Nhac, 2022). Legal professionals need to have a deep understanding of legal English to moderate the language and interpret the meaning of legal texts accurately.
Moreover, legal English still includes archaic and Latin expressions that can be challenging to understand. Another difficulty of legal English reflects the remarkable diversity from one country to another, which leads to the possible situation of using the legal terminology in these countries’ jurisdiction differently. In view of this, legal professionals are expected to be armed with a comprehensive understanding of the legal system of the country or region concemed. Translating legal English, to some extent, raises significant challenges due to the differences in legal systems, laws, and 5y cultural contexts.
Legal translators are supposed to be experts in a variety of languages and possess a profound comprehension of legal terminologies to ensure accurate and effective translation. Overall, legal English is a highly exclusive language which requires extensive knowledge and understanding of the legal field's terminology and concepts. It causes significant challenges to legal professionals and translators alike, making it essential to learn and study the language in-depth Some striking scholars have discussed the length of translating legal documents until now. Specially, Altay (2004) states in his research that translating legal texts (from English into Turkish and vice versa) poses several legal language problems closely resembling the distinctive charactenstics of the legal systems and languages used in English and Turkish contexts.
In this aspect, the Vietnamese language shares some similarities with the case study in Turkey, which has a different nature of legal terminology from countries where English is spoken as the mother tongue, such as the United Kingdom (UK) or the United States of America (USA). Nevertheless, the research can be seenasa framework-based theory only but lacking the applicable one. Camelia (2014) also researches the translation of legal documents. Although her research demonstrates that Latin juridical expression and cultural differences hinder the translation of legal documents, the study does not specify the scope despite the fact differences in translating between leamers and professionals Ma and Nguyen (2019) are the two Vietnamese scholars conducting a study on translating legal texts.
They conclude that significant challenges in the accurate translation of legal terminology from English to Vietnamese include non- equivalence of legal systems and laws, linguistic difficulties, and cultural obstacles. Nonetheless, they only conduct theoretical research but need to illustrate which obstacles affect translators the most. Moreover, sharing similarities with other foreign studies, the scope of the above research does not focus on any subject, thus, these problems are considered general rather than 3 specific for legal English undergraduates. As a general rule, after analysing some studies implemented by researchers on the translation of legal English inside and outside Vietnam, it can be seen that the need for applicable research on translating legal text and special scope is still insufficient In general, as aforementioned, the applicable research on the translation of legal texts by legal English major leamers can be defined as the research gap.
Therefore, the researcher recognises the necessity to do an insight study on this field to come up with more worthy solutions to help those who are in demand of using legal English in their professions. Realising the noteworthiness of understanding the hardships in translating legal texts with leamers, the researcher decided to implement the study with legal English major students of courses 45 and 46 (K45 and K46 students) from the Faculty of Legal Foreign Languages at Hanoi Law University (HLU) during the first term of the 2023- 2024 academic year. Aims and objective of the study 2. Aims of the study The study examines the difficulties of legal English major students in translating legal texts under these aims: - To highlight the problems of legal English major students in translating legal documents at HLU; - To propose solutions to help legal English major students overcome the obstacles.