International Journal of Philology

The reality we face when talking about translation of legal documents is that Ukrainian literature on this problem of translation is far from being sufficient. The aim of this article is not to delve deeply into the acute language problems of translation into Ukrainian, but to analyze some of the most typical ones by giving some examples of translation from English into Ukrainian and vice versa. Perhaps every Ukrainian interpreter and translator is aware of the difficulties of translating legal documents. It depends much upon the type of the text. German translator A. Neubert was considering the character of the text of the original and suggested the following classification of the four distinctive types of practical correlations when rendering texts to the target audience. To the first type belong the originals that have equal practical interest for both audiences e.g. technical documentation and literature). These may be translated with a higher degree of adequacy. The second type are the originals that are specifically designed for translations (informatory materials meant for non-native speakers).Fiction literature, imaginative writing belongs to the third type. Translation of such texts is impossible without losses in pragmatic adequacy. The fourth type is comprised of the originals that are specifically targeted at members of one language group; these do not connect with translation target audience (here legislation, private legal documents, social and political mass media and the things alike belong).And here he is talking not as much about the quality of translation itself as of the equal reaction of the source language audience. This type of achievement is not necessarily in each of the types of translation, and in some of these types it is virtually unattainable due to, among other things, the peculiarities of translation recipients, impossibility to determine the target audience reaction. The analysis of equivalent translatability of legal information from one language into another brings to mind another issue: different legal systems have distinctly different legal terms and definitions. Many of them do not have analogies and are allomorphic and may be translated only with the help of explication, description and other add-on informational tools. A legal document has its own specific structure. From the point of view of appropriateness we consider it useful to apply the so-called ‘golden rule of interpretation’ in the process of translation of legal documents. We have also considered how to achieve adequateness in the process of legal documents translation, as each document has its own structural peculiarities and presentation rules and demands, that differ from country to country. The requisites of documents translation have also been considered. We have come to the conclusion that in the process of translation from one language into another the usual translator’s skills are not enough. It is necessary to know special legislation vocabulary, be knowledgeable in the peculiarities of terminology usage in a concrete context as well as be able to orient in modern legislation

legal documents translation; linguistic and legal adequacy; translation difficulties; legal terms; distinctive types of correlation in translation