Legal Translation Arabic -

English - Arabic

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Arabic–English–Arabic Legal
Translation

Arabic–English–Arabic Legal Translation provides a groundbreaking investigation of the

issues found in legal translation between Arabic and English. Drawing on a contrastive–
comparative approach, it analyses parallel authentic legal documents in both Arabic and
English to examine the features of legal discourse in both languages and uncover the different
translation techniques used. In so doing, it addresses the following questions:

• What are the features of English and Arabic legal texts?

• What are the similarities and differences of English and Arabic legal texts?
• What are the difcult areas of legal translation between English and Arabic legal texts?
• What are the techniques for translating these difcult areas on the lexical and syntactic
levels?

Features include:

• a thorough description of the features of legal translation in both English and Arabic,
drawing on new empirical research, corpus data analysis and strategic two- way com-
parisons between source texts and target texts
• coverage of a broad range of topics including an outline of the chosen framework for
data analysis, a historical survey of legal discourse developments in both Arabic and
English and detailed analyses of legal literature at both the lexical and syntactic levels
• attention to common areas of difculty such as Shariʿah Law terms, archaic terms and
model auxiliaries
• many examples and excerpts from a wide selection of authentic legal documents, re-
inforced by practical discussion points, exercises and practice drills to encourage active
engagement with the material and opportunities for hands-on learning.

Wide-ranging, scholarly and thought-provoking, this will be a valuable resource for advanced
undergraduates and postgraduates on Arabic, translation studies and comparative linguistics
courses. It will also be essential reading for translation professionals and researchers working
in the eld.

Hanem El-Farahaty is Teaching Fellow in the Department of Arabic and Middle Eastern
Studies at the University of Leeds, UK, and an Associate of the Higher Education Academy.
She is also a Lecturer in the University of Mansoura, Egypt.

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Arabic–English–Arabic Legal
Translation

Hanem El-Farahaty

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First published 2015

by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2015 Hanem El-Farahaty
The right of Hanem El-Farahaty to be identied as author of this work has
been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identication and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN: 978-0-415-70752-7 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-415-70753-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-74589-3 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

by ReneCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk

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Contents

List of gures xi
List of tables xii
List of abbreviations xiii
Acknowledgments xiv

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Aims of the book 1
1.2 Hypothesis and research questions 1
1.3 Research on the problems of legal translation: a brief review 2
1.4 Methodology 3
1.5 Data analysis 3
1.6 Structure of the book 3

2 English and Arabic legal discourse and legal translation 6

2.1 Introduction 6
2.2 What is legal translation? 6
2.3 Historical background of legal discourse and legal translation in the
English tradition 6
2.4 Historical background of legal discourse and legal translation in the
Arabic tradition 8
2.5 Categories of legal translation 11
2.5.1 Legal translation with respect to functions of legal discourse 11
2.5.2 Legal translation with respect to categories of legal discourse 12
2.6 Approaches to legal translation: a brief review of translation theory 15

3 Features of English and Arabic legal discourse 20

3.1 Introduction 20
3.2 Features of English legal discourse 20
3.2.1 Lexical features 20
3.2.1.1 Archaic terms 21
3.2.1.2 Latin and French terms 21
3.2.1.3 Formal terms 22
3.2.1.4 Religious, culture-specic and system-based lexis 22
3.2.1.5 Other lexical features 22
3.2.2 Syntactic features 23
3.2.2.1 Nominalization 23

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viii Contents
3.2.2.2 Passivization 23
3.2.2.3 Wh-deletion 24
3.2.2.4 Conditionals, prepositional phrases and restrictive
connectors 24
3.2.2.5 Complex sentences 24
3.2.2.6 Performative verbs and modals 25
3.2.2.7 The use of negation 28
3.2.2.8 Binomial expressions/doublets and triplets 28
3.2.3 Textual features 29
3.2.3.1 Elements of cohesion 29
3.3 Features of Arabic legal discourse 31
3.3.1 Introduction 31
3.3.2 Lexical features 31
3.3.2.1 Religious, culture-specic and system- based terms
and expressions 34
3.3.2.2 Formality 35
3.3.2.3 Gender-biased terms 37
3.3.2.4 Archaic terms 40
3.3.3 Syntactic features 40
3.3.3.1 Nominalization 40
3.3.3.2 Passivization 41
3.3.3.3 Modals 42
3.3.3.4 Complex sentence structure 42
3.3.3.5 Doublets and triplets 43
3.3.3.6 Participles 43
3.3.4 Textual features 44
3.3.4.1 Lexical repetition 45
3.3.4.2 Reference 50
3.3.4.3 Conjunctions and punctuation 51
3.4 Exercises and discussions: features of legal English and legal Arabic 52

4 Framework for data analysis 59

4.1 Introduction 59
4.2 Vinay and Darbelnet’s model 59
4.2.1 Direct translation 59
4.2.1.1 Borrowing 60
4.2.1.2 Calque 60
4.2.1.3 Literal translation 60
4.2.2 Oblique translation 61
4.2.2.1 Transposition 61
4.2.2.2 Modulation 61
4.2.2.3 Equivalence 62
4.2.2.4 Adaptation 62
4.3 Alcaraz Varó and Hughes’ techniques of adaptation 62
4.3.1 Transposition 63
4.3.2 Expansion 63
4.3.3 Modulation 63

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Contents ix
4.4 Baker’s levels of equivalence 63
4.4.1 Equivalence at word level and above word level 63
4.4.2 Grammatical equivalence 65
4.4.3 Textual equivalence 65
4.5 Methodology 65
4.5.1 The lexical level 66
4.5.2 The syntactic level 66
4.5.2.1 Modal auxiliaries in English and Arabic 66
4.5.2.2 Modal auxiliaries in English 66
4.5.2.3 Modal auxiliaries in Arabic 69
4.5.2.4 Passivization in English and Arabic 71
4.5.3 Addition and omission 75
4.6 List of documents for data analysis 75
4.6.1 English–Arabic documents 76
4.6.2 Arabic–English documents 76

5 Analysis of Arabic–English–Arabic texts: the lexical level 78

5.1 Introduction 78
5.2 Analysis of religious, culture-specic and system-based terms and
phrases in Arabic–English ofcial and legislative documents 78
5.2.1 Quantitative analysis of religious, culture-specic and system- based
terms and phrases 78
5.2.2 Qualitative analysis of religious, culture-specic and system- based
terms and phrases 79
5.2.2.1 Reference to God 79
5.2.2.2 Religious terms and concepts 81
5.3 Religious, culture-specic and system- based terms and phrases in
Arabic–English international documents 87
5.3.1 Quantitative analysis of religious, culture-specic and
system-based terms and phrases in the UIDHR 88
5.3.2 Qualitative analysis of the frequency of techniques of
translating culture-specic and system-based terms and
phrases in the UIDHR 89
5.3.2.1 Translation by ‘omission’ 89
5.3.2.2 Translation by ‘adaptation’ 90
5.3.2.3 Translation by both ‘literal’ translation and ‘borrowing’ 91
5.3.2.4 Translation by ‘addition’ 93
5.4 Analysis of English–Arabic system-based and culture-specic terms 95
5.4.1 A note on the concept of civil partnership 95
5.4.2 Quantitative analysis of English–Arabic culture-specic
system-based terms and phrases 95
5.4.3 Qualitative analysis of English–Arabic system-based and
culture-specic terms 96
5.5 Analysis of archaic terms in Arabic–English documents 100
5.5.1 Translation of archaic terms in Arabic–English ofcial documents 100
5.6 Analysis of archaic terms in English–Arabic documents 102
5.7 Exercises and discussions 104

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x Contents
6 Analysis of Arabic–English–Arabic texts: the syntactic level 118
6.1 Introduction 118
6.2 Analysis of modal auxiliaries in English–Arabic documents 118
6.2.1 Quantitative analysis of modal auxiliaries in English–Arabic
documents 118
6.2.2 Qualitative analysis of modal auxiliaries in English–Arabic
documents 121
6.2.2.1 Translation of shall 121
6.2.2.2 Translation of may 125
6.2.2.3 Translation of other less frequent modals 127
6.3 Analysis of modal expressions in Arabic–English documents 130
6.3.1 Quantitative analysis of modal expressions in Arabic–English
documents 130
6.3.2 Qualitative analysis of modal expressions in the AChHR 130
6.3.2.1 Translation of (it is not permissible/not allowed) 131
6.3.2.2 Translation of less frequent modal expressions 132
6.4 Translation of the passive in English–Arabic documents 133
6.4.1 Quantitative analysis of passive in English–Arabic documents 133
6.4.2 Qualitative analysis of passive in English–Arabic documents 134
6.4.2.1 Passive → active 135
6.4.2.2 Passive → passive 138
6.5 Translation of passive in Arabic–English documents 139
6.6 Exercises and discussions 140

7 Conclusion and recommendations 148

Notes 154
References 159
Index 166

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Figures

2.1 Kurzon’s classication of legal discourse 12

2.2 Trosborg’s classication of legal discourse 13
2.3 Cao’s classication of legal texts 13
4.1 Palmer’s types of modals 68
5.1 Frequency analysis of the techniques of translating culture-specic and
system-based terms and phrases in Arabic–English ofcial and
legislative documents 79
5.2 Frequency analysis of the techniques of translating culture-specic and
system-based terms and phrases in the UIDHR 88
5.3 Frequency analysis of the techniques for translating English–Arabic
system-based and culture-specic terms 96
6.1 Frequency analysis of English–Arabic modal auxiliaries in the ChUN 119
6.2 Frequency analysis of modal phrases and expressions in the Arabic
translation of English modals in the ChUN 120
6.3 Frequency analysis of modal expressions in the AChHR 130
6.4 Frequency of the passive structure in the ChUN 134
6.5 Frequency of the translation of the passive structure into Arabic in
the ChUN 134