On the problem of sociocultural and pragmatic adaptation in legal texts translation: hermeneutic-communication approach.

Abstract

Aim. The aim is to identify, describe and systematize difficulties of sociocultural adaptation in legal texts translation practices and analyze the influence of the context on the adequacy of the translation as well as the reasons of translation errors. Methodology. The methods of contextual, comparative, corpus, linguocultural as well as descriptive analysis were applied during the research based on selected authentic English and Russian texts in mass media, legal and scientific discourse. Results. The work shows the need for carrying out a multidimentional analysis of national cultural peculiarities of the original text and target language speakers in order to avoid probable translation mistakes. Research implications. To solve the problem of multiple terminology interpretations by recipients, including legal norms in Legalese, the hermeneutic-communication approach may be an adequate choice. In the article the author develops the theory of the cultural component of meaning detected in the process of the lexical-semantic analysis of terminological units in the humanitarian fields of knowledge, and focuses on the sociocultural and pragmatic aspects of legal terminology interlingual translation. The paper also lists examples of translation manipulations applied in order to ensure correct interlingual semantic transference of some confusing English legal terms into Russian.