Translation of Culture Specific Terms in the EU Legislative Documents - TermCoord
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Master in Learning and Communication in
Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts
Translation of Culture Specific Terms in the EU
Legislative Documents
First Supervisor: Erika Kalocsányiová
Second Supervisor: Rodolfo Maslias
Third Supervisor: Ingrid de Saint-Georges
Master Thesis submitted by:
Ivana Kuriačková
June 2018
Declaration
I hereby declare that the thesis entitled “Translation of Culture Specific Terms in the
EU Legislative Documents” has been carried out in the Master in Learning and
Communication in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts, at the University of
Luxembourg, under the guidance of Erika Kalocsányiová. The work is original and has
not been submitted in part or full by me for any degree or diploma at any other
University.
I further declare that the material obtained from other sources has been duly
acknowledged in the thesis.
Luxembourg, 11.6.2018
IIAbstract
This Master thesis deals with terminology and translation in the institutions of
the European Union. The thesis aims to identify the procedures applied in the
translation of culture specific terms in the legislative documents of the EU.
Our analysis draws on the concepts of culture as defined by Tylor (1971) and the
concept of equivalence as described by Jakobson (1959). This Master thesis is based on
the classification of translation techniques as proposed by Newmark (1988). The focus
of the analysis is on the translation of eleven culture specific terms in five languages
(English, French, German, Slovak and Czech), and the strategies that were applied to
translate them. Through our term selection, we touch open various culture-dependent
domains, including geographical names, political offices and administrative divisions,
all of which are relevant for the EU’s legislative documents and their translations.
The thesis offers a comparative analysis between the multilingual IATE entries
(Inter-Active Terminology for Europe) that corresponded to our selected terms and their
uses in the EUR-Lex corpus. Our research aims to uncover patterns of translation in
order to explore which techniques are best suited to convey cultural information in the
translation of terms in legislative documents.
IIIRésumé de mémoire
Notre thèse traite les domaines de la terminologie et de la traduction au sein des
institutions de l’Union européenne. Le but de notre thèse est d’identifier le processus
appliqué lors de la traduction d’un terme d’une culture spécifique dans les documents
de l’Union européenne.
Notre analyse cherche à illustrer les concepts de culture proposés par Tylor en
1971 et les concepts d’équivalence décrites par Jakobson en 1959. Notre thèse se réfère
à la classification de techniques de traduction proposée par Newmark en 1988. Nous
nous focaliserons donc sur onze termes spécifiques. Nous analyserons ainsi les
stratégies adoptées afin de traduire ceux-ci. Chacun sera étudié en Anglais, Français,
Allemand, Slovaque et Tchèque. Durant la sélection des termes choisis, nous avons pû
examiner plusieurs domaines culturellement dépendants notamment les noms
géographiques, les noms d’offices politiques ou de division administrative. Ces
domaines sont nécessaires à l’élaboration des documents législatif de l’Union
européenne et de leur traduction.
Notre analyse offre un regard comparatif entre l’équivalence des termes choisis
selon la base de données multilingues IATE (Inter-Active Terminology for Europe); et
leur utilisation dans les documents du corpus de l’EUR-Lex. Nos recherches ont ainsi
pour objectif de révéler les modèles de traduction adéquate afin de transmettre les
informations culturelles dans les documents législatifs de l’Union européenne.
IVAcknowledgements
In this way, I would like to thank my supervisor Erika Kalocsányiová for
leading me in writing this Master thesis and her precious comments and
recommendations. Further, I would like to thank Rodolfo Maslias for
welcoming me in the Terminology Coordination Unit at the European
Parliament and providing materials for conducting this Master thesis. Also,
I thank Patrick Kubwayo for reviewing and his advice.
VTable of Contents
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................... VII
LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................... VIII
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1
1.THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS.................................... 5
1.1 CULTURE SPECIFIC TERMS IN LEGAL TRANSLATION ................................................. 5
1.1.1 Culture ............................................................................................................. 5
1.1.2 Culture specific words ..................................................................................... 8
1.2 TERMINOLOGY ........................................................................................................ 9
1.2.1 Defining terminology ....................................................................................... 9
1.2.2 Legal terminology.......................................................................................... 10
1.3 EQUIVALENCE IN TRANSLATING LEGISLATIVE TEXTS ............................................ 11
1.4 TRANSLATION AS CULTURE SPECIFIC COMMUNICATION ...................................... 12
1.5 TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES ................................................................................... 13
2. TRANSLATION IN THE EUROPEAN UNION .................................................. 20
2.1 EUR-LEX DATABASE............................................................................................. 23
2.2 IATE DATABASE ................................................................................................... 25
3. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................... 27
3.1 LIST OF SOURCES ................................................................................................... 28
3.2 TERM EXTRACTION ................................................................................................ 31
3.3 METHODS AND PROCESSES OF ANALYSIS ............................................................... 34
4. ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................ 36
4.1 GEOGRAPHICAL TERMS .......................................................................................... 36
4.2 GOVERNMENT BODIES AND ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS ....................................... 44
4.3 OTHERS ................................................................................................................. 54
4.4 ANALYSIS ACCORDING TO THE PUBLISHING DATE AND INSTITUTION ..................... 60
5. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 62
6. WORKS CITED ....................................................................................................... 66
VIList of Abbreviations
CAT tools – Computer assisted translation tools
DExEU – Department for exiting the European Union
EEC – European Economic Community
EFTA – The European Free Trade Association
EU – European Union
EUR-Lex database – database for the European Union law
IATE – Inter-Active Terminology for Europe
JPG – The Joint Practical Guide for persons involved in the drafting of EU legislation
SL – source language
ST – source text
TL – target language
TT – target text
VIIList of Figures
Figure 1. Semantic triangle by Ogden and Richards
Figure 2. Percentage of Pages Translate in Directorate General for Translation
Figure 3. Example from the IATE database
Figure 4. Example from the IATE database – full entry
VIIIIntroduction
The European Union (EU) is a unique union that connects at present 28
European countries and recognizes 24 official languages that come in contact every day.
The EU is a real multilingual space that strives to create a community within diversity
of cultures and languages. This commitment obliges translation of the EU documents
into all official languages so that every citizen of the EU can understand and use the
official documents and could communicate with the EU Institutions in his/her native
language (“EU Administration”, n.d.). Furthermore, the legal system of the European
Union has to build on the cultural diversity of the various legal systems it comprises.
The difficulties of legal translation are further complicated by the principle of equal
authenticity (language equality) whereby all language versions of the EU legislation are
considered as legally valid and "authentic" as the initial version (Felici, 2010).
Therefore, precision and consistency of the legislative acts are essential. Translators of
legal texts have to be aware of divergences and convergences of the various legal
systems and to understand individual concepts to be able to ensure the equivalence
between them. Hence, we can say that the translation is carried out on the basis of
comparative study of legal systems (Pozzo, 2015).
Translation and terminology are closely related. Terminology is a study of
terms that serve to name concepts. Creation of terminology in the EU context is very
interesting because of the many different legal systems coexisting next to each other.
EU legislation, as a supranational legal system, created new concepts that had to be
incorporated into the national legal system of each Member State, however, also each
Member State’s legislation influences terminology of the EU.
Since the so-called cultural turn1, culture has been linked to translation.
Torop (2002) argues that the link between translation and culture is inseparable. With
this in mind, we can maintain that a translator has to know not only the source language
(SL) and the target language (TL), but also has to be familiar with both cultures and
1 Cultural turn in translation studies is linked to the work of Bassnett and Lefevere
(1990), who adopted cultural approach in translation studies and emphasized the
influence of cultural tradition on translation.
1their historical and political background, even more so when dealing with legislative
texts. Ginter (2002) in her paper Cultural Issues in Translation compares translation to
an act of culture specific communication. She puts emphasis on the importance of the
translator, who is the first to read the source text (ST) and has to produce meanings in
the TL.
Legal language has specific features that distinguish it from other domains of
language use. These features comprise structure, conventions, expressions and most
importantly terminology. Translating legal terminology belongs to one of the most
difficult and challenging tasks for translators and linguists because legal terms are
embedded in local cultures and traditions of a country (Ajani & Ebers, 2005). The
accuracy of legal terminology is very important and therefore, translators have to be
well aware of the cultural gap between the legal systems. Legal systems are linked with
different national cultures and the historical development of each country, which creates
incongruences in terminology.
This thesis aims to identify the procedures applied in the translation of
selected culture specific terms and provide analysis of their translations in the
legislative documents of the European Union. We will be looking at the issues of
translating culture specific terms and how the terminologists and translators deal with
these terms. We would like to observe the different strategies in legal translation when
translating culture specific terms and to point at possible shortcomings. I would as well
draw on my personal experience from the study visit in the Terminology Coordination
Unit at the European Parliament and my former studies of translation and interpretation
at the Comenius University in Bratislava.
The thesis tries to answer the following research questions:
• Which translation techniques are used most often to translate culture specific
expressions in the EU documents?
• What are the factors that influence the choice of a particular translation
technique?
• Are there differences between the translations in the IATE database and the
EUR-Lex database?
The structure of the thesis is divided into theoretical background and practical analysis.
In the introduction we approached the topic of our Master thesis and listed the research
questions. Since the thesis deals with the topic of translation of culture specific terms,
the theoretical part is divided into two chapters. The first chapter introduces the
2theoretical and conceptual framework and is further divided into five subchapters
corresponding to the topics of culture, terminology, equivalence, translation as culture
specific communication and translation techniques.
The first subchapter consists of two subsections. The first subsection tries to
explain the concept of culture. We offered different definitions of culture, e.g. Tylor
1971, Tomalin and Stempleski 1993, Geertz 1966, Mezey 2001 and Bourdieu 1987. The
second subsection deals with the concept of culture specific terms, where we explain
what do we mean by culture specific term and which categories of culture specific terms
will be elaborated in this Master thesis.
The second subchapter deals with terminology. It is divided into two
subsections. The first subsection explains what is terminology and why is it important
for translation of legal texts. In this subsection the difference between term and concept
is explained. In the second subsection legal language is marked as a Language for
special purposes and characteristics of legal terminology are provided. Biel (2014)
proposes cases with possible problems faced by legal translators when translating legal
texts.
In the third subchapter the topic of equivalence is introduced, which is an
important topic for translation. Equivalence in translation expresses the relationship
between the SL and its corresponding translation in the TL. Bednárová-Gibová (2014)
highlights the importance of equivalence in legal translation; however, Newmark (1969)
sees equivalent effect unlikely if the cultures of the SL and TL are remote.
The fourth subchapter introduces translation as culture specific
communication. The translator is here depicted as the mediator between cultures. In
translation it is important to keep in mind not only the lexical equivalence, but also the
cultural impact of the message on the reader.
The fifth subchapter is devoted to translation techniques. As we aim to
analyze the translation techniques used for translation of culture specific terms in the
EU legislative texts, we are going to provide a detailed description of the most common
translation techniques proposed by Newmark (1969) in his work The Textbook of
Translation.
The second chapter presents translation in the European Union and its
multilingual policy. The procedural languages are introduced and drawing on
Bednárová-Gibová’s work (2013) we explain in which aspects does the EU legal
English differ from the formal legal language. The next subchapters introduce the IATE
3and EUR-Lex database, which will be important later on for our analysis as we will be
looking at the terms in both databases and comparing the results.
The practical part consists of methodology and analysis of selected terms. In
the methodology we outline the processes taken for selection of the terms. The
methodology that was employed in the analysis part will be explained as well.
In the analysis itself, we analyze 11 culture specific terms that are organized
into three groups according to the areas they belong to. The first group represents
geographical names, the second group government bodies and administrative divisions
and the last group all other terms.
The last chapter is devoted to the conclusion. In conclusion we give a
summary of the findings of this Master thesis and try to answer the research questions
posed at the beginning.
41.Theoretical and conceptual frameworks
1.1 Culture specific terms in legal translation
1.1.1 Culture
For the better understanding of this topic and the difficulties of translating
culture specific expressions, in this chapter, we are going to explain what we understand
under the term culture. This term is notoriously problematic and has different
definitions and explanations. Although, it is almost impossible to define what exactly
belongs under the term “culture“, we are going to provide you with some definitions of
culture and examine the similarities and differences between them.
We would start with the definition of Edward Tylor, who is a pioneer in the field
of anthropology. Tylor (1871) sees culture as „that complex whole which includes
knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits
acquired by man as a member of society.” (p. 1). Tylor’s definition stresses the integrity
of culture that encompasses the society as a whole and also indicates that culture is
acquired through socio-cultural interactions with others.
Tomalin and Stempleski (1993) divide the concept of culture into a ‚Big C‘
(achievement culture) and a ‚Little c‘ (behavior culture). The ‚Big C‘ culture consists of
features that have been achieved by a given culture, e.g. art, literature, music, etc., while
the ‚little c’ culture contains culturally influenced behaviors. The achievement culture is
all those things that are taught in the foreign language classes, however, the hidden part
of the culture is the symbols, meanings and values behind that are hard to recognize and
understand for non-members. In fact, cultural patterns are not inherited; they are learned
in the process of socialization. This learning is unconscious and influenced by the
closest people around us, mostly our families, friends or media; therefore, culture is
shared by individuals of the same cultural group. In consequence, what is accepted and
tolerated by one cultural group can be rejected by other.
We observe that language plays an important role in culture. Language carries
meanings and those meanings represent the culture of a particular group. Researchers
have differing views on whether or to what extent does language belong to culture.
Risager (2006) claims that language is culturally neutral. She uses the term
languaculture, coined by Michael Agar (1994), however, unlike Agar; she does not use
5the term to point to the unity of language and culture, but rather to theorize about the
connections and disconnections in this relationship. She sees language as a code and
argues that as a result of migration and globalization language does not carry all
dimensions of culture.
On the contrary, according to Bourdieu (1990) a community has a particular
way of communication. He creates a link between thought and behavior and with
Goodenough (1964) agrees that language is part of culture. Nevertheless, language is
used to describe cultural phenomena that may differ from culture to culture. These
cultural differences lead to cultural gap, when the SL cultural phenomenon does not
exist in a TL, which produces difficulties with translation.
We see that many definitions of culture deal with the socio-behavioral aspect of
culture, and occasionally law is mentioned as a part of culture. Geertz’s definition
provides a bit different view on the concept of culture:
The culture concept... denotes an historically transmitted pattern of meanings
embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic
forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their
knowledge about and attitudes toward life (Geertz, Section I).
Geertz links the concept of culture to historically transmitted patterns and he also sees
law as the one way we make sense of the world. He recognizes the link between law
and culture.
Naomi Mezey (2001) supports the idea that law belong to culture by saying:
„if one were to talk about the relationship between culture and law, it would
certainly be right to say that it is always dynamic, interactive, and dialectical-
law is both a producer of culture and an object of culture. Put generally, law
shapes individual and group identity, social practices as well as the meaning of
cultural symbols, but all of these things (culture in its myriad manifestations)
also shape law by changing what is socially desirable, politically feasible,
legally legitimate.“ (p. 46).
6Bourdieu (1987) adds on this topic "law is the quintessential form of 'active' discourse,
able by its own operation to produce effects. It would not be excessive to say that it
creates the social world, but only if we remember that it is this world which first creates
the law." (p. 839).
Out of the many definitions studied the definitions by Bourdieu, Geertz and Mezey link
the historical development of a society including law and national legal systems to
culture. Traditions and values of a society create basis for law. This law regulates our
behavior and defines what is allowed to do in a society.
According to Gudde (2004), „names belong to the oldest elements of human
speech“ (p. XVII). He claims that already primitive people were identifying locations
and giving them descriptive names. Graham, Ashworth and Tunbridge (2016) further
claim that geography belongs to the cultural heritage. They provide three arguments to
support this statement. First is the location; the cultural heritage occurs somewhere.
Second argument is the distribution; places are different and so the heritage is different
too. The third argument is the scale; places have a heritage at local, regional, national,
continental and international scales.
In our Master thesis we included Geographical terms because they constitute an
important topic in translation. Geographical divisions, government institutions or
political functions evolved from historical development of each country, they are
closely linked to traditions and hierarchical divisions. Therefore, they are closely linked
to culture of a specific society. Geographical terms are results of a culture. Studying
closely geographical terms will put in light how geographical terms are important in
culture and translation.
All in all, culture can be understood as the whole of shared values and behaviors that
are transmitted from one generation to another. Culture is closely related to society and
impacts the state organization, administrative division and naming of places or political
functions. Therefore, the translator’s role becomes clearly a transcultural mediator
between communities. Eventually an interesting question appears in this context
whether or how can culture be translated?
71.1.2 Culture specific words
This subsection deals with the culture specific words, expressions and
phrases. It is necessary to explain what do we mean by culture specific words, as this
thesis deals with the translation of culture specific legal terms in the EU documents.
Culture specific words are closely related to culture; they act as mediators of cultures.
Generally, we would think mainly of the image of national food, drink or customs,
which fall into the category of visible culture (Schein, 2004).
Culture specific words are part of a language of the individuals sharing the
same cultural background. Words create different conceptual and emotional resonances
in individuals belonging to different cultural groups. Culture words have a connotative
meaning that evokes the same or similar associations in individuals of the appropriate
cultural group. This particular group is then aware of the extra background information.
Goodenough (1964) states that language elements that carry emotional meaning belong
to the group of culture words. However, Newmark (1988) does not consider dialect
words cultural words if they designate universals. He provides examples like 'loch' or
'moors'. Newmark also remarks that with words that carry cultural meaning there is
usually a translation problem because of the ‘cultural gap’ between the SL and the TL.
In this Master thesis we chose three groups of culture specific terms. They
are geographical terms, administrative divisions and government bodies and the third
group includes other terms. We consider geographical terms cultural words because the
geographical names and their translations are deeply rooted in history and the cultural
connections to other countries. Also, administrative divisions and government bodies
belong to cultural words if they are specific for a particular country or a region. The
third group includes political functions and an EU specific term.
Given these points, culture words are expressions related to life of a particular cultural
group. They carry extra meanings that are perceived by insiders of a group with the
same cultural background. As these words are not easily understood or known by non-
members, the knowledge of culture words may decrease the difficulties in intercultural
communication. A good example of culture specific word could be No. 10 Downing
Street, which is the office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The term No.
10 Downing Street is generally used in documents to denote to the Prime Minister’s
office, however, a cultural outsider might not recognize this link.
81.2 Terminology
In this subchapter we are going to explain what is terminology and what are the
characteristics of legal terminology. Further in this chapter we are going to outline the
problems of equivalence in translation.
1.2.1 Defining terminology
What is terminology? According to the Collins Dictionary terminology has two
meanings, it can be understood as:
1. The body of specialized words relating to a particular subject
2. The study of terms (“Terminology”, n.d.).
These definitions indicate that the word terminology is polysemic, that means that it has
more meanings according to the context. Terminology could therefore refer to a
particular vocabulary used in a specific professional domain or to the systematic study
of terms that serve to name concepts. Concepts are entities that exist in the mind.
What is a term? A term is a word or expression with a specific meaning, especially one
that is used in relation to a particular subject (“Term”, n.d.).
The relationship between the term, concept and symbol is best displayed in the
following semantic triangle suggested by C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards (1923) in their
book The Meaning of Meaning:
Figure 1. Semantic triangle by Ogden and Richards.
9Concept is something that we have in mind and we have knowledge of. This knowledge
refers to the phenomenon that exists around us. This phenomenon was given a name
under which we know it (the term). The term can be different for each language even
though the concept is the same. For example, when we think of a dictionary, we
imagine a thick book. The term dictionary is the representation that however, changes
according to a language. The book that we imagine is the concept that we have in mind
and all this refers to something that exists. The actual dictionary that exists is the
referent. However, due to cultural differences, the concepts of one culture may not exist
in another culture, which creates cultural gap.
1.2.2 Legal terminology
Legal language is a language for special purposes; it has its characteristics in syntax,
stylistics and vocabulary that differentiate it from general language. What is the
difference between language for special purposes and general language? The main
difference lays in terminology. Legal language serves specialists and professionals in
a particular domain, in this case legal context, to optimize communication. Legal
language uses legal terms. Legal terms are designations of legal concepts. They are
characterized by being unambiguous, accurate and conventional. According to Pöckl
(1999) general language serves as a basis for language for special purposes because it
allows specialist to understand each other. General language functions therefore as
a sort of meta-language in relation to the language for special purposes. (Pöckl, in Evers
2010).
Bázlik emphasizes the importance of terminology in legal texts, he suggests
that a translator should first search for equivalents of the terms and then adapt the rest of
the text so that the terms fit into it (Bázlik, 2014). Translating legal terminology
requires precision and accuracy; however, the difficulty with translating legal terms lays
in the incongruity of concepts between legal systems, as specific legal terms are
embedded in regional cultures and traditions.
Böhmerová (2010) adds that a translator of legal texts should not only
possess the general knowledge of a SL and a TL, but also a thorough knowledge of both
legal systems. Understanding the concepts of the legal systems helps the translators to
choose the appropriate terminological equivalent.
Biel (2014) proposes the following classification of possible problems faced by legal
10translators:
1. Legal-system specific: incongruity of legal terms and concept systems resulting from
the differences between legal systems
2. Language specific: structural, semantic, pragmatic differences between languages in
general and between legal languages in particular
3. Translation-process specific: distortions in translation process
(Biel in Bednárová-Gibová, 2014).
Clearly, terminology plays an important role when translating legal texts and it is upon
the translator to assess the level of equivalence and choose the appropriate term in the
TL based on the thorough knowledge of both legal systems. Legal systems are culture
bound and therefore incongruity in concepts poses the most difficulties when
translating. The level of incongruity depends on the gap between the legal systems and
the languages.
1.3 Equivalence in translating legislative texts
Equivalence is a complex concept in translation studies. It expresses the relationship
between the source text (ST) and the target text (TT). The translator’s task is to find an
adequate equivalent between the ST and the TT. If no appropriate equivalent in
terminology is obtainable, the translator has to choose a special translation technique.
The main difficulties with translation of legal terms are that the translator has to cope
not only with the linguistic aspect but also with the different legal systems.
Nevertheless, in legal translation equivalence is of high importance as the TT has to
produce the same legal effect as the ST (Bednárová-Gibová, 2014).
Different scholars interpret equivalence differently, however, they agree on
the importance of the pragmatic and functional aspect. Sandrini (1996) proposes two
types of equivalence: absolute (total) equivalence, when there is only one concept and
partial equivalence, when two concepts are overlapping with some corresponding
features. He states that total equivalence is very rare and it is not even the aim in
translation:
11“The objective of terminology is not equivalence in the sense of complete
interchangeability in text - a target which could only be reached in a few cases -
it is rather conceptual correspondence.” (p. 3).
Nida (1964) suggest formal and dynamic or functional equivalence. Formal equivalence
focuses on the message in its form and content, while functional equivalence functions
on the principle of equivalence effect, which means that it should produce the same
effect on the reader of the target text as on the reader of the ST. Newmark adds that the
equivalent effect is unlikely if there is a cultural gap between the SL and the TL text. If
the cultures are remote from each other the equivalence effect is not possible (Newmark
1988).
Equivalence is a controversial area and the point of dispute among the
translation theorists. Jakobson (1959) with his semiotic approach to language
introduced the concept of ‘equivalence in difference‘. The translator may not find the
equivalent but it does not mean that translation is impossible.
'whenever there is deficiency, terminology may be qualified and amplified by
loanwords or loan-translations, neologisms or semantic shifts, and finally, by
circumlocutions' (p.234).
This theory stresses the fact that whenever linguistic approach is not possible, the
translator may reach to other translation techniques.
As we can see, the topic of equivalence is very controversial. On one hand we can say
that equivalence in translation of legal terminology is very important because the TT
has to have exactly the same legislative value, but on the other hand it is not the
objective of translation of terminology. To sum up the topic of equivalence I would use
Newmark’s quote:
“Equivalence has important intuitive principle with not the same degree of importance“.
1.4 Translation as Culture specific communication
As we already pointed out, translation and culture are interrelated.
Translators work as mediators between cultures and are responsible for the smooth
message flow between them. Different translation scholars offer different ways of
dealing with this topic. For instance, Catford (1965) defines translation as a
“replacement of textual material in one language by equivalent material in another
12language” (p.20). This approach is linguistic oriented and seeks linguistic equivalence,
so called word-for-word translation, in accordance with the regulations of both language
systems.
Nevertheless, translators should transmit the message, sense and text. The
translator has to keep in mind not only the lexical equivalence but rather the importance
of the cultural impact on the reader and make translating decisions accordingly. It is
important that the audience perceives the culture and the otherness of another world.
As discussed earlier, culture cannot be separated from translation, because it
is important that the translator recognizes the cultural background of the message so
that a correct translation could be produced. Also, it is the translator’s task to
minimalize the discrepancies between languages and cultural realities and to keep the
meaning of the ST.
Legal texts are culture bound and have particular legal or political
phenomena, for instance institutions that are particular for some countries or famous
politicians who are well-known and certain emotional connotations are linked to them.
The translator has to be able to render this special phenomena and their meaning into
the foreign culture. Also, as pointed out by Strandvic in the article EU Translation-
Legal Translation in Multilingual Lawmaking, different legal systems work according
to different logic, which has consequences also for legal drafting conventions. Another
specificity of legal translation is that it is endowed with legal force, which makes the
process of translation even more demanding to ensure the accuracy.
1.5 Translation techniques
The aim of this subchapter is to provide an overview of the translation
techniques used by translators when dealing with culture specific words. This section
will be important in the analysis section, because we will be looking at translation of
culture specific legal terms and their translation and we will try to identify the use of
these principles.
Translation is an activity that mediates meanings from one language into
another; however, the main problem for the translators is how to deal with the cultural
incongruences. There are different translation procedures that help the translator to get
the message across from the SL text to the TL text. These techniques describe the steps
taken by the translator and will help us understand how translation equivalence works.
13In this Master thesis we will base our analysis of translation techniques on
the classification proposed by Newmark (1988) who enumerates the following
translation procedures:
1. Literal translation
Literal translation refers to rendering of every segment of the SL expression into the
TL. It is said to be one of the oldest translation techniques. However, linguist do not
have the same approach to literal translation because of the variety of grammatical
systems existing. Neubert (1984), for instance, believes that none of the language
systems are the same and therefore literal translation is not feasible (as cited in
Newmark, 1988).
Newmark on the other hand believes that literal translation is correct and it is the
basic translation technique used for translating smaller parts of texts, however, admits
that it is rarely used above sentence level. He states that literal translation could range
from one word to one word, through group to group, collocation to collocation, clause
to clause, sentence to sentence. He admits that the difficulties increase when there is
a translation problem or when the translated expression is culture bound (Newmark,
1988).
Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) propose the following cases when literal translation should
be avoided and the translator should rather use other translation techniques:
- when the meaning of the TL text and the meaning of the SL text is different
- when the translated version does not have any meaning in the TL text
- when translation is structurally impossible
- when the target text does not have a corresponding expression in the TL
metalinguistic
- when the literal translation does have a TL corresponding expression but not at the
same language level
142. Transference
Also called transcription, loan word or borrowing. This technique is used when TL and
SL encounter a gap in lexicon; an SL word has no equivalent in the TL. In this process
a word is transferred from the SL text to a TL text where it becomes a ‘loan word’.
Some scholars disagree with this procedure because the translator should predominantly
explain the foreign word and not to include the unfamiliar word in the TL text.
Newmark’s argument in favor of this procedure is that it shows respect for the SL
culture. He provides a list of instances where transference should be used. It includes
names of brands, names of people, geographical and topographical names, names of
periodicals and newspapers, names of literary works, plays and films, names of
institutions, where official translation does not exist (Newmark 1988).
Tomášek (1998) uses the term ‚xenoterms‘ for borrowings in legal context.
He proposes two cases in which translators reach out for borrowings:
• If a translator needs to denote a new legal concept previously unknown in the
TL e.g. leasing, know-how, acquis communautaire
• If TL contains a term corresponding to the same or similar legal concept but for
the purpose of better quality of communication a new term from a different
language is imported to the TL. E.g. Suizid-Selbstmord
(Tomášek, 1998)
In the context of the EU the tendency is to harmonize the legal terms and therefore
many documents contain borrowings in various language versions.
3. Naturalisation
This procedure is subsequent to transference. The SL word adapts to the pronunciation
and morphology of the TL.
E.g. Humeur from French language was naturalized into English as humor
Thatcherisme in French was naturalized from English language Thatcherism
Performanz in German naturalized from English language performance
Attraktiiv in German naturalized from French attractif
4. Cultural equivalent
This procedure is an approximate translation. The SL cultural word is translated by
a TL approximate cultural equivalent. This procedure is not accurate but can be used as
an explanation for readers who are ignorant of the SL culture.
15For example, the secondary school leaving certificate in France is called
baccalauréat. This word comes from Latin baccalarius „a young man who aspired to be
a knight“, combined with laureare „crown of laurels“. It’s cultural equivalent in
Commonwealth is the A-level (General Certificate of Education-Advanced level) and in
Germany it is Abitur. All of them are the most important certificates that conclude the
secondary education. Nevertheless, they differ in multiple dimensions. These
differences can be in duration, required level, number of obligatory subjects, etc.
We do not expect this translation technique to be used in the translation of culture
specific terms in the EU legislative documents as legal terminology requires precision
and accuracy, and cultural equivalents could create ambiguity.
5. Functional equivalent
This is a common procedure applied when translating cultural words. Newmark asserts
that this procedure is the most accurate way of „deculturalising a cultural word“, the SL
word is thus generalized. Similarly this procedure can be used when a SL technical
word has no equivalent in the TL.
E.g Sejm would be in the text referred to as the Polish parliament and Maison de la
culture as the arts centre. The metaphoric part of the word disappeared and left the place
to the functional equivalency: the TL reader understands that Maison de la culture is
a place where arts are exposed, but misses out the sonorities of the expression.
Newmark adds also two other subtypes of functional equivalence that appear in Vinay
and Darbelnet’s classification (1995):
First, equivalence, i.e. denoting the same situation in TL as the original, but using
different wording, e.g. The story so far/Resumé des chapitres precedents.
Second, adaptation, i.e. using recognized cultural equivalents, e.g. Dear Sir/Monsieur
6. Descriptive equivalent
Descriptive equivalent offers an explanation of the SL cultural word by providing
a definition in the TL.
Newmark gives the example of machete, which is explained as a 'Latin American broad,
heavy instrument, whose function is 'cutting or aggression' (p.83).
167. Synonymy
Newmark (1988) uses the term synonym “in the sense of a near TL equivalent to an SL
word in a context, where a precise equivalent may or may not exist.” (p. 84). This
technique is used for less important components of a sentence, such as adjectives or
adverbs of quality.
For instance, Bázlik (2014) provides an example from the Slovak legal
system, which classifies damage as small, larger, considerable, and substantial. In this
case the English-speaking target reader would not perceive the classification as an
escalation because such a classification does not exist in the target culture. Here he
suggests searching for the definition of these adverbs expressed in money and
consequently translating these according to their value e.g. damage not larger than EUR
1000.
8. Through-translation
Or a calque, is a procedure when a language borrows an expression by literal translation
of each of its components. This procedure is used when there is a lexical gap between
SL and TL, but unlike transference, it not only borrows the expression but also
translates it. Newmark mentions as a good example of through-translations names of
international organizations. They can become, over time, fixed part of the TL and
speakers may not perceive them as translations anymore. However, he suggests that
through translations of organizations should only be used when they are officially
recognized. Recognized translation is the official or generally accepted translations of
institutional terms. A translator should always search for and use the official translation
in order not to cause confusions, especially in official or serious informative texts.
Tomášek (1998) sees this procedure as a type of word-formation enriching the
lexicon of the TL. We provide some examples below:
Protimonopolný úrad Slovenskej republiky- Antimonopoly office of the Slovak
Republic
Governor-General- Gouverneur Général
Marriage of convenience- mariage de convenance
Power politics-Machtpolitik
Loan translation- Lehnübersetzung
Obyčajní ľudia a nezávislé osobnosti- Ordinary People and Independent Personalities
179. Shifts or Transpositions
Catford (1965) uses the term shift, while Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) use the term
transposition. It is a translation procedure that involves a change in the grammar. This
happens because the word-formation rules and syntactic structure of the TL do not
allow transferring the sentence structure of the SL (Tomášek, 1998). Newmark (1988)
acknowledges four groups in transposition. The first type represents automatic change,
e.g. change in the number from singular to plural. The second type occurs when “an SL
grammatical structure does not exist in the TL.” The third type deals with shifts “where
literal translation is grammatically possible but may not accord with natural usage in the
TL” (p. 65). The last type substitutes the lexical gap with grammatical structure. Good
examples of shifts/transpositions are the following structures:
government support – aides publiques
The President thinks that – Selon le Président.
10. Modulation
The term modulation was coined by Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) to define a variation
through a change of viewpoint or perspective. It is used when literal translation is not
possible or would sound unnatural. The most important type of modulation for
Newmark is negated contrary or as he calls it ‚positive for double negative’ or ‚double
negative for positive‘. He provides the example below:
Il n’a pas hesité - He acted at once
In some cases, when there is a lexical gap in an opposition, modulation is mandatory:
e.g. shallow - peu profond
11. Translation label
Translation label serves as a provisional translation of a new institutional term. It uses
literal translation as translation technique and where the translated term is generally
marked. This provisional marking can later be withdrawn when the institutional term
becomes a recognized translation. For example, Erbschaftssprache or langue d’heritage
from the English heritage language (Molina & Albir, 2002).
12. Compensation
Compensation is a technique used when during the process of translation a part of the
meaning or an effect of an expression is lost. This loss is then compensated in another
18part of the sentence. This technique is often used when translating puns, dialect features
or formality pronouns, for example in languages that do not distinguish between formal
vous and tu in French.
13. Componential analysis
Componential analysis in translation differs from the componential analysis in
linguistics. Here it is used when an SL word has no clear one-to-one equivalent in the
TL. It is based on the comparison of the meanings that are common or different. It
analyzes the components of a word’s meaning based on structural semantics:
e.g. “a man” can be analyzed as an adult, human, male etc.
14. Reduction and expansion
This technique, where the same information is expressed in longer or shorter
expressions, is practiced rather intuitively. Newmark lists these examples:
(1) SL adjective of substance plus general noun, TL noun: atleimes infiammatoires et
infectieuses, inflammations and infections; science linguistique , 'linguistics'.
(2) SL adjective, English TL adverb plus past participle, or present participle plus object:
cheveux igaux^ 'evenly cut hair; belebend, life-giving', (p. 90).
15. Paraphrase
Paraphrase is an explanation or clarification of the meaning of a part of the text. It
replaces a word from the ST with a group of words that has the equivalent sense. An
example for paraphrase could be:
“The signal was red” = “The train was not allowed to pass because the signal was red”.
16. Couplets
Newmark includes couplets as a translation technique. Couplets allow combination of
two or more procedures for dealing with one problem. Newmark asserts that this
technique is commonly used for dealing with cultural words.
17. Notes, Additions, Glosses
Notes, additions and glosses supply additional information in translation, which is
added by the translator to his/her version. The additional information may be cultural,
19technical or linguistic and is addressed to a TL reader to explain the SL and TL
differences. This extra information is for example added to a term in the IATE database
in the form of a note that serves to explain the source term.
We have now summarized the translation techniques proposed by Newmark
that could be used when dealing with culture specific words. Newmark concludes that it
is better to choose a TL cultural equivalent but warns that it could also be misleading
depending on context. Therefore, he further recommends to take into consideration
targeted recipients since experts may require a transference, educated readers a
functional equivalent and uninformed readers a cultural equivalent (Newmark, 1988).
2. Translation in the European Union
The following chapter deals with the special characteristics of translation in the
European Union.
The law of the EU is a supranational legal system; it directly influences
Member States legislations in form of directives that have to be integrated into the
national legislation of every Member State (Stolze, 2013). This supremacy of law
operates as a unification factor for the national laws. In this way EU introduced new
legal concepts and new terminology based on supranational legal concepts had to be
created within the Member States.
The European Union bases its ideation on the equality and legal sovereignty of
the Member States, which means that all Member States enjoy the same rights and
duties. This philosophy is further supported by the equal status of all, now 24 languages
of the 28 Member States. As the EU does not have a single language policy, all the 24
languages become the official languages of the EU. Multilingualism of the EU attempts
to “bring all citizens closer and, at the same time, to protect their cultural and linguistic
diversity while speaking with a single voice in many languages” (Felici, 2010, p. 96).
Consequently, all legal texts are formulated in all 24 languages. By translating
into all the official languages, the European Institutions aim to ensure the transparency,
legitimacy and efficiency of the EU. The texts are usually translations from a text
20drafted in either English or French that work as procedural languages (Stolze, 2013).
Even though, the graph below shows the trend over time that drafting in English is
prevailing.
Figure 2. Percentage of Pages Translate in Directorate General for Translation
Bednárová-Gibová (2014) states that the EU legal English has its specific
characteristics that are different to the legal language, as we know it. She argues that EU
legal English is more modern and understandable for people. This argument could be
supported by the instructions in the drafting guidelines in The Joint Practical Guide for
persons involved in the drafting of EU legislation (JPG), which state that:
. Texts should be clear, simple and precise (JPG: 1)
. In so far as possible, everyday language should be used (JPG: 1.4.1)
. Overly complicated sentences, comprising several phrases, subordinate clauses or
parenthesis are to be avoided (JPG: 5.2.2)
. Texts peppered with loan words, literal translations or jargon are hard to understand
and the source of much criticism (JPG: 5.4)
Strandvik also argues that the goal of the EU is to make people understand and engage
21in the European projects and participate more actively in the EU politics.
In such a multilingual setting, equivalence of content is of the highest
importance, considering that all language versions of the legislation have the same
formal status and are equally authentic (Strandvik). Šarčevic (1997) states that “the
main quality criteria {for translation} is that the texts should produce an identical legal
effect in 24 languages so that it is interpreted and applied in a uniform way in 28
different legal orders” (Šarčević 1997, In Strandvik).
The most significant enlargement of the EU happened in 2004 when nine new
official EU languages were added. Three years later, two new Member States joined
and three new languages were added, including Irish. Hence, the number of official
languages more than doubled in just three years increasing the number of possible
language combinations within the EU to 552 (Bhreathnach, Cloke, Pháidín, 2013).
As we have already mentioned there are three languages that are vital inside the
EU Institutions; they are: English, French and German. These languages are known as
procedural or pivot languages because most documents are drafted in one of these
languages and the other language versions are translated from them. Consequently, a
distinction has been made between official and working languages. Due to efficiency
reasons multilingualism within the Institutions is restricted and not all documents are
translated into all the languages. Working languages are used for communication
between or inside the Institutions with translation as necessary and only legislations and
policy document for public and Member States are translated into all language versions.
The translation service in the EU is provided by about 4300 translators and
about 800 interpreters that work for 10 EU Institutions (“EU Administration”, n.d.). The
translators who work for various European Institutions have to possess the highest level
of knowledge and skills in translation to reach the high quality of translation required.
Moreover, they have to work to tight deadlines, which require fast decisions when
solving translation problems. To help translators cope with the workload there are
different strategies and technologies that ensure fast and cost effective quality of
translation. We will talk about some of them in the next subchapter.
22IATE and EUR-Lex database
During the last decades, translation processes have undergone a revolution. Computers
accelerated the translation speed and reduced search time. Moreover, CAT tools
(Computer assisted translation) translate repetitive texts faster, improve translation
quality and ensure term consistency. In order to simplify the translation process,
translators work with various terminology databases or translation memories. One of the
most important databases that EU translators work with is the EUR-Lex database. It
offers a bilingual view of the EU legislation that could be viewed as a parallel corpus.
2.1 EUR-Lex database
EUR-Lex database is an official online-based site containing European Union law and
other documents of the EU.
EUR-Lex provides free access, in the 24 official EU languages, to:
• the authentic2 Official Journal of the European Union
• EU law (EU treaties, directives, regulations, decisions, consolidated
legislation, etc.)
• preparatory acts (legislative proposals, reports, green and white papers, etc.)
• EU case-law (judgments, orders, etc.)
• international agreements
• EFTA documents3
• summaries of EU legislation, which put legal acts into a policy context,
explained in plain language
• other public documents (eur-lex.europa.eu).
2 The authentic Official Journal of the European Union is the electronic edition of the
Official Journal if the EU. The digital version is authentic and has legal effect according
to the Council Regulation (EU) No 216/2013 (Reicherts, 2014).
3
The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is the „intergovernmental organisation
of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. It was set up in 1960 by its then
seven Member States for the promotion of free trade and economic integration between
its members“ (About EFTA).
23The database was formed from the precedent database called CELEX (Communitatis
Europeae LEX). CELEX functioned as an internal database since 1971. In 1980 the
database implemented a multilingual approach by providing other language versions.
By 1985 the database existed in five language versions (English, French, German,
Dutch, Italian) (Düro, 2009). With further accession of countries, new language
versions were added to CELEX database.
The need for easily and rapidly accessible documentation in the legal field
pushed for the introduction of a new database accessible for audiences outside the
institutions. In 2001 a public database called EUR-Lex was launched allowing access to
Community law and CELEX database. In 2002 it was decided that “all text of legal
documents will be available free of charge“ (Düro, 2009, p. 69). At this time EUR-Lex
and CELEX databases existed simultaneously, however, the CELEX database was
a paid service. The introduction of the Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on public access
to documents that advocated transparency and openness of the European law supported
the free access of the EUR-Lex database (Düro, 2009).
In 2004 steps were taken to merge the two databases into one integrated service.
The year 2004 brought another challenge with the accession of 10 new Member States
obliging the publication of European law in then 20 official languages.
Each document in the EUR-Lex database contains metadata such as publication
reference, dates, keywords and is given a CELEX number. The CELEX number is
a specific and unique number assigned to a document in the database. It contains
information about the document in combination of figures and letters, the position of
each having a particular meaning. The EUR-Lex database contains various search
functions; a document can be searched for by document reference, dates, keywords or
parts of a text. Another specific feature of this database is that a document in the EUR-
Lex database can be viewed in up to three language versions simultaneously (eur-
lex.europa.eu). This option is helpful for the translators who use it to look for the EU
specific terminology.
The EUR-Lex provides EU document in all 24-language versions; however,
the availability of some language versions is tight to the date of accession of the
Member State. All EU law in force on the day of accession, as well as all the
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