Abstract

Translation theories have shifted in focus over the last sixty years: purely linguistic means and methods have been enhanced by sociolinguistic views, pragmatic application, and semiotic approaches. Legal translation is a process in which one dual semiotic system (source law and language) is transmitted into the other dual semiotic system (target law and language). The process of transmission is complex: interpretation by a translator of the source text within the source legal system forms its crucial stage as the translator is able to convey to another language only such information that he or she finds in the source legal text. Although source law and source culture should be adapted in the process of legal translation to target law and target culture respectively in order to be comprehensible for the target language recipients, the culturally rooted message contained in the source legal text, when transposed to the target language text, should reflect to a certain extent its original cultural rootedness. Whether such a requirement can be met depends upon the translator's proficiency and competence in both the source dual semiotic system and the target dual semiotic system.