A Few Remarks on Legal Translation and Intercultural Encounters

Iwona Witczak-Plisiecka

doi:10.18778/1731-7533.18.3.02

Authors

Iwona Witczak-Plisiecka University of Lodz

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1731-7533.18.3.02

Keywords:

equivalence, legal language, legal translation

Abstract

The text offers comments on legal translation and its special nature. It is argued that legal translation is much different from other types of specialised translations. Unlike the language of engineering or medicine, legal language does not only refer to the related specialised practice, i.e. the law, but constitutes legal reality, being at the same time an instrument with which legal disputes are resolved. In the context of translation, legal language is particularly challenging as the process of finding equivalence is not restricted to interlinguistic level, but invites both intralinguistic and intersemiotic considerations. Moving not only between different natural languages, but also between different legal cultures, legal translators have to face problems that can often be naturally found in intercultural communication.

Author Biography

Iwona Witczak-Plisiecka, University of Lodz

Iwona Witczak-Plisiecka is associate professor at the University of Lodz, Poland, head of Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, speech acts and actions and their theoretical accounts in the interface of semantics and linguistic pragmatics. She is also interested in communication in semantically-restricted domains, and legal translation in theory and practice.

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