The translation of English legal texts - Criminal Law
Is the translating profession no longer rewarding? We think it is, because machine translation can’t do it (alone)!
‘This industry is dead.’ – one of the opinions most commonly expressed after we have mentioned our profession as translators and interpreters. To which we respond with a clear “yes and no, as it depends on the language and particularly on the specialisation. Law is one of the main fields of our translation and interpreting agency. Jurisprudence is especially interesting for those with a penchant for special translation challenges. Anyone who relies on machine translation by Linguee or DeepL in this field without in-depth knowledge is in for a rude awakening.
For instance, the German term “Urteil” confronts anyone who is not an expert with a range of corresponding terms in English, among them verdict, sentence and conviction. Only in-depth knowledge allows the professional translator to assign with certainty verdict to the result of a jury trial and sentence to the final statement of the presiding judge. Conviction refers to the defendant and is best translated as „Verurteilung”. The translation offered by DeepL for a German phrase which contains references to both cases is The verdict passed by the jury was followed by the judgeꞋs verdict. In another instance, this machine translation system produces the vague and rather awkward judgement of the judge, thus proving to be no match for a qualified human translator in this field of specialisation.
Designations of German courts in American English – the factors that determine the translator’s choice of the right words
For example, the translator has to find a satisfactory term in American English for the German “Amtsgericht”, the first instance of ordinary jurisdiction for civil and criminal matters. In this case, we have two options: We may find out the designation of the first instance of ordinary jurisdiction in the USA, which will lead us to municipal court or city court. The other possibility is to make use of a fictitious designation like local court, which forces the interpreter to give an explanation in a footnote because local court does not exist as a corresponding term in the American legal system. If an American reads local court, he knows that it is about some court located in the region. The term, however, does not provide any information about the legal instance implied by the German “Amtsgericht”.
How professional legal translators deal with ‘murderers’ – examples from criminal law
In American criminal law, there is a distinction between first, second and, in some states, even third-degree murder. Anyone with a bit of legal knowledge might translate these three terms as “Mord” (murder), “Totschlag” (manslaughter, homicide) and “fahrlässige Tötung” (involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide). Is it then justified to let murder of second degree become “Totschlag” in the translation of an indictment? This common criminal offence would at least be comprehensible to a German target audience. It is, however, misleading because the degree serves to designate the level of intent (dolus directus I, II and eventualis), a concept known to every first-year jurisprudence student in Germany and used to determine the mens rea. Unlike the above case, translators and interpreters cannot use an approximate equivalent here, but must stick to the literal translation with ‘Mord zweiten Grades’. A footnote helps to provide more detailed meaning.
Legal translation is not only a matter of content, but also of form – even within Europe
It would be easy to find dozens of further examples in substantial law, but formal law also presents numerous pitfalls for inexperienced translators, which they should avoid at all costs. Apart from content, the structure and composition of a legal text such as a judgment also requires thorough research. There are also striking differences within European legal systems. German judgments always follow the particular order of “Rubrum” (caption) containing the formula “Im Namen des Volkes” (In the name of the people) and particulars, “Tenor” (operative part), where the decision of the court is summarised in one or two phrases, “Tatbestand” (facts, elements of the offence) and, at the very end, “Gründe” (reasons). In France, however, “Tenor” is the very last section following caption, facts and reasons.
What are kind of translation approach should be used here? Is the order in the source language to be kept in the translation or should it be adjusted to the order common in the target language? The content must absolutely correspond to the original, but what about the structure? At this point the qualified specialist translator must consider the skopos, i.e. the purpose of the translation. It is, in almost all cases, a combination of readability and comprehensibility. If comprehensibility is of utmost importance in the translation, the order of a French judgment should be adjusted to fit that of a German judgment. While this certainly applies to a general target audience, it is not the right choice if we can assume that the reader is a person with experience in the legal field. To lawyers, readability is likely more important than comprehensibility. Therefore, it is recommended for specialized legal translators to keep the order of the French text in the German translation, enabling the reader to efficiently read and compare both texts.
Skilful switching between consecutive and simultaneous interpreting at court
The area of language services in the field of law is not limited to written translations. There is also a high demand for interpreters, especially in court proceedings and notarisations. Translators have to swear an oath before the president of the competent Regional Court to be authorized to do certified written translations, which are recognized as official documents. Court interpreters are sworn in before they start working in their profession, pledging to transfer what is said truthfully and completely into the respective language. In addition, interpreters who work at courts, notary offices or authorities have to choose the right interpreting technique. Depending on the situation, interpreting is done either consecutively or simultaneously. If the interpreter has to translate a long portion of an expert’s testimony, consecutive interpreting would be the right choice, while using a note-taking technique. This is due to the fact that only few courtrooms are equipped with the expensive interpreting booths needed for simultaneous interpreting. Likewise, the use of portable interpreting equipment is rather uncommon in court. Apart from that, whisper interpreting is not a real option if the bench consists of more than one judge.
However, if the interpreter translates for one person only (e.g. plaintiff, respondent or defendant), the physical proximity allows for whisper interpreting. If the judge asks for the particulars of a witness before the testimony or if short portions of speech in the foreign language have to be interpreted for the court, the interpreter does not have to take notes. After all, as skilled interpreters we can rely on our trained memory and make use of conference interpreting or liaison interpreting techniques when sections of 3-5 phrases have to be interpreted.
To summarize, legal translators and interpreters pursuing the advancement of their career have to pay significant attention the semantic level of a given text – like all specialized language experts and to a greater extent than translators of general texts. It is their main goal and task to ensure the best possible correspondence of the translation with the original text while also taking into account the principal purpose of the respective translation. For legal translators, dealing with realia (terms inherent to one language with no exact equivalents in other languages) is the rule rather than the exception. In addition, interpreters must have great social skills and the ability to quickly make decisions. In either case, professional translating and interpreting expertise truly shines through when you cannot use a dictionary!
