Where ‘fiscal’ Cannot Mean ‘financial’: A Case Study at the Crossroads of Legaland Public Service Translation Taxonomies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14456/nvts.2016.5Keywords:
conceptual congruence, institutional translation, legal translation, public service translation, translation fidelity, translation studies taxonomyAbstract
This paper attempts to delineate the scope of legal translation with a view to distinguishing it from public service translation (PST). Legal translation tends to be recognized as a constituent of PST. However, the paper challenges this view and suggests it is legal translation under which PST is subsumed. Some Russian legal scholars believe inadequacies in legal translation may have grave consequences for a country’s international status, while PST is known to affect individuals. Whenever a translation flaw occurs in institutional settings, identifying whether a flaw is attributable to a translator’s legal incompetence or insufficient knowledge of matters the law regulates, or mere inexperience might be no easy task. A high-profile legal translation case is analyzed based on debates among government authorities, academia, and media. The analysis advocates more distinct goal-oriented criteria behind identifying translation branches under study, given their primary goals in institutional contexts.