Semantic and Pragmatic Implications of Inaccurate Translations of Shari’aCourt Phrases & Sentence Extracts into English

Abstract EN

The present paper aims to highlight the semantic and pragmatic implications of the inaccurate English translations of Gazan shari’a-court phrases and sentence extracts.

The researchers analyze the translations of five shari’a-court phrases and five sentence extracts from shari’a-court documents of different shari’a courts in Gaza Strip.

The descriptive analytical approach was adopted to conduct this research paper.

The texts used in this paper are extracted from a thesis on the linguistic difficulties Palestinian translators face when rendering shari’a-court terms in which the researchers participated as a master student and a supervisor.

When selecting the source texts, the researchers consulted an assistant professor in law to identify the legal phrases and sentential extracts which require specific familiarity with shari’a-court terms.

Then, the selected texts were given to four Palestinian sworn translators who rendered the translations which were afterwards analyzed by the researchers in light of explanations of the legal meaning of the shari’a-court terms by the law specialist.

The findings of the selected translations, five phrases and five sentential extracts from fifty phrases and thirty-five sentential extracts in the original thesis, show that the inaccurate translations of shari’a-court terms have semantic and pragmatic implications which are mainly reflected in semantic loss and pragmatic ambiguity which lies in lack of specific reference to intended persons.

The researchers recommend integrating specific contents in legal translation courses to better familiarize student translators and trainee translators with the semantic complexity of shari’a court terms and the practical methods which can be adopted to translate such terms into English.

Attention should also be given to the legal terms which are characterized by culture-based meanings.