Probleme de Traducere a Textelor Juridice Si Economice

Probleme de traducere a textelor juridice si economice

(studio de caz)

CONTENT

INTRODUCTION

I. A SHORT INTODUCTION TO THE THEORY OF TRANLATION

I.1. The Difinition of Translation

I.2. Peculiarities of Specialized Texts

II. LAW AND ECONOMIC TEXTS TRANSLATION FROM ROMANIAN INTO ENGLISH AND VICE VERSA

II.1. Translation Techniques Used for Law and Economic Texts

II.2. The Comparative Analysis of Economic and Law Terms from Romanian into English and Vice Versa

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANNEXES

INTRODUCTION

Translation is a field of knowledge that is widely open for every person.

Actuality of the work lies in the fact that in this age of globalization, the need for competent legal and economic translators is greater than ever. This perhaps explains the growing interest in legal and economic translations not only by the linguists but also by the lawyers, economic analysts, and other people who deal with such fields of activities. The translation unquestionably plays a major role in today’s world (daily life, information, interaction, cultural and economic activities, etc.) – and that role is growing with globalization and the consequent proliferation of interactions in which the partners speak different languages.

The aims of our investigation are the following:

To follow the rules and principles of law and economic texts;

To study the difficulties in translating law and economic texts from English into Romanian and vice versa;

To make the analyzing of law and economic texts through their translation.

To achieve these goals we also stated the following objectives:

To define the concept and style of law and economic text;

To present lexical peculiarities of law and economic texts;

To study opinions of linguists and translators about the difficulties of law and economic translation;

To describe translation techniques of law and economic texts;

To present examples of law and economic texts in English and Romanian;

To investigate lexical differences that occurred during the translation from English into Romanian and vice versa;

I consider that this investigation is of a great actuality, because it deals with “Problems of Translating Law and Economic Texts”, it reflects the vivid importance of the specialized translation, too. Our purpose is to highlight the significance of specialized translation and to point out the difficulties in translating documents from economic and law fields.

The Methods of this research used for achieving the goals and objectives are the following:

Bibliographical method – will be used to get necessary knowledge of theory of translation studies of law and economic texts. This will allow us to acknowledge the contributions of the researchers, linguists, theorists, translators towards this topic.

Qualitative research – is concerned with attempting to accurately describe, decode, and interpret the meanings of the theory of translation studies of law and economic texts focus on investigating scientific novelty law, economic texts and difficulties of translation.

Comparative method – will be used in the practical part of the work for comparing the English and Romanian variants of law and economic texts translation.

Materials used for our research include various studies presented by outstanding linguists, influential scientists and experienced translators who provide accessible overviews of the key contributions to translation studies.

This research paper consists of two chapters, each of which covering important issues related to translation studies and translation process.

The First chapter, is entitled “A Short Introduction to the Theory of Translation” and sets out the examination of a critical survey of the most important trends and contributions to translation studies and it briefly describes the history of the development of the discipline. The purpose of this chapter is to examine what exactly is understood by translation and how each theorist approaches this domain according to his viewpoint and field of research.

The second chapter, is entitled “Law and Economic Texts Translation From Romanian Into English and Vice Versa” and it consists of the translation from three perspectives: translation quality, errors and difficulties in translating law and economic texts, and the consequences of errors in professional translation. First of all, the chapter points out the importance of performing a good and correct translation, which is one of the most important elements to be considered when discussing translation.

The whole work and the highlighted problems in this paper are based on a case study, and namely on our experience as a translator in SC "Vasilos & Partners" based in Chisinau. This practice gave me some very useful experience and I understood that a translator does not earn bread so easy. It awakened my curiosity to learn more and more new things in translational area. The practice lasted 5 weeks and it made me understood that a translator should hardly work to achieve a good and accurate translation without losing the meaning.

The theoretical value of the project consists of providing with more knowledge about difficulties that a translator could face during the translation of law and economic texts.

The practical value of the work consists of investigating how the terms of specialized texts can be translated approximately identical word by word or at least without losing the meaning from Romanian into English and vice versa.

At last I would like to say that it is difficult to translate legal documents because that job is not like translating literary texts where there are no rules, which are so severe as law or economic texts and there cannot be a translation of an absolutely right way or an absolutely wrong way. With specialized terminology there cannot be errors, missing or omitted words.

I. A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO THE THEORY OF TRANSLATION

I.1. The Definition of Translation

The translation itself begins with the determination of the work's genre, as the translator has to choose the vocabulary, has to reproduce different meanings of

the words and for example when dealing with a literary translation, the rules are to know the language, the culture and the history of people, as well as their habits, described in the original work. So, one of the greatest accomplishments of a good translation is an excellent knowledge of the two languages and cultures.

It's not easy to give a complete definition of translation. It can refer to the general subject field, the products the text that has been translated or the process the act of producing the translation, otherwise known as translating. The process of translation between two different languages involves the translator changing an original text (ST) in the original verbal language (SL) in a different verbal language (TL) [11, p. 9]. In a more general way, translation is considered the process of transformation of a message expressed in one language, in the same message, but formulated in another language, provided that there are preserved all (or approximately all) qualities of the original message.

According to nowadays researches each language has its own individual way of reflecting the surrounding reality, in a way it organizes the data of experience. Languages split differently the exterior reality and characterize it and as a result two pictures of the objective world, presented by any two languages, are not identical.

Nida states, “Translation means communication because it has three essential elements to form a process of communication. The three essential elements are source, message, and receptor, and these elements must be found in all communication activities” [12, p. 21]. In brief that, translation is a means in communication, that has source, message, and receptor which must be found in all communication activities.

Nida divides the process of translating into three stages system [12, p. 33]:

analysis of message in the SL

transfer

reconstruction of the transferred message in the TL

Translation is one of the oldest concerns in the history and theory of language. From the beginning, the activity of translation had an oral aspect, the so-called 'interpretation' [9, p. 51]. Then translation extended to written texts. As a matter of fact, in the past the problem of translation was not a topic of discussions, as it was considered that language, especially its lexicon, is a simple inventory of words that has proper correspondents in other languages.

Regarding the possibility of translation, there are two opinions that have always contrasted and that are still present nowadays:

The development of the activity of translation in Renaissance period, together with its interest in antiquity, renders evident the practical difficulties of translation [5, p. 11].

The tendency of preserving the local color and the necessity of transposing the reader in another country and in another era, bring the translator face to face with new problems that are difficult to solve out. From a theoretical point of view, these hardships generated the idea that a complete translation shall never be possible [6, p. 39].

Translation is often associated with the transliteration of literary works from one language to another. The question that has become sacramental is: what is translation, a science or an art. Regarding the artistic texts it can be said that translation is an art based on science, and the interpretations made by linguists have often been the basis of the translators' actual experiences.

In a more general way, translation is considered the process of transformation of a message expressed in one language, in the same message, but formulated in another language, provided that there are preserved all or approximately all qualities of the original message. According to nowadays researches each language has its own individual way of reflecting the surrounding reality, in a way it organizes the data of experience. Languages split differently the exterior reality and characterize it and as a result two pictures of the objective world, presented by any two languages, are not identical.

Eugene Nida's theory of translation developed from his own practical work from the 1940s onwards when he was translating and organizing the translation of the Bible. His theory took concrete form in two major works in the 1960s: Toward a Science of Translating (1964) and the co-authored The Theory and Practice of Translation [12, p. 52].

According to Nida, meaning is broken down into linguistic meaning, referential meaning, and emotive meaning. He incorporates key features of Chomsky's model into his work. Nida sees that it provides the translator with a technique for decoding the ST and a procedure for encoding the TT, although he reverses Chomsky's model when analyzing the ST. Thus, the surface structure of the ST is analyzed into the basic elements of the deep structure; these are transferred in the translation process and then restructured semantically and stylistically into the surface structure of the TT [12, p. 73].

I.2. Peculiarities of Specialized Texts

Many aspects of translation, in particular in the field of LSP, transcend cultural boundaries and are, in some sense, universal. Simplifying somewhat, translation can be depicted as a domain of socioculturally determined linguistic behavior with both culture-specific and universal components.

In contrast with such types of LSP translation, as medicine, science or technology, legal translation to involves more culture-specific components than the universal one. It is mostly due to the system-bound nature of legal terminology because legal concepts are usually the product of a national legal system. Legal systems have their own history, organizing principles, patterns of reasoning and have been designed culture-specific and universal components.

In contrast with such types of LSP translation, as medicine, science or technology, legal translation to involves more culture-specific components than the universal one. It is mostly due to the system-bound nature of legal terminology because legal concepts are usually the product of a national legal system. Legal systems have their own history, organizing principles, patterns of reasoning and have been designed to answer the needs of a particular nation. This inevitably leads to the incongruity of legal concepts between national systems [1, p. 232].

The lexicon of specialized texts is their most obvious distinguishing characteristic, which results from the frequency issue much more related to syntax.

A large number of specialized lexical items is used exclusively in specialized fields for the sake of precision. In specialized texts “the fact that in a given context only one meaning is allowed is referred to as mono referential and the perfect word-meaning link guarantees conciseness, semantic uniqueness and highly specific occurrences of lexical items, thus reducing ambiguity to the minimum” [13, p. 28].

Besides being mono referential, which carry information, also have only a denotative function and lack any kind of emotional and connotative meaning. They immediately point to “one concept–a trait that takes the name of referential precision–and are transparent: the surface form, be it a word or an affix, immediately identifies a concept, which frees specialized language from ambiguity and polysemy” [13, p. 131]. Conciseness, which is another central issue of specialized texts, is assured by linguistic devices such as zero derivation, the merging of two lexemes in one term, juxtaposition, specialization of words drawn from general language, use of acronyms and abbreviations. Exactitude, simplicity and clarity, as well as, objectivity, abstractness, generalization, density of information, brevity, emotional neutrality, unambiguousness, impersonality and logical consistency are essential criteria, in specialized texts. For instance, the high level of conservatism (i.e., the permanence of classical linguistic traits) still existing especially in legal writing and business language is nowadays rejected by some specialists calling for a clearer interpretative comprehension; on the other hand, the survival of archaic forms is preferred by others as a tool that allows specialists to retain power over ordinary citizens.

Cases of ambiguity, imprecision and semantic instability have also been detected, especially in moral disciplines and at times also in legal language, where the violation of the conciseness principle finds it is most outstanding instance: redundancy and constant repetitions make legal language verbose and complex. The lexical level is the most widely studied in the field if in specialized texts. The translation of specialized text in a foreign language is regarded by some linguists as being a very difficult issue, which requires a special competence in mastering both the SL and the TL as well as the specialized topic [1, p. 208].

Textual features that distinguish specialized texts, many of which also belong to general language are used less extensively. The most striking exception is anaphoric reference. Anaphora, one of the most common devices to establish textual cohesion, is usually replaced by lexical repetition, a preference that stems from the need to avoid any ambiguity, particularly in legal writing, where the excess of repetitions is at times unjustified and too redundant [3, p. 61]. Also the juxtaposition of conjunctions plus their longer and more pragmatically transparent paraphrase is a textual feature of in specialized texts that violates the often called criterion of conciseness in favor of total transparency.

The concept of specialized text bears several features, among them, according to:

a) logical order of statements with clear indication of their interrelations and interdependence;

b) the use of specific terms to each given branch of science;

c) the frequent use of specific pattern-sentence, the impersonality of this type of writing being mostly revealed in the use of passive voice constructions with which scientific experiments are generally described;

d) the use of its own terminology, besides the specific syntax.

In general terms, textual features in specialized texts directly depend on the text genre, which establishes word order and Theme-Rheme patterns; the argumentative models; the distribution of information within the text; the textual organization of oral interactions. In other words, each textual genre follows a clearly codified, widely accepted pattern depending on the standard methodological framework of the discipline in question and on the purposes of the text, as in the case of the executive summary, abstract, letters, contracts, etc. [13, p. 144].

Peculiarities of Economic Texts

The language of economics serves many purposes. It provides the members of an economic community, such as customers, investors or bankers, with the tools needed to discuss various business issues. What is more, this sublanguage is not only used by specialists who belong to a restricted and linguistically homogeneous group, since we all take part in economic relations in direct and indirect ways. In short, the language of economics is closely related to general language use. This feature is also stressed by Katamba, who states that sometimes the jargon of a specialist group seeps into the common language of the wider community [7, p. 31]. This is particularly likely to happen where the activities of those sub-groups are fashionable or impinge directly on the life of the wider community.

This is certainly the case with the language of economics as economics as such determines much of our everyday life since we all take part in economic life by being employers, employees, customers etc. Several important characteristics shape the current state of economic discourse. The most important feature is globalization, especially in the economic sphere. Commercial relations influenced the linguistic behavior of community members. We should remember that goods, techniques or fashions, although very important in intercultural exchange, do not govern the structure of these cultures. It is the language itself, which influences not only other tongues but also the way a given populace speaks. The most remarkable sources of these influences are loanwords.

Many studies of the language of economics show the importance of English in the process of acquiring loanwords from other languages [3, p. 27]. The dominant position of English promotes globalization, and globalization reinforces the use of English. It should be noted that the economic lexicon comprises words coming from other areas of study, such as law, and thus its lexicon is not homogeneous. What is more, some economic terms became part of the standard lexicon. Consequently, some terms may be treated by some scientists as not necessarily purely economic.

Economical terminology in English covers many subjects and professions, therefore, the meaning of a word is usually related to one or more than one subject such as accounting, finance, banking, marketing, etc.

Peculiarities of Law Texts

Law is a system that is bound to a particular state or organization. Language of law, its words, syntactic structure and concepts are closely related to the legal system in question. The relationship between the language and the law is mutual: the legal system influences the nature of the legal language and the legal language which is considered the language of the legal discourse, influences the system. The speech of lawyers is conditioned not by the law alone, but also by the prevailing language of their environment [4, p. 83]. Language of law is a system- and culture-bound language for special purposes. This does not mean that the language of law is completely separated from the ordinary language. Most of its words are taken from the ordinary language. On the other hand, legal language influences everyday speech and many of its originally technical terms are now accepted as common.

Cao classifies legal language with respect to the nature of its use that can be described as normative, performative and technical [3, p. 13].

The language of law is a language of legal norms and related discourse. The language of legal norms is that of legislation, judicial decisions or contracts. It is said that it is the language created and used specifically by lawyers. Although the lawyers form the majority of the legal language speaking community but legislation, for example, is also influenced by people with no legal educational background, but who use the legal terminology and expressions at a certain level. There are different groups of civil law system that uses the legal language and below we will present a short description of several groups.

Cabré believes that there are two types of specialized vocabulary: the first one is a common platform, consisting of terms with a wider usage, and the second type of specialized vocabulary is composed of strictly specialized terms, in each field and it represents a specific scientific and technical terminology. Specialized language is a natural language considered as a vector of the specialized knowledge [2, p. 17].

Descriptive linguists emphasize that each specialized language is a simple version of the general language even a simple lexical option [10, p. 119]. Therefore, there would not be specialized languages, but only specialized vocabularies. A specialized language can make use of non-lexical means even extra linguistic ones: illustrations, symbols, acronyms, etc. Current studies on terminology reveal newer, more refined typologies of contexts, summarized by some definitions. In this respect, we can underline the definition directly applicable in our study: “all cognitive, circumstantial or inter-textual elements able to intervene in the process of the meaning’s construction” [10, p. 127]. This definition highlights both the importance of the linguistic/extra-linguistic relation, illustrated in economic and law terminology, and the need for compiling the paradigmatic study with the syntagmatic one in the linguistic analysis of terms.

II. LAW AND ECONOMIC TEXTS TRANSLATION FROM ROMANIAN INTO ENGLISH AND VICE VERSA

II.1. Traslation Techniques Used for Law and Economic Texts

There are several translating theories regarding the translation of specialized texts. For example, there is a 3-tier structure organized in syntactic, semantic and pragmatic strategies [6, p. 94]. Each category is sub-devised into an impressive number of universals, which also account for much earlier classifications by researchers claim the existence of the so-called ‘translation universals’, defined as certain translation techniques which may be inherent in the process of translation per se rather than due to structural differences between the languages in contact [8, p. 83]:

II.2. The Comparative Analysis of Economic and Law Terms from Romanian into English and Vice Versa

In this part of the project I am going to analyze the translations that I did during my university practice. The texts belong to specialized field, exactly of the law and economic fields. The types of analyzed texts include contracts, certificates, such as birth certificate and marriage certificate. In cases when the original text was in Romanian, it was translated into English and Spanish, and in cases when the source text was in English it was translated into Romanian and Spanish. After that, I will select terminological units from Romanian and English sentences, analyzing their translation. I will use the different dictionaries to compare the meanings of the terms, and I will choose the most suitable translation, in order to keep the meaning of the original sentence.

Original sentence: Retribuirea salariului pentru norma de 8h / per zi este de nu mai puțin de 15/17 CAD (în dependență de funcția ocupată).

Translation into English: The payment of the wage for the work load of 8h / per day is not less than CAD15/17 (depending on the occupied position).

Translation into Spanish: El pago del salario para la carga de trabajo de 8 horas / día no es menor que CAD15 / 17 (dependiendo de la posición que ocupa).

Sentence from above is taken from a Contract and we can see here a great number of terms, such as: retribuirea salariului which is a compound noun that belongs to the economic field. In English it also can be translated as: recompense, reward, award, remuneration or compensation, but in order to keep the meaning of the original sentence we must to translate it as payment of the wage, which in English is also a compound noun.

Original sentence: Să nu semneze și să nu ofere unei părți terțe din numele companiei, nici un document fără acordul Angajatorului;

Translation into English: The Employee will not sign and hand to any third party on behalf of the company any document without Employer’s consent;

Translation into Spanish: El empleado no va a firmar y entregar a un tercero en nombre de la compañía de cualquier documento sin el consentimiento del empleador;

This sentence is taken from the Contract. It is full of economic and law terms, e.g.: on behalf of, in English it means a representative of, a proxy for, in the interest or aid of (someone), but if we translate it into Romanian it is translated as: din numele. In order to keep the meaning of the original text we have to translate it as: din numele. The style of the sentence is bookish that is why it belongs to specialized text.

Original sentence: oferirea informației false privind identitatea sau naționalitatea sa, sau prezentarea documentelor și certificatelor false;

Translation into English: submission of false information on his/her identity or nationality or submission of false documents and certificates;

Translation into Spanish: presentación de información falsa en su / su identidad o nacionalidad, o la presentación de documentos falsos y certificados;

In this example taken from a Contract we found the terminological unit oferirea informației false, that belongs to the law terminology. The meaning of the verb a oferi has many meanings, such as: giving, offering, submitting and others, but from the entire array of variant, the only one that entirely renders the meaning is submission. The style of the text and the number of terms suggest that it is a specialized text.

Original sentence: aflarea în timpul orelor de lucru în stare de ebrietate sau narcotică;

Tranlation into English: being during work hours under the influence of alcohol or drugs;

Translation into Spanish: siendo durante las horas de trabajo bajo la influencia de alcohol o drogas;

This example is taken from a Contract and contais a few terms but their nature characterises the text as a specialized one, belongin to the economic field. In English it also can be translated as: working time but when we translated it into Romanian it is orele de lucru, it is a meaning more exactly to our context. The meaning of the word combination orele de lucru is a completely prserved during the translation ino English by work hours.

Original sentence: În cazul în care soluționarea amiabilă a litigiului eșuează, aceasta va fi înaintat organului competent din statul de destinație în conformitate cu legislația în vigoare a acestuia.

Tranlation into English: If the out of court settlement of the dispute fails, this will be forward to the competent body of the country of destination under its effective law.

Tranlation into Spanish: Si el acuerdo extrajudicial de la controversia falla, esto será que llegue el organismo competente del país de destino de conformidad con su legislación eficaz.

This sentence is also taken from a Contract and contains a lot of terms from legal terminology, for example soluționarea amiabilă has the meaning of solving problems without sending them to court. We did not found a total equivalent for this term and therefore decided to translate it by giving an explanation of the term out of court settlement. The style of the sentence is bookish that is why it belongs to specialized text.

Original sentence: In the event the Distributor does not affect payments when due, suspends payments or circumstances arise which negatively impact on the creditworthiness of the Distributor, Paulaner shall be entitled to accelerate all debts owed by Distributor, to demand advance payment, strictly cash payment or the provision of security for payment.

Translation into Romanian: În cazul în care Distribuitorul nu efectuează plățile la timp, suspendă plățile sau apar circumstanțe care au impact negativ asupra bonității Distribuitorului, Paulaner are dreptul de a grăbi achitarea tuturor datoriile deținute de către Distribuitor, să solicite plată în avans, în mod strict plată în numerar sau să ia măsuri de garanție pentru plată.

Translation into Spanish: En el caso de que el Distribuidor no afecta a los pagos a su vencimiento, suspende pagos o surgen circunstancias que impactan negativamente en la solvencia del Distribuidor, Paulaner tendrá derecho para acelerar todas las deudas de Distribuidor, a exigir el pago por adelantado, estrictamente pago en efectivo o la prestación de la seguridad para el pago.

This sentence is taken from a contract containing a lot of economic and law terms and thus belonging to specialized field. We decided to take the term creditworthiness which is composed from two separate word, credit and worthness and refers to the creditor's judgment of an entity's current and future ability, and inclination to honor debt obligations as agreed upon. It is usually based on the credit history, credit rating, and character of the entity. In Romanian language we found the equivalent term bonitate, which preserves the complete meaning of the ST term.

Original sentence: The Products will be sold at the prices set out in the price list.

Translation into Romanian: Produsele vor fi vândute la prețurile indicate în lista de prețurilor.

Traslation into Spanish: Los productos se venderán a los precios que figuran en la lista de precios.

It is another sentence taken from a Contract and full of economic and law terms. The terms that we can find in it belong to economic field and therefore the text can be considered a specialized one. The term price list that from the example from above is a compound one, and has the meaning of a document that contains the prices for some products. In order to preserve the meaning of the source text we decided to use lista de prețuri, which has identical meaning.

Original sentence: set up an annual marketing plans set forth in Clause 7 below and provide Paulaner with quarterly reports following Paulaner reporting guidelines.

Tranlation into Romanian: să elaboreze un plan de marketing anual precum este indicat în Clauza 7 de mai jos și să asigure Paulaner cu raporturi trimestriale urmând principiile directoare de raportare ale Paulaner.

Translation into Spanish: establecer un plan de marketing anuales establecidos en la Cláusula 7 a continuación y proporcionar Paulaner informes trimestrales siguientes directrices Paulaner.

Here we see an abundance of economic terms that make it belong to specialized field. The term we decided to analyze is marketing which means a management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer. We found in Romanian language an equivalent which is a direct borrowing from English and is translated also marketing. We can see that the Spanish translation also contain this term that is borrowing from English. It preserves the complete meaning of the ST term.

Original sentence: The Products shall be deemed to be ordered when the Products are picked up at the premises of Paulaner in Munich, Germany, or at any other storage facility or filling station as agreed between the parties in the order confirmation.

Translation into Romanian: Produsele vor fi considerate comandate atunci când Produsele sunt ridicate la sediul Paulaner în Munich, Germania, sau de la orice alte depozite sau stații de încărcare precum au convenit Părțile în confirmarea comenzii.

Translation into Spanish: Los productos se considerará será condenada cuando los productos son recogidos en las instalaciones de Paulaner en Munich, Alemania, o en cualquier otra estación de instalaciones de almacenamiento o de relleno según lo acordado entre las partes en la confirmación del pedido.

This is another example taken from a Contract and containing a lot of terms, which makes it a part of specialized field. The term deemed in English has meaning of something assumed after deliberation. Our aim was to choose a term that would preserve this meaning and this term is considerate.

Original sentence: Contractul individual de muncă se încheie pe o durată determinată de 24 luni, Angajatul urmând să înceapă activitatea profesională din data de „__”___________2012 și până la „__”___________201_.

Translation into English: The individual employment contract is concluded for a certain period of 24 months, the Employee will begin the professional activity on „__”___________2012 and until „__”___________201_.

Translation into Spanish: El contrato individual de trabajo se concluye por un cierto período de 24 meses, el Empleado comenzará la actividad profesional en "__" ___________ de 2012 y hasta que "__" ___________ 201_.

The sentence from above is taken from a Contract and we can see here a lot of economic terms. The term I was interested in was contractul individual de muncă, which in Romanian has the meaning of voluntary, deliberate, and legally enforceable (binding) agreement between an employer and an employee that is signed between the Employee and Employer. In order to keep the meaning of the original sentence, we translated it into English using the term that preserves completely the meaning – individual employment contract.

Original sentence: Să asigure și să suporte cheltuieli privind transportarea Angajatului accidentat sau defunctului în Republica Moldova cu compensarea prejudiciilor pentru bolile profesionale sau accidentele ce au fost pricinuite în timpul îndeplinirii funcțiilor de serviciu, cu eliberarea actului de cercetare și cauza accidentelor de muncă; să perfecteze și să expedieze actele necesare către misiunile diplomatice și consulare acreditate ale Republicii Moldova;

Translation into English: To pay and bear expenses on transportation of the injured Employee or defunct to the Republic of Moldova with compensation of the injuries for occupational or accidental diseases caused while performing work duties, with the issue of investigation document and cause of the work accidents; to make up and send all necessary documents to diplomatic and consular missions accredited to the Republic of Moldova.

Translation into Spanish: Para pagar y gastos de osos en el transporte del empleado lesionado o difunta a la República de Moldavia con la indemnización de las lesiones de enfermedades profesionales o accidentes causados en el desempeño de tareas de trabajo, con la publicación del documento de investigación y la causa de los accidentes de trabajo; para compensar y enviar todos los documentos necesarios a las misiones diplomáticas y consulares acreditadas ante la República de Moldova.

In this sentence we see a lot of terminological units that altogether make it a specialized text. The terms belong to legal field and the one we choose to analyze is prejudicii, this term has the meaning of injuries and damages damage to a property, or bodily harm to a person. In order to preserve the meaning of the term we decided to use injuries, because it refers to human hurt.

Original sentence: abatere serioasă de la normele de conduită

Translation into English: deviation from the standards of conduct

Translation into Spanish: desviación de las normas de conducta

In this sentence we notice an expression normele de conduită, this expression there is in English too. And it translated as standards of conduct but we also find another translations as the rules of conduct, the norms of conduct but in order to preserve the meaning and to have a good translation we translated it as standards of conduct.

Original sentence: All prices are exclusive of any Value Added Tax or any other sales or import tax and all transport and insurance costs for which the Distributor will be additionally liable.

Translation into Romanian: Toate prețurile sunt fără TVA sau orice alte vânzări sau taxe de import și Distribuitorul va mai fi responsabil pentru cheltuielile de transport și asigurare.

Translation inti Spanish: Todos los precios son exclusivos de cualquier Impuesto al Valor Agregado o cualquier otra venta o importación de impuestos y todos los gastos de transporte y seguro de que el Distribuidor será además responsable.

In this example we found terms that belong to the economic field and thus making it a specialized text. The terminological unit that presented some difficulties in this text was the expression transport and insurance costs which in Romanian can be translated not only as cheltuielile de transport but also and costurile de transport. In order to preserve the meaning of this term I used cheltuielile de transport și asigurare. Which is more adequate translation to our context.

Original sentence: Obiectul prezentului contract îl constituie relațiile de muncă născute între părți, la care Angajatorul angajează conform condițiilor negociate, iar Angajatul va fi angajat în funcția de __________________și va îndeplini obligațiile de serviciu conform condițiilor stipulate mai jos.

Translation into English: The labour relations arising between the parties are the subject of this contract, and the Employer hires according to the negotiated conditions, and the Employee will be employed in the capacity of __________________and will perform labour obligations under the conditions specified below.

Translation into Spanish: Las relaciones laborales que surjan entre las partes son el objeto de este contrato, y el Empleador contrata de acuerdo con las condiciones negociadas, y el empleado se emplearán en la capacidad de ________________ y llevará a cabo las obligaciones laborales en las condiciones especificadas a continuación.

This example has a lot of terms that belong to the economic and law fields and thus making it a specialized text. The term that I choose to analyze is părți. This term can be translated into English as participants, parts or parties these terms are used when it comes to contracts, the collaborations between countries and so on. But in order to preserve the meaning of the original sentence I used the parties, which is more adequate translation to our context.

Original sentence: Orice alți termeni și condițiile de muncă ce nu contravin prevederilor de mai sus se vor aplica conform legislației țării angajatoare.

Translation into English: Any other labour terms and conditions which do not contravene the above provisions will be applied under the legislation of the country which employs.

Translation into Spanish: Cualesquiera otros términos y condiciones laborales que no contravengan las disposiciones anteriores se aplicarán conforme a la legislación del país que emplea.

This is another example that has a lot of economic and law terms. This sentence is taken from the Contract. It is full of economic and law terms, e.g. legislație, in English it means the act or process of making laws. We found in English language an equivalent which is a direct from French and is translated also legislation. As we see the Spanish language also borrowed this word. In order to keep the meaning of the original text we have to translate it as legislation. The style of the sentence is bookish that is why it belongs to specialized text.

Original sentence: We, the undersigned, being the Sole Director of the above named company DO HEREBY ADOPT the following decisions:

Translation into Romanian: Noi, subsemnații, în calitate de Director Unic al companiei indicate mai sus PRIN PREZENTA ADOPTĂM următoarele decizii:

Translation into Spanish: Nosotros, los abajo firmantes, siendo el Administrador Único de la empresa nombrada arriba por LA PRESENTE ADOPTAR las siguientes decisiónes:

The sentence from above is taken from a Contract and we can see here both economic and law terms. The term I was interested in is Director, which in Romanian has the meaning of a person that controls or regulates a company or something else, a person who is in charge of an activity, department or organization. The term Director also can be translated into Romanian as conducător, administrator or manager. In order to keep the meaning of the original sentence, we translated it into Romanian as Director.

Original sentence: Paulaner will confirm the order within three (3) business days (Munich) and will inform the Distributor as soon as practical of the estimated delivery date and of the place of delivery.

Translation into Romanian: Paulaner va confirma comanda în decurs de trei (3) zile lucrătoare (Munich) și va informa Distribuitorul cât se poate de practic cu privire la data de livrare estimată și locul livrării.

Translation into Spanish: Paulaner confirmará la orden en el plazo de tres (3) días hábiles (Munich) e informará al Distribuidor tan pronto como sea posible de la fecha de entrega estimada y del lugar de entrega.

The sentence from above is taken from a Contract. The term I was interested in is Distributor, which in Romanian has the meaning of a wholesaler or middleman engaged in the distribution of a category of goods. The term Distributor also can be translated into Romanian as difuzor, împărțitor or distribuitor. In order to keep the meaning of the original sentence and to be adequate in our context, we translated it into Romanian as Distribuitor.

Original sentence: The Distributor may not appoint sub-distributors or agents to carry out its obligations under this Agreement unless expressly agreed in advance by Paulaner in writing.

Translation into Romanian: Distribuitorul nu poate desemna sub-distribuitori sau agenți care să îndeplinească obligațiile sale conform prezentului Contract cu excepția cazului în care expres este acceptat în scris în prealabil de către Paulaner.

Translation into Spanish: El Distribuidor no podrá nombrar subdistribuidores o agentes para llevar a cabo sus obligaciones en virtud del presente Acuerdo salvo acuerdo expreso de antemano por Paulaner por escrito.

This sentence revealed the difficulties that can be met when translating collocations from economic field, such as unless expressly agreed in advance in writing. The translation that I performed may not be the best one, but it renders the meaning, form and style of the ST, though all of these are not perfectly suitable for the target language. In this example there are a lot of economic and law terms, and I choose to make an analysis to obligations. Both into Romanian and English it means a moral or legal requirement; duty. It also can be translated into Romanian as îndatorire, angajament or responsabilitate. In order to keep the meaning of the original sentence and to be adequate in our context, we translated it into Romanian as obligații.

Original sentence: All prices are exclusive of any Value Added Tax or any other sales or import tax and all transport and insurance costs for which the Distributor will be additionally liable.

Translation into Romanian: Toate prețurile sunt fără TVA sau orice alte vânzări sau taxe de import și Distribuitorul va mai fi responsabil pentru cheltuielile de transport și asigurare.

Translation into Spanish: Todos los precios son exclusivos de cualquier Impuesto al Valor Agregado o cualquier otra venta o importación de impuestos y todos los gastos de transporte y seguro de que el Distribuidor será además responsable.

In the example from above I found an economic term Value Added Tax, which is an indirect tax on the domestic consumption of goods and services, except those that are zero-rated (such as food and essential drugs) or are otherwise exempt (such as exports). It is levied at each stage in the chain of production and distribution from raw materials to the final sale based on the value (price) added at each stage. This term has a complete equivalence is TVA, which is taxa pe valoare agaugată.

Original sentence: The Distributor shall be entitled to describe itself as „Authorised Distributor” of Paulaner, but it shall purchase and resell the Products on its own account and shall not be the representative or agent of Paulaner for any purpose under this Agreement.

Translation into Romanian: Distribuitorul va avea dreptul de a se prezenta în calitate de „Distribuitor Autorizat” al Paulaner, și va cumpăra și revinde Produsele pe contul propriu și nu va fi reprezentant sau agent al Paulaner pentru orice scop conform prezentului Contract.

Translation into Spanish: El Distribuidor tendrá derecho a describirse a sí misma como "Distribuidor Autorizado" de Paulaner, pero deberá comprar y revender los productos en su propia cuenta y no será el representante o agente de Paulaner para cualquier propósito en virtud del presente Acuerdo.

I used semantic translation for rendering the meaning of the ST keeping as close as possible, but I had to change the word order for this purpose. The text from this example is taken from a Contract and is characterized by a great amount of legal terminology, the term be entitled has the meaning of having rights and privileges to something either by legal mandates or by policies set in place. In order to preserve the meaning of the term I used va avea dreptul.

Original sentence: Nothing in the foregoing shall affect liability for damages resulting from injury to life, body or health, or liability pursuant to the relevant product liability legislation.

Translation into Romanian: Nimic din cele menționate mai sus nu va influența răspunderea pentru daunele care au rezultat din prejudiciu la viață, corp și sănătate, sau răspunderea în conformitate cu legislația cu privire la răspunderea pentru calitatea produsului.

Translation into Spanish: Nada de lo anterior afectará a la responsabilidad por daños resultantes de lesiones a la vida, el cuerpo o la salud, o en virtud de la responsabilidad a la legislación pertinente la responsabilidad del producto.

In this text are a lot of terms that belong to legal field and therefore making this text a specialized one. The term we are interested in is liability which has different meaning: Finance: A claim against the assets, or legal obligations of a person or organization, arising out of past or current transactions or actions. Liabilities require mandatory transfer of assets, or provision of services, at specified dates or in determinable future. Accounting: Accounts and wages payable, accrued rent and taxes, trade debt, and short and long-term loans. Owners' equity is also termed a liability because it is an obligation of the company to its owners. Liabilities are entered on the right-hand of the page in a double-entry bookkeeping system. Law: Responsibility for the consequences of one's acts or omissions, enforceable by civil remedy (damages) or criminal punishment. Because our text is a legal one we used the meaning from Law field and translated it as răspunderea.

Original sentence: Deliveries of the Products will be Ex Works (EXW, Incoterms 2010).

Translation into Romanian: Livrările Produselor vor fi cu plecare din fabrică (EXW, Incoterms 2010).

Translation into Spanish: Las entregas de los productos serán salir de la fábrica (EXW, Incoterms 2010).

This is another example where I had some hard time with translating the Ex Works. First I looked in dictionaries to find out what was the definition of this new term, and found out that it is a trade term requiring the seller to deliver goods at his or her own place of business, all other transportation costs and risks being assumed by the buyer. After understanding the term I tried to find out an equivalent in the Romanian language, first I looked for a total equivalent but did not find one. Then I was hoping to find at least a partial equivalent, but I did not succeed either. The only thing that left, was to use neutral words that would have the same meaning, so I decided to use plecare din fabrică.

Original sentence: not manufacture, import, market, distribute or sell beers from Germany or with German brands which – in Paulaner’s judgement – compete with the Products.

Translation into Romanian: nu va produce, importa, cumpăra, distribui sau vinde beri din Germania sau cu branduri germane care – după părerea Paulaner – concurează cu Produsele.

Translation into Spanish: no fabricar, importar, comercializar, distribuir o vender cervezas de Alemania o con las marcas alemanas que – a juicio del Paulaner – compiten con los productos.

In the above sentence, I used semantic translation for rendering the meaning of the ST. This sentence is taken from a Contract that regulates the rights and obligation of the Parts. The number of terms used in this example proves that it is a specialized text from economic field. The term brand means a unique design, sign, symbol, words, or a combination of these, employed in creating an image that identifies a product and differentiates it from its competitors, which over time, this image becomes associated with a level of credibility, quality, and satisfaction in the consumer's mind. The equivalent of this term in Romanian is brănduri which is a calque translation that borrowed the meaning from ST and added a suffix, entirely preserving the meaning.

Original sentence: Suma calculată conform volumului de muncă efectiv prestat, include salariul net;

Translation into English: The calculated amount according to the volume of work effectively performed includes the net wage;

Translation into Spanish: El cantidad cálculo es según el volumen de trabajo realizado efectivamente incluye el salario neto;

In the above we see terms that belong to economic field and though are a part to the specialized field. The term we are interested in is salariul net which has the meaning of amount remaining after all deductions from, or adjustments to, a gross figure have been made when referred to salary. In order to preserve the meaning I used net wage which is its complete equivalent.

Original sentence: Marriage Solemnized by CNIC.

Translation into Romanian: Căsătorie oficializată în baza CNIC.

Translation into Spanish: El matrimonio solemnizado por CNIC.

In the above example I had some difficulties with the acronym CNIC which is a Computerized National Identification Card. It may seem from the TT that I did not translated it, and simply borrowed it but it is not right, because using word by word translation this acronym was translated as Cardul Național de Identitate Computerizat (CNIC).

It this part of our graduation paper were presented only few examples from the translations that I performed during our period of practice. I choose the most interesting ones, some were chosen because they had given me hard time, others – because they clearly illustrate the techniques and procedures used during my practice.

CONCLUSION

Translation plays an important role in the international communication. The translator makes possible an exchange of information between users of different languages by producing in the target language a text which has an identical communicative value with the source text. This target text is not fully identical with the source text as to its form originality content due to the limitations imposed by the formal and semantic differences between the source language and target text.

In every subject field people use expressions which are not part of our everyday language and thus people who are not familiar with these subject fields do not understand what experts are talking about. Lay people call this special language ‘technical jargon’. Some people name this special language a ‘foreign language’.

The aim of this investigation was to depict difficulties that appear during translation of law and economic texts based on our practice.

  As a translator, in framework of translation, I met some difficulties, because the structure, content, and terminology of specialized texts are constrained by factors such as the communicative situation itself and the previous knowledge, intentions, expectations, and beliefs of the ST and the transmission of such meaning is quite problematic even in one language. When it is a question of two languages, as is the case in any act of translation, the difficulties are multiplied. For this reason, it is imperative for translators to be aware of how pragmatics, perhaps more than any other part of language, can dramatically affect their professional activity.

Another important issue of this research is that when a translator engages in performing an economic or law translation has to take into account several aspects: to produce a coherent and cohesive translation, meaning to avoid ambiguities in the produced document; to have a general knowledge of the field, to know that specific terms contain nuances that must be accounted for and some words are impossible to translate outside their context; to take into account the fact that a good translator does not reproduce only the content but also the form; to eliminate from the original text all those textual elements which do not belong to the potential reader;

I was satisfied of university knowledge, because the knowledge allowed me a better training in translation, and a better organization.

All in all, the translator confronts with great difficulties when he tries to translate an English economic text into Romanian because every language has its own individual way of reflecting the environmental reality. Chapter II tries to illustrate these difficulties, proposing texts and documents for analysis taken from our practice as a translator. And moreover it presents a list of economic and law terms and acronyms in order to ease the translator's work.

The most common difficulties with which a translator may confront are: to process and understand correctly the information of the source text; the difficulty of understanding the concepts and vocabulary, especially when dealing with a specialized writing, in this case economic and law texts; the fact that there is no possibility for interpretation of the text; long and complex sentences and complicated grammar may confuse the translator and he/she can commit errors; to choose the right equivalent of the word; translating idioms and phrasal verbs; the complexity of noun clusters ‘an important characteristic of economic text’ may put the translator in the difficulty, for example if we take the noun cluster labor arrangements from a purely economic text and we place it in an agricultural text, we observe a transformation of meaning e.g. human resources management – managementul resurselor umane, in the former and soil preparation – pregătirea solului, in the latter; when some words belonging to General English appear next to specific and specialized terms they acquire different meanings and nuances and the translator may be confused and in this case the use of an economic and law dictionaries can help.

At the end I would like to summarize the difficulties I have met during my practice, as well as the way to improve a translation of law and economic texts.

In order to render legal or economic terms correctly, the translator must be sure that she or he uses the appropriate and officially accepted Romanian equivalents, because, otherwise, they may distort the originally intended message.

The Romanian translator should find target language solutions which preserve the intended vagueness of meaning, trying, at the same time, to avoid Romanian formulations that might create ambiguity if this feature is not present in the source text.

A professional in law and economic translations must be a linguist, an intellectual and a bit of a willing detective so that he is able to glean the finer points out of any text. And he should also be capable of researching how to describe legal and economic concepts expressed in the source language of a document that may not even have an equivalent in the language or economic and legal system of the target text.

In the very first stage, the translator must decipher the source text and reconstruct its meaning in the target text. In numerous cases, there is some restriction for the translator to finding a functional comparable for a word or phrase or a parenthetical clarification because an accurate translation is impossible.

Translators of law and economic texts often seek advice from law or economic dictionaries, especially bilingual law or economic dictionaries. Which should be taken, as some bilingual dictionaries are of poor quality and their use may lead to mistranslation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bhatia, Vijay and Langton, Nicola. Legal discourse: Opportunities and threats for corpus linguistics. In U. Connor & T. A. Upton (Eds.), Discourse in the professions: Perspectives from corpus linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2004. 203–231 p.

Cabré, Maria Teresa and Sager, Juan. Terminology: Theory, Methods, and Applications. John Benjamins Publishing. Amsterdam, Philadelphia, 1999. 247 p.

Cao, Deborah. Translating Law. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2007. 187 p.

Crystal, D. English as a Global Language. Cambridge: University Press, 2003. 212 p.

Halliday, Michael Alexander Kirkwoodand Hasan, Ruqaiya. Language, Context and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social-Semiotic Perspective, Melbourne, Deakin University. 1991. 126 p.

Gentzler, Edwin, Contemporary Translation Theories, Multilingual Matters, 2001. 232 p.

Katamba Francis. English Words: Structure, History, Usage. Taylor & Francis, 2003. 168 p.

Lane, Alexander, Legal and Administrative Terminology and Translation Problems, in Jean-Claude Gémar (ed.), Langage du droit et traduction, Montreal, Conseil de la langue française, 1982. 219–232 p.

Larson, Mildred L. Meaning-Based Translation: A Guide to Cross-Language Equivalence, London: University Press of America. 1998. 586 p.

Newmark, Peter. About Translation: Multilingual Matters. Clevedon, Philadelphia, Adelaide: Multilingual Matters Ltd. 1991, 184 p.

Nida Eugene Albert, Meaning across cultures: a study on Bible translating. William David Reyburn Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 90 p.

Nida, Eugene Albert. The Theory and Practice of Translation. BRILL, 2003, 218p.

Šarčević Susan, New Approach to Legal Translation. Kluwer Law International, 1997. 308 p.

Online English Dictionary, http://www.wordreference.com/ (visited on 10.04.2015).

Annex 1

Annex 2

GLOSSARY OF ECONOMIC AND LAW TERMS

TERMS DIFINITION TRANSLATION

INTO ROMANIAN AND SPANISH

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bhatia, Vijay and Langton, Nicola. Legal discourse: Opportunities and threats for corpus linguistics. In U. Connor & T. A. Upton (Eds.), Discourse in the professions: Perspectives from corpus linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2004. 203–231 p.

Cabré, Maria Teresa and Sager, Juan. Terminology: Theory, Methods, and Applications. John Benjamins Publishing. Amsterdam, Philadelphia, 1999. 247 p.

Cao, Deborah. Translating Law. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2007. 187 p.

Crystal, D. English as a Global Language. Cambridge: University Press, 2003. 212 p.

Halliday, Michael Alexander Kirkwoodand Hasan, Ruqaiya. Language, Context and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social-Semiotic Perspective, Melbourne, Deakin University. 1991. 126 p.

Gentzler, Edwin, Contemporary Translation Theories, Multilingual Matters, 2001. 232 p.

Katamba Francis. English Words: Structure, History, Usage. Taylor & Francis, 2003. 168 p.

Lane, Alexander, Legal and Administrative Terminology and Translation Problems, in Jean-Claude Gémar (ed.), Langage du droit et traduction, Montreal, Conseil de la langue française, 1982. 219–232 p.

Larson, Mildred L. Meaning-Based Translation: A Guide to Cross-Language Equivalence, London: University Press of America. 1998. 586 p.

Newmark, Peter. About Translation: Multilingual Matters. Clevedon, Philadelphia, Adelaide: Multilingual Matters Ltd. 1991, 184 p.

Nida Eugene Albert, Meaning across cultures: a study on Bible translating. William David Reyburn Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 90 p.

Nida, Eugene Albert. The Theory and Practice of Translation. BRILL, 2003, 218p.

Šarčević Susan, New Approach to Legal Translation. Kluwer Law International, 1997. 308 p.

Online English Dictionary, http://www.wordreference.com/ (visited on 10.04.2015).

Annex 1

Annex 2

GLOSSARY OF ECONOMIC AND LAW TERMS

TERMS DIFINITION TRANSLATION

INTO ROMANIAN AND SPANISH