On Limitation To The Translator's Subjectivity In Legal Translation

In legal translation the debate over fidelity can date back to the Roman Empire when formal correspondence between source text and target text was essential to preserve the meaning of the legal text. At that time people believed that any change of the wording would give rise to the loss of the legal force of the original documents. The translators were generally instructed to adhere to the original text so as to keep fidelity to the letter of the text. The tendency lasted until the twentieth century, when the translators began to divert their attention to the genius of the target language. The debate over fidelity to the letter or the spirit in legal translation ensued once again. Some specialists in legal translation defined fidelity as achieving the same impact on the target reader as the source text does on its native reader. The legal translators are encouraged to take the initiative in the translating process and give free reign to their subjectivity to achieve the goal of translation by creating new text with their perspectives, beliefs and feelings. The new definition of fidelity attaches more importance on the function of the legal text and calls for target-oriented legal translation by adopting a functional approach. Taking this idea further, Sarcevic proposes a redefinition of legal translation. She measured the success of legal translation in terms not of formal correspondence between source texts and target texts but of equivalent legal effects. However the meaning of a legal text is declared rather than be construed or created by the person translating it. First of all, the paper admits that the translator has the freedom to make decision and take the initiative in manipulating the target text, but the translator's freedom is limited and his creativity or subjectivity is greatly constrained by legal factors. As a responsible decision maker, the legal translator must know how far they can stretch their limited freedom and respect the constraints of their profession. In the process of argumentation, the thesis focuses on three aspects to illustrate personal opinion, i.e. objective parameters for legal translation, subjective parameters for legal translation and the constraints on the selection of translation strategy. The purpose of the paper is to make the legal translator aware of some intratextual and extratextual factors that affect legal translation, and make a wise decision to adopt appropriate translation strategies or approaches in the practice of legal translation.