Acta Facultatis Philosophicae Universitatis Ostraviensis. Studia Germanistica (Feb 2023)

Kontextabhängigkeit von Rechtsbegriffen als Übersetzungsproblem

  • Alena Ďuricová

DOI
https://doi.org/10.15452/StudiaGermanistica.2022.31.0001
Journal volume & issue
no. 31
pp. 5 – 13

Abstract

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The characteristic features of legal language are determined by its function, as well as by the relationship between legal language and its professional and lay users. The linguistic resources used in legal language should be unambiguous, precise, abstract, clear and comprehensible. At the lexical level are items of terminology, characterized by their systemic nature, conceptuality, precision, unambiguity and neutrality. Although legal language should be unambiguous and precise, in some cases legal terms are not used appropriately, necessitating clarification and explanation. The characteristic features of legal language, as well as issues of synonymy and homonymy in legal terminology, are crucial to the translation process, and they can also cause translation problems. This paper highlights the importance of appropriate choices of legal terms depending on the legal contexts in which they occur, as well as giving a practical account of translation problems.