Bridging the Gap in Legal Translation: A Study on Dethronement and Divorcement as Translation Approaches in the Legal Field (English Spanish)

摘要

As the task of the translator is still at times summoned under the conventional notion that it is constrained by purely linguistic and equivalence based methodologies, this study intends to address this misconception by proposing dethronement and divorcement as translation approaches. The intention is herein to examine these approaches from a legal translator’s perspective by focusing particularly on texts belonging to Common Law and Civil Law Tradition legal systems currently in place in English and Spanish speaking countries. The effect of each approach and how the overall translation function is fulfilled is delved into thus producing results that set these two approaches apart. Consequently, dethronement is proposed as the optimum translation approach to be applied in order to bridge the gap in the field of legal translation. According to the criteria established for dethronement and divorcement reliant on the various translation theories that served as a basis for this study, dethronement proves to supersede divorcement in bridging the gap between the target text recipient and the foreign, judicial realm at stake. Dethronement succeeds in mirroring the effect of the source text while fulfilling the overall translation process function. It manages to bring the reader closer to the source text by emphasizing its foreign peculiarities. Nevertheless, dethronement, despite the shift of importance from the source text to the target text, respects the source text’s legal considerations that must at all times prevail. In the end, the intention is to provide new grounds for research in Translation Studies to adapt similar approaches as dethronement and divorcement whether it is to bridge the gap or to duplicate the world in an effort to fulfill the function translation is meant to achieve.