Standardization of legal terminology during the translation process: a necessity for a better law enforcement

Abstract

It is evident that the translation of legal documents falls within two disciplines, that of language and linguistics on one hand, and that of a juridical nature on the other. This allows us to speak of this process as a 'multidisciplinary operation’. In this respect, it is generally accepted that the translator of a legal text should have the ability to comprehend the intention and message of the ST as fully as possible and have general knowledge of law. International law needs to be translated accurately in order to fit every country’s national political and cultural mentality. In order to reduce the number of international disputes, especially in the field of legal documents, there should be some sort of standard form of legal concepts’ equivalents, which is not based on the mechanical choice of the meaning but involves a comprehensive and contextual choice. This study aims to analyze the discrepancies identified during the editing process of the translated version into Albanian of the International Convention on Cluster Munitions and raise the need for standardization of legal concepts in order to minimize the misinterpretation and of the law which, in turn, results in a better law enforcement.