On the concept of term equivalence

Diana Yankova

doi:10.33919/esnbu.15.1.1

On the concept of term equivalence

Authors

Diana Yankova New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.15.1.1

Keywords:

harmonization of legislation, supranational law, EU directives, legal terminology, translation equivalence, translation strategies, multilingual communication

Abstract

The article considers some terminological aspects in the process of harmonization of legislation reflecting on different approaches to the study of terms and especially to synonymy and term equivalence. The various mechanisms available to the translator are examined within the EU context and against the background of Bulgariaâ€™s legal culture. The analysis is based on translations of EU legislation from English into Bulgarian and highlights felicitous choices and techniques employed, as well as recurring inconsistencies in the long and arduous process of approximation of legislation.

Author Biography

Diana Yankova, New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria

Diana Yankova, PhD., is a Professor of Linguistics with the Department of English Studies, New Bulgarian University (Bulgaria). She teaches courses in text linguistics, legal translation and North-American culture studies. Her research interests include legal language with special emphasis on culture and genre-specific characteristics of Common law and Continental legislation, points of convergence between legal studies and linguistics, terminological and structural considerations in translating supranational law,appr oximation of legislation, and teaching EALP. Diana serves on the editorial boards of a number of specialized academic journals and is current President of the Central European Association for Canadian Studies (CEACS).

References

Jacobs, R. (1995). English Syntax: a Grammar for English Language Professionals. Oxford University Press.

de Groot, G-R. (2000). Translating Legal Information. In G. Zaccaria (Ed.), Journal of Legal Hermeneutics. Translation in Law, 5 (pp. 131-149). Lit Verlag MÃ¼nsterHamburg-London.

Delors, J. (1992, April 11). Survival of the fattest. The Economist, p.32.

Fillmore, C. (1968). The Case for Case. In E. Bach & R.T. Harms (Eds.), Universals in Linguistic Theory (pp. 1-88). New York: Holt.

Forrest, A. (1998). The Challenges of Languages in Europe. Terminologie et traduction 3, 101-121.

Robertson, C. (2001). Multilingual Law: A Framework for Understanding LSP within the EU. In F. Mayer (Ed.), Language for Special Purposes: Perspectives for the New Millennium, 2 (pp.697-703), TÃ¼bingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.

Trosborg, A. (1997). Translating Hybrid Political Texts. In: A. Trosborg (Ed.), Text Typology and Translation (pp. 145-158). John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.26.12tro

Å arÄeviÄ‡, S. (1997). New Approach to Legal Translation. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.

Yankova, D., & Vassileva, I. (2002). Supranational Legislative Texts: a New Challenge for Translators in Europe. In H. P. Kelz (Ed.), Die sprachliche Zukunft Europas. Mehrsprachigkeit und Sprachenpolitik (pp. 145-158). Nomos-Verlag, Baden Baden.

Yankova, D. (2003). Towards Achieving Equivalence in Bulgarian-English Translation of Statutory Writing. Ð§ÑƒÐ¶Ð´Ð¾ÐµÐ·Ð¸ÐºÐ¾Ð²Ð¾ Ð¾Ð±ÑƒÑ‡ÐµÐ½Ð¸Ðµ [Foreign Language Teaching] 3, 52-63.

Downloads

Published

2015-02-01

How to Cite

Yankova, D. (2015). On the concept of term equivalence. English Studies at NBU, 1(1), 4–17. https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.15.1.1

Download Citation

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2015)

Section

Articles

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

All published articles in the ESNBU are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don't have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

In other words, under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license users are free to:
Share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt - remix, transform, and build upon the material

Under the following terms:

Attribution (by) - All CC licenses require that others who use your work in any way must give you credit the way you request, but not in a way that suggests you endorse them or their use. If they want to use your work without giving you credit or for endorsement purposes, they must get your permission first.

NonCommercial (nc) - You let others copy, distribute, display, perform, and modify and use your work for any purpose other than commercially unless they get your permission first.

If the article is to be used for commercial purposes, we suggest authors be contacted by email.

If the law requires that the article be published in the public domain, authors will notify ESNBU at the time of submission, and in such cases the article shall be released under the Creative Commons 1 Public Domain Dedication waiver CC0 1.0 Universal.

Copyright

Copyright for articles published in ESNBU are retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. Authors retain full publishing rights and are encouraged to upload their work to institutional repositories, social academic networking sites, etc. ESNBU is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.