The dilemma of legal terminology in the Arab world

Said M. Shiyab

In an age where the Arab world is becoming interconnected with the global community, legal translation is now on the rise. Because of international accords, societal and global conflicts, international trade and joint business enterprises that have impacted and continue to impact the Arab world, the need for accurate and uniformed legal terminology in Arabic is becoming more vital than ever. So what is it that puts the translation of legal terminology at the forefront of this emerging field? Could it be the lack of proper steps that are being taken by the Arab Language Academies or legal translators or is it because of the clear-cut and distinctive language quality of this changing and challenging field? One of the main purposes of this chapter is to examine the status of legal translation and terminology in the Arab world. The chapter explores the problems facing Arabic legal terminologists and translators such as lack of uniformity, general and specific differences within and across legal systems, and the ambiguity of the legal language, all of which contributes to the confusion surrounding this legal and culture-bound profession. This chapter concludes with implications and applications for further studies, and provides practical solutions to the most common difficulties of translating legal terminology.

Table of contents

Since the seventh century, Arabic has been a scriptural language (i.e. the language of the Holy Qur’an) and has reflected the major works of Muslim theology and law. It is a language with a classical history, the medium of a body of literary, technical, philosophical and scientific writing which is regarded as exemplary and authoritative not only by Arabs, but also by Muslims all over the world (Lewis 1980, 41). This perception of Arabic as a classical language has now changed and so has the role of translators and the nature of legal language in particular. Lack of standardization at both linguistic and organizational levels presents challenges to translators, and the legal domain is no exception. Ibrahim (1989, 51) points out that, linguistically speaking, Arabic is typified by strong diglossia, i.e. numerous regional dialects and rich synonyms. Therefore, variations and confusion in technical language and terminology is a major problem facing translators in general and legal translators in particular. Ibrahim is appalled to see that “different Arabic equivalents for the same English or French terms in glossaries and dictionaries are printed by the same publisher”.

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