Translation Fidelity in Legal Instruments: Assessing the Impacts of Linguistic Inaccuracies on Contractual Obligations Between Sellers and Buyers

Nasser Jameel Al-Shamayleh

https://doi.org/10.62271/pjc.16.3.1449.1467

Abstract

Legal translation, and in particular contracts translation, is a critical juncture where legal translation must reconcile linguistic precision with juridical intent to ensure that the sanctity of obligations is preserved across borders. Yet, despite its understandable importance, translation fidelity is an area replete with inaccuracy that materially impacts the enforceability and interpretation of contracts. The goal of this study was to evaluate critically the effects of such linguistic inaccuracies on the contractual obligations between the sellers and buyers based on English-Arabic legal translations involving cross-border transactions. Using a qualitative methodology, four translation experts, four legal experts, and two international businessmen were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The outcomes pointed out that terminological mistranslation, imprecise modality, interpretation of legal collocations, cultural mistranslation, and technological insufficiencies deliberately hampers clarity and enforceability of contractual obligations. As the conclusions drawn from this data suggest, such translation inaccuracies distort intended contractual relationships and create ample, legal, and procedural risk for contracting parties. The study’s implications call for reform in translation education, professional as well as judicial certification, translating practices, and judicial treatment of translated contracts. These are suggested in the form of institutionalization of the pre-drafting of bilingual documents, as well as submission of legal translation audits as mandatory, and a theoretical model based on empirics rather than theory, focusing more on functional and enforceable equivalence. This study collectively agrees that the defence of translation fidelity is not above a linguistic venture but the necessary basis for continuing to keep the unflawed authenticity of the multinational industrial law.

Keywords:       Legal Translation Fidelity, Contractual Obligations, Cross-Border Contracts, Translation Inaccuracies, Functional Equivalence