Determining Eligibility of Legal Translators in Turkish Judicial System

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Year-Number: 2018-Volume 6 Issue 3
Yayımlanma Tarihi: null
Language : English
Konu : null
Number of pages: 40-51
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Abstract

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Abstract

Regarding the importance of legal documents, it is of great importance that legal translators must have sufficient mastery of the relevant languages, necessary training background through which a translator may deal with legal texts and vast experience in legal translation. This study elaborates on the eligibility of legal translators in Turkish judicial system through firstly setting the nature of legal translation under focus; secondly, uncovering and publicising the current situation of the legal translators in terms of training they have received and the qualifications they have gained as a result of their training; lastly, presenting suggestions for revising the criteria of recruiting legal translators. The study is based on a descriptive qualitative research. Open ended questionnaires and face to face interviews have been employed in order to gather data.The result of the study has showed that the current practice of legal translation services may be improved through strengthening the areas of weaknesses that might exist within the educational system specific to legal translators, and developing testing and certification programmes to select qualified translators, which must be governed by certain kinds of laws and/or regulations to be introduced to that effect.It should be emphasized that this study involves translators, rather than interpreters. Although most departments of translation studies provide students with a degree of both translation and interpreting, some offer training for either field in the last years of the undergraduate programs. One of the reasons is that translation and interpreting require different professional skills and training.The group to be taken as a sample is limited to the translators serving for the Ankara Courthouse under the Ministry of Justice in the Turkish Republic.The necessary permission has been taken from the Ministry of Justice in respect of the questionnaires and interviews.

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