Linguistical Knowledge as Conditio sine qua non in Translation of juridical Texts. On the Significance of Text Type and Text Style in the Law

Legal texts differ from one another, and these differences become more apparent during translation. Beyond the substantial role played by expertise and the choice of appropriate terminological equivalents during translation, there are also specific structural and morphosyntacytic properties that are specific to a particular type of text as well as an appropriate style that must be borne in mind. This paper mainly deals with linguistic problems, such as text typologies in general and in legal language, as well as legal text types and their characteristics. However, the study also aims to show why and to what extent the text type is relevant when translating legal texts and how this affects the choice of the appropriate translation strategy. Similarly, knowledge about the properties of various types of texts plays a substantial role in legal translation.