Abstract:
This is an exploratory descriptive study which is primarily intended to
investigate Sudanese translation practitioners' perceptions and views
about difficulties, problems and challenges that they encountered when
translating legal contracts between English and Arabic. It attempts to
investigate and explore those practitioners' perceptions and views about
these difficulties in the Gulf context, more specifically in Oman and the
UAE and compare them with related findings from empirical literature.
To achieve the study objectives, quantitative methodology was used to
collect data and interpret the outcomes. A questionnaire was designed and
distributed to (33) Sudanese translation practitioners. Questionnaire's
validity and reliability were tested and established via a pilot study.
Additionally, relevant literature was reviewed to pinpoint the gaps in this
area and support the main tool of data collection which is questionnaire.
The findings showed that translation practitioners' perceptions about legal
contracts translation challenges are consistent with findings in the
empirical literature. The study concluded that the most apparent
challenges are: language-related challenges, followed by style-related
challenges, and culture-specific challenges, respectively. The study
concluded with some relevant recommendations: First, legal contracts
should be translated by well-trained and certified translators and they
should have the legal background so that it could help them do their jobs
successfully. Second, workshops and training on legal translation should
be conducted periodically and training should be one of the requirements
for practising and joining legal translation industry. Moreover, translators
of legal contracts should be accredited individually and that should be
conducted by experts and specialized bodies. Further, legal translation
practitioners should collaborate with legal document drafters and lawyers
