TEXTUAL ASPECTS IN TRANSLATING LEGAL TEXTS FROM ARABIC INTO ENGLISH With Reference to Libyan Commercial Law

Abstract

This research aims to examine the challenges in translating legal texts with reference to Libyan commercial law. It analyses Libyan legal texts translated into English in terms of lexical, syntactic and textual features in order to identify the similarities and differences between Arabic and English legal texts and to tackle the major translation difficulties that face Libyan translators in the field of legal translation. The research adopts two methods in analysing the data; first, through a contrastive analysis of both Arabic and English legal texts; second, through an empirical study conducted by answering two surveys. The first survey was answered by legal translators and the second by lawyers specializing in legal drafting in Libya.