English Source Language Translation and Interpretation Skills
What this domain tests
English Source Language Translation and Interpretation Skills tests your ability to move from English into Russian without distorting legal meaning, register or procedure. It covers source-text analysis, terminology, collocation and the limits of literal translation.
Core rules and concepts
- Identify the legal function of the text: statute, contract, judgment, witness statement or oral plea. Each has a different register.
- Translate terms of art by established equivalents, not dictionary glosses. 'Burden of proof' is 'бремя доказывания'; 'balance of probabilities' is rendered through 'перевес доказательств', not a literal 'balance'.
- Preserve modality: 'shall' becomes 'должен' or 'обязан'; 'may' becomes 'вправе' or 'может'; 'must not' becomes 'не вправе'.
- Keep number, date, party and defined-term consistency. Do not vary a defined term for stylistic elegance.
- Expand or retain abbreviations according to the target audience; do not invent Russian acronyms.
Worked example
Source: 'The claimant must prove the claim on the balance of probabilities.' A literal version such as 'Истец должен доказать иск на балансе вероятностей' is not Russian legal usage. Reasoning: 'claimant' in civil proceedings is 'истец'; 'must prove' is 'обязан доказать'; 'the claim' is 'заявленные требования'; 'balance of probabilities' is the civil standard, rendered as 'с учётом перевеса доказательств'. A defensible rendering: 'Истец обязан доказать заявленные требования с учётом перевеса доказательств.'
Traps
- False friends: 'actual' is not 'актуальный'; 'accurate' is not 'аккуратный'; 'agreement' is not 'агреман'.
- Over-literal calques such as 'имеет место' for 'takes place' in legal prose.
- Shifting 'may' to 'must' or dropping a negation.
- Translating 'hearing' as 'слушание' everywhere; 'судебное заседание' is often better.
- Inconsistent rendering of defined terms across a document.