English Language and Legal Translation
What this domain tests
This domain tests English proficiency plus the specific skill of translating legal texts between Nepali and English without loss or distortion of meaning.
Core rules
- Fidelity first: no addition, omission or shift in modality. If the Nepali uses गर्नु must, the English uses shall, not may.
- Terminology mapping: वादी - plaintiff; प्रतिवादी - defendant; निवेदक - petitioner; प्रत्यर्थी - respondent; अभियोग पत्र - charge sheet; फैसला - judgment; आदेश - order; अधिकारक्षेत्र - jurisdiction; पूर्वनिर्णय - res judicata.
- Register: formal, plain legal English; avoid archaic doublets and unnecessary Latin.
- Structure: keep defined terms identical throughout; preserve numbering, clause order and provisos.
- Numbers and dates: convert Bikram Sambat to Gregorian only when asked, and state the basis.
Worked example
Nepali: प्रतिवादीले म्याद तामेल भएको मितिले पन्ध्र दिनभित्र लिखित जवाफ पेस गरेन, तसर्थ निजको अनुपस्थितिमा कारबाही अगाडि बढाइयो. Handling: identify service of summons, the fifteen-day period, the failure, and the consequence. English: The defendant did not file a written statement within fifteen days of the date of service of summons; accordingly the proceedings continued in his absence. Note that तामेल is service, not publication, and that अगाडि बढाइयो is a procedural continuation, not a final decision.
Traps that cost marks
Translating idiomatic Nepali literally; changing shall to may; using plaintiff for निवेदक in a writ; dropping provisos; inconsistent rendering of the same term across a document.