Family law : a glossary from English to Maltese and from Maltese to English

Abstract

Over the past years, several new areas of studies have emerged and undergone various changes and developments where nowadays some of them are being considered as the most influential emerging sectors. One area of study in particular is translation whose expansion has been perceived also in Malta, particularly after its accession to the European Union and with the establishment of the Maltese language as one of the official EU languages. The EU has great impact on the aspect of translation as it believes that every document produced by the institutions must be provided in all official EU languages. The latter is mainly due to the EU enforcing the aspect of Union where one key point of this is that all people should have equal access to legislation or information in their own mother language. Unfortunately this aspect did not take place in all sectors concerning translations, especially in the area of lexicography where there exists a very few dictionaries in the Maltese language. As a result due to the specialised terminology that some texts may contain and the lack of lexicographical resources, .translators may have to adopt the role of a terminologist, which consists in searching for references to discover the appropriate terms for particular expressions which are being translated. This process is very time consuming and involves no form of standardisation for the researched terms. In viewing the multiple constraints that a translator faces every day in performing translations, it has been decided that a glossary should be created regarding specialised legal terms, where a translator can then refer to whilst having trouble finding a particular term or expression. This thesis begins by giving an introductory description regarding translation theories and a general overview of the Maltese legislative system and how this relates to the concept of Multilingualism promoted by the EU. Furthermore, the first chapter continues by setting out in a more detailed manner the principle reasons that have led to the decision of creating a glossary. The Methodology chapter gives a brief explanation of lexicographical elements and how these have developed throughout the years. After elaborately establishing the purpose of such glossary, the chapter proceeds by giving an accurate description of the different steps involved in its formation. Every element present in the various sections that make up the structure of the glossary is explained and supported by reasons which led to that decision. Following the second chapter, is the actual glossary of legal terms which concerns the subject of Family law. This glossary consists of 185 terms or expressions identified from a set of legislations present in the Maltese legal system which have been defined both in Maltese and English. Different alternatives to terms mentioned in the glossary are given which have been extracted from various other resources such as dictionaries and Maltese translations of the EU law. Finally, statistics are provided for a number of terms or expressions giving their frequency use in the Maltese language. The chapter concluding this thesis gives an analysis of the statistics provided in the glossary together with an emphasis on the focal points which have been derived from such statistics. The chapter continues with a brief description of the obstacles encountered during the build-up of this glossary as well as how these were tackled and closing with any further improvements that the glossary may undergo.