Chapter 19 maps the field of legal translation practice, research and training, beginning with an overview of the history of legal translation and its reorientation from literalness towards functional, receiver-oriented approaches which ensure equivalent effects and perceive legal translation as an act of legal communication. The chapter identifies the key characteristics of legal translation, both intersystemic and institutional, and discusses attempts to standardize legal translation by way of an ISO standard. It reviews key research trends and methods in legal translation studies, and outlines the competencies that legal translators need to acquire, suggesting how these can be developed.
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