Difficulties of Achieving Terminological Equivalence in Legal Translation Some Shari‟a Terms Translation from Marriage and Divorce Chapters in Iraqi Personal Status Code

Abstract

This study intends to investigate the difficulties in achieving terminological equivalence in legal translation. It compares between Islamic Shari‟a terms inspired from marriage and divorce chapters in the Iraqi personal status Law in Arabic (SL) and English (TL). It first exposes the theoretical framework in the features of legal language and legal translation, terminological equivalence and the difficulties of translating legal specific terms as well as the suggested strategies by theorists to solve those difficulties. According to the comparison and analysis of the selected terms in the document, we conclude that the nature of legal systems in the main reason behind the difficulties in achieving terminological equivalence, hence culture-bound terms, especially, Islamic Shari‟a terms are the most problematic terms to be translated, this study recommends that the translator must be acquainted with the target culture approach, also s/he should be aware of choosing adequate strategy which enables him/her to achieve the terminological equivalence between the SLT and TLT.