Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

1.1 Introduction
Language plays an important role in the society. It manifests the common system
that mirrors the social, political and technological improvement of its people.
Vocabulary of the society progresses with so many complications and difficulty due
to its practically and technology influence. Nilo (2005) stated that a development of
a society is base on a common vocabulary used. Source scientist undiscovered the
importance of native language as a means of eliminating language barriers in the
society. Fishman (1986), a sociologist, presented out those studies on native
language will minimize ignorance of ethnicity. A matter that, according to him, is
greatly in need of an unhurried review as a social parameter. Another sociolinguist,
Cole (1978), added that there is a recovering need to undertake more researches
aims towards the development and preservation of the mother tongue.
Furthermore, the use of language is crucial to any legal system not only in the
same way that it is crucial to politics in general, but to those lawyers and law
practitioners who typically use language to state their grounds of decision and

to those litigants who are involve in a lawsuit.

Language serves as a vehicle for understanding the legal process and the
workings of that system. It can even be used as a tool in problems of interpretation
and understanding of all legal provisions. These provisions are coded in a language
where rules should be expressed, stated, and understood by all people in the
society.
It must be remembered that the law and its legal texts can only operate in terms
of the meaning of the words used to express its provisions. Yet, language is
indefinite by nature especially if it is a foreign language which is not understandable
and clear to all people. Legal texts, like any text, are thus, inherently imprecise and
do not have the capacity for the exact reflection and explanation of meaning. This
ambiguity may be noticeable in a monolingual legal system and this dilemma can de
solved through the use of bilingual glossary or dictionary or terminologies.
In the Philippine context, all legal provisions are written in the English language
where other people in the state will not be to understand and comprehend the
medium writing. This legal setting is greatly characterized by highly technical
vocabulary and colloquial terms used in specialized ways.

Therefore, the legal system requires the use of our native language for it to be
understood by the litigants who are involved in a case. Translating this English
written law into Filipino will provide specific terminology, specifically on criminal law
which deals with several criminal offences that are carried out against the society.
Researchers have described legal translation as a category in its own right
(Garzone,2000). This is mainly due to the complexity of legal discourse that
combines two extremes: the resourcefulness of the language used for the
interpretation of ambiguous meanings and the terminological precision of
specialized translation. According to Sarcevic (2000):
Law remains first and foremost a national phenomenon to all the
people in a state. Each national or municipal law constitutes a legal
system with its own terminological apparatus and underlying conceptual
structure, its own rules of classifications, source of law, methodological
approaches, and socio-economic principles.

Moreover, the lack of comprehensible language in the legal system can have dire
consequences specifically to those litigants who will not be able to understand the
language of this system.
The use of native language has a very essential role in the society and in the
legal system. A constitution mandate in Article XIV, section 6 of the 1987 constitution
which states that:
The national language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall
be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other
languages. Subject to provision of the law and as the Congress may deem
appropriate, the government shall take steps to initiate and sustain the use of
Filipino as a medium of official communication and as a language of institution in
the educational system.
Mendoza (2001) quoted Ibarra (1989) that this constitutional provision demands
immediate preparation of more books and other teaching-learning materials aimed
towards the effective use of Filipino in the various disciplines and fields.

One of the efficient and useful devices in attaining the goal and solve this
predicament is through the use of a dictionary or a bilingual specialized glossary for
technical and scientific terminologies.
Lastly, the glossary evolved in this study can be a data source for legal
terminologies in the elaboration of the Filipino lexicon particularly on the criminal law.
The researcher was motivated to develop an English-Filipino glossary of legal terms on
criminal law as a response to that goal and predicament.

1.2 Theoretical Framework

Peter Newmark took the lead in making translation a craft in its own right. He made
translation theory in remarkable ways, describing the conversion of a text from one
language to another as both a science and an art. He proposed communicative
translation that attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that
obtained on the readers of the original. It is likely to be smoother, simpler, clearer, more
conventional, conforming to a particular register of a language, tending to under
translate, to use more generic, hold-all terms in difficult passages for the
comprehension and the response of the target language

receptors. Moreover, he proposed technique to use for communicative translation in

attaining this goal in translation. These techniques are: (1) transportation, (2) cultural
equivalent, (3) functional equivalent, (4) reduction, (5) modulation, (6) addition or
expansion, (7) naturalization, (8) adoption or transference, (9) lexical synonymy, (10)
one-to-one translation, (11) componential analysis, (12) thorough translation, (13)
descriptive equivalent or amplification, (14) recognized translation, (15) compensation,
(16) paraphrase, (17) improvements, and (18) couplet. For him, the translator acquires
a technique in which the process to be followed takes into account of comprehension,
interpretation, formulation and recreation. (Newmark, 1982)
Mildred Larson an international translation consultant and proponent of
meaning-based theory explained that a translator needs to be sure if the translation is
accurate, clear, and natural. These three features are important throughout the
translation, so the entire translation must be checked for each one. According to her, the
ideal translation will be accurate as to meaning and natural as to the receptor language
forms used. The intended audience of the translation who is unfamiliar with the source
text will readily understand it. Furthermore, she proposed several ways of

testing translation that will help the translator to ensure the accuracy, clarity and
naturalness of the translated work. These ways are: (1) comparison with the source
language, (2) back-translation into the source language, (3) comprehension checks.
These translation testing needs to be done systematically, and notes need to be taken
carefully as these notes are important, not just for improving the translation which was
checked, but also for evaluating the errors which are repeated again and again.
(Larson,1984)

1.3 Conceptual Framework

A glossary as conceptualized in their study is a collection of terms limited to a

special area of knowledge and usage (Juano, 1980). In addition, the terms
explorations with their meanings are expressed in the same or another language. In
this study, the meanings are expressed in English and Filipino.
Figure 1, the paradigm of the study, shows that English legal terms and
definitions on criminal law were extracted from available materials and translated to
Filipino as the target language applying Newmarks Communicative Techniques in

translation such as: transposition, cultural equivalent, functional equivalent,

reduction or contraction, naturalization, adoption or transference, one-to-one
translation, componential analysis, throughout translation, descriptive equivalent or
amplification, and recognized translation. Later on, the two languages were
processed to come up with a draft of an English-Filipino glossary of legal terms in
criminal law including the definition of terms and arrange in a glossary form. The
draft was tested using Larsons Six Ways of Testing Translation namely comparison
with the source language, back translation, comparison test, naturalness test,
readability test and consistency checks to have the final output which is a bilingual
glossary of legal terms on criminal law.

1.4 Statement of Objectives

in general, the study aimed to develop a bilingual English-Filipino glossary of legal

terms on criminal law.
Specifically, it aimed to achieve the following:
1. Collect terms on criminal law in English from books, journals, magazines,
encyclopedias, dictionaries and world wide web;
2. Translate the terms on criminal law from English to Filipino using Newmarks
Communicative Techniques in Translation;
3. Evaluate translated terms through Larsons Six Ways of Testing Translation;
4. Organize and finalize the terms in a glossary form.

1.5 Significance of the Study

This study on lexicography of legal terms will serve as an additional contribution to

the field of Philippine linguistic research. Furthermore, it is important to the following: