Building on previous holistic multicomponent paradigms of translation macrocompetence, a legal translation competence model is presented which avoids certain conceptual duplications in the light of professional practice, and incorporates distinctive legal thematic elements. Beyond component description, it is argued that the integral development of legal translation competence requires specific interdisciplinary methodologies for practical problem solving. The integrative approach proposed in this paper is process-oriented, and focuses on the legal translation-specific know-how within the key methodological or strategic subcompetence controlling all other subcompetences. Translation and legal knowledge are inextricably linked throughout the translation process, from the initial skopos analysis and legal macro-contextualization until the final revision stage. This approach, intended as a meta-reflection continuum between competence acquisition and reinforcement, and between formal training and professional practice, has proved effective for the systematization of problem-identification, problemcategorization and problem-solving patterns. Finally, some implications for legal translation training are outlined by way of conclusion.Keywords: legal translation, competence development, translation process, translation problem solving, translator training EL DESARROLLO DE LA COMPETENCIA EN TRADUCCIÓN JURÍDICA: UN ENFOQUE INTEGRADOR ORIENTADO AL PROCESOResumen: Partiendo de anteriores paradigmas multicomponenciales holísticos de macrocompetencia traductora, se presenta un modelo de competencia en traducción jurídica que evita ciertas duplicaciones conceptuales en vista de la práctica profesional, e incorpora elementos de temática jurídica distintivos. Más allá de la descripción de componentes, se argumenta que el desarrollo integral de la competencia en traducción jurídica exige metodologías interdisciplinares específicas para la resolución de problemas prácticos. El enfoque integrador que se propone en el presente artículo está orientado al proceso y hace hincapié en los conocimientos especializados propios de la traducción jurídica incluidos en la subcompetencia metodológica o estratégica, subcompetencia clave que controla las demás. Los conocimientos traductológicos y jurídicos se entrelazan inextricablemente a lo largo del proceso traductor, desde el análisis del skopos y la macrocontextualización jurídica iniciales hasta la fase final de revisión. Este enfoque, concebido como un continuo metarreflexivo entre la adquisición y el fortalecimiento de competencias y entre

This paper offers an overview of the development of Legal Translation Studies as a major interdiscipline within Translation Studies. It reviews key elements that shape its specificity and constitute the shared ground of its research community: object of study, place within academia, denomination, historical milestones and key approaches. This review elicits the different stages of evolution leading to the field’s current position and its particular interaction with Law. The focus is placed on commonalities as a means to identify distinctive reference points and avenues for further development. A comprehensive categorization of legal texts and the systematic scrutiny of contextual variables are highlighted as pivotal in defining the scope of the discipline and in proposing overarching conceptual and methodological models. Analyzing the applicability of these models and their impact on legal translation quality is considered a priority in order to reinforce interdisciplinary specificity in line with professional needs.

Effective information mining for legal terminological research in translation is largely determined by the ability to contextualize concepts in their legal framework and to resort to relevant legal sources. Specialized knowledge of these sources thus emerges as a competence marker that is expected to converge with that of comparative law practitioners. Against this background, a survey was conducted in order to examine institutional translators' use of resources for translation in general and their perceptions of sources for legal translation in particular. The data provided by 234 respondents from 12 international organizations offer a comprehensive portrait of translation professionals and informationmining practices in these settings. Profile features in terms of legal translation frequency, main translation specializations and academic backgrounds were correlated to relevance and reliability scores assigned to the sources used for legal terminological research. The results confirm several hypotheses based on generally accepted indicators of specialization in this field, including the prioritization of monolingual lexicographical resources over bilingual ones and the higher reliability of primary legal sources over institutional terminological databases and previous translations. Common patterns and variations between institutions and profiles, as well as their implications for institutional terminology management and translation quality, are briefly discussed.

This paper analyses the defining features of legal translation in the development of international and supranational law, taking a comparative approach between different organisations, particularly the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the European Union and their respective adjudicative bodies. The scope and communicative conditions of legal translation in such settings are first described, including processes of lawmaking, law application and adjudication. In the legal contextualisation of translational action, emphasis is placed on the interconnection between different sources of law, the hybridity of legal texts and discourses, and the interplay between international and national levels of rulemaking and enforcement. The challenges encountered by the translator in the search for maximum accuracy are then reviewed with a focus on terminological problems, quality assurance and ambiguity. Finally, the examination of linguistic concordance in adjudication procedures further highlights the special contribution of legal translators to the functioning of each international or supranational legal order, and recommendations are made to better acknowledge and benefit from this contribution.

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Building on a functionalist framework for decision-making in legal translation, a holistic approach to quality is presented in order to respond to the specificities of this field and overcome the shortcomings of general models of translation quality evaluation. The proposed approach connects legal, contextual, macrotextual and microtextual variables for the definition of the translation adequacy strategy, which guides problem-solving and the rest of the translation process. The same parameters remain traceable between the translation brief and the translation product both in pre-delivery (self-)revision and in post-delivery assessment. They are the yardstick for identifying predictable evaluative criteria and competence requirements for translators and quality controllers. The implications of the approach on quality assessment (including training contexts) and quality management practices are also discussed. Overall, the model illustrates the potential benefits of enhancing predictability and reducing subjectivity on the basis of specific legal translation methodologies. It supports the need for legal translation expertise in quality evaluation and the relevance of Legal Translation Studies to raising standards in professional practice.Keywords Legal translation quality Á Translation quality assurance Á Translation adequacy Á Translation quality assessment Á Translator decision-making Á Legal translation competenceIf we treat text merely as a self-contained and self-generating entity, instead of as a decision-making procedure and an instance of communication between language users, our understanding of the nature of translating will be impaired [21, p. 3].

Despite the persistent focus on terminology in legal translation studies, to date, no large-scale research has empirically explored the difficulty of terminology in translating legal genres. Approaches to translation difficulty in translation studies more broadly remain limited in scope. To fill this gap, a study was conducted to measure the difficulty associated with the translation of legal terminology and phraseology, as well as with terminology of other domains, in the LETRINT 1+ corpus, including nine representative genres of three institutional settings (the European Union, the United Nations and the World Trade Organization). For comparative purposes, four levels of translation difficulty were assigned to multiple terminological features by a group of specialized translators through a consensus-building process of annotation based on the cognitive effort estimated for translation decision-making. The difficulty scores obtained confirm the correlation between legal singularity and higher translation difficulty, as well as the connection of more commonly used legal terms and phrasemes, and core economic terms, with lower difficulty levels. The findings also provide evidence of the prominence of non-legal specialized terminology in institutional legal discourses, and the aggregate terminological difficulty levels of each genre examined, which can be particularly useful for informing translation quality assurance, project management and translator training.

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