Tell us about yourself? What motivated you to join the project of translating landmark judgments of the Supreme Court of India into local/regional languages?
I’m Risha Fatema, a final year LL.B. student at Dr. K. N. Modi University, Newai. I think knowledge should be accessible to all and it should not be limited by any language barrier. There are many people who are eager to learn but sometimes they can’t get that knowledge because they cannot understand English that well. It is because of this that I decided to join the project of translating landmark judgements into regional languages.
Can you share your experience in translating legal documents and specifically the challenges you encountered while working on Supreme Court judgments?
I did my graduation in Urdu literature but still, there were some legal terms that I didn’t know about. If I didn’t know what a word meant in Urdu, I looked it up and continued working.
How do you ensure accuracy and maintain the legal nuances of the original content while translating into local/regional languages?
To ensure accuracy and maintain legal nuances, I proofread the document and sometimes asked my sister if there were any mistakes and then our team lead also proofread all the documents.
What strategies do you employ to handle the complexity and technicalities of legal language during the translation process?
If there was any complex legal term of which I was not aware, first I learned about that term and then translated that. That’s how I handled the complexity and technicalities during the translation process.
Can you share an example where you had to navigate cultural or linguistic nuances specific to a region while translating a judgment?
I don’t remember any particular example because in every judgment we have to translate that in a manner that can be understood by any layman and also maintain the legal essence and accuracy.
In your opinion, how does translating legal content contribute to legal literacy and awareness among the local population?
In our country, only a limited number of people can understand English and only a few of them can understand the legal language. If they get the opportunity to get this knowledge in their local language it’ll help them understand legal knowledge and create awareness about legal affairs.
What were the learnings to ensure a successful translation project, particularly when working with a team of translators on such critical documents?
To translate a document into any language, knowledge of those languages is enough but if that document is related to a specific field you have to ensure that essence is retained. But when you work with a team, your teammates are there to ensure that you don’t make any mistakes.
How do you maintain consistency across translations, especially when working on a series of landmark judgments with different translators involved?
We had 50 cases to translate in 5 weeks and there were 3 members in the team so we divided in the very beginning who would translate which cases for every week and we submitted weekly work to the team lead. So there was no confusion in anything and this helped us to complete the work before the deadline.
From your perspective, what impact do translated judgments have/will have on legal discourse and understanding within local communities?
I think this will empower the public because local people might know about some laws but many things are ruled by the precedents of the Supreme Court which is not easy for a layman to understand but these translated cases will surely help them to understand precedents of the honorable court.
