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 am a newly enrolled lawyer with the Bar Council of Kerala. I used to consider myself as a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ kind of person till now but I am hoping I really do ‘’master’’ at law because, gosh, it is so exciting and fulfilling! I just started my practice at the North Paravur District Court in Ernakulam District, Kerala. My seniors are (actually) great and everyday feels productive and enriching (sometimes exhausting, of course!)
It was just after I got back home after my final LLB exams and viva-voce that I saw this opportunity on Lawctopus about the translation project. I didn’t have to think twice about giving a shot at this as I was aware and had perused the English version of the’ 50 landmark judgements of Supreme Court of India’ way before. I have some prior experience in translation work and I really thought the prior experience would give help me, but I was so wrong!
Can you share your experience in translating legal documents and specifically the challenges you encountered while working on Supreme Court judgments?
The prior experience I was talking about really did nothing. Translating legal documents is something different, the hard kind of different. We were three people in the Malayalam team- Alen Thomas and Fida Navaz and myself. We made a good team. We initially divided the 50 judgments by three and started working on it. We would have group meetings once a week to update on our progress.
Personally, I started reading some of the judgments that were translated by the Kerala High Court- a recent endeavor started by the High Court of Kerala, making it the first High court in the country to publish judgments in regional language. I did this so that I get a hang of it. Translating the Supreme Court judgements had its own challenges. Sometimes it was difficult to find the apt words in Malayalam. This almost made me feel like Malayalam is “Greek” to me.
How do you ensure accuracy and maintain the legal nuances of the original content while translating into local/regional languages?
My idea was simple- I wanted to simplify the language and the concepts. Even if the document is being perused by someone who doesn’t have any legal background, they should be able to understand it. Sometimes, even when I did not find the exact Malayalam words while translating a concept- I would just elaborate it in simple words. There is no point if the translated document itself is difficult for someone who is reading it.
What strategies do you employ to handle the complexity and technicalities of legal language during the translation process?
I did go through some translated legal books I found online to help myself and the team. We shared whatever we found with each other. For instance, there was a legal glossary that was published by the Law Ministry of the the government of Kerala that we all went through.
In your opinion, how does translating legal content contribute to legal literacy and awareness among the local population?
Legal language is heavily dependent on English. I don’t think it’s a flaw. But it is important that we don’t strictly stick to English as will in turn act as a barrier for everyone around us to understand it. Law governs us. There is no escape from it whether you like it or not. Its important that everyone knows what’s happening and why it is happening.
What were the learnings to ensure a successful translation project, particularly when working with a team of translators on such critical documents?
As I mentioned earlier, we had group meeting once a week to update our progress. We shared with each other the strategies each of us used while translating the document as we figured out what is the best for us. The three of us faced different difficulties and sharing them and how we overcame it helped us significantly.
How do you maintain consistency across translations, especially when working on a series of landmark judgments with different translators involved?
The legal glossary that was available was actually the only tool that we had in the beginning. Even though we translated cases on our own, we proofread the entire document in the end- all three of us, to ensure that there is consistency throughout the document with respect to the terminologies used.
From your perspective, what impact do translated judgments have/will have on legal discourse and understanding within local communities?
This project has a great potential to go deep within the local communities to have a better understanding of the ‘complex’ case laws. I am sure this will be a goldmine for law students who wants to get an overview of the judgements before they actually read the full judgments.