Minor thesis on Legal Translation and the Experiences of Legal Translators working in Ho Chi Minh City - Jan2015

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY AND HANOI UNIVERSITY
JOINT PROGRAM
------ ------
Master of TESOL
Minor Thesis
The experiences of legal translators and translation training courses in Ho Chi
Minh City
This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of Master of TESOL by coursework and minor thesis at Victoria
University
Student: Nguyen Minh Tram
Student ID: 4491983
Supervisor: Dr. Barbara Ridley
Ho Chi Minh City, January 31st, 2015

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled “The Experiences of Legal Translators
and Translation Training Courses in Ho Chi Minh City” as the statement of requirements for thesis
in Master’s Programs at Victoria University.
Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain material
published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or
been awarded another degree or diploma.
No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis.
This thesis has not been submitted for any degree in any other tertiary institution.
Ho Chi Minh City, January 2015
NGUYEN MINH TRAM

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This thesis would not have been possible without the following people.
Firstly, my grateful thanks are due to my Supervisor, Dr. Barbara Ridley, whose help and guidance
was evident in each single part of the thesis. Her tremendous support as well as insightful comments
and suggestions gave life to my study and her timely instructions were like a lighthouse that helps
me navigate during the journey. Also, I am deeply grateful that it is she who first introduced to me
Narrative Inquiry Research Method which suits my study best and makes it more lively.
My thanks additionally go to Dr. Martin Andrew, Team Leader MTESOL Offshore, College of
Education, Victoria University, who indirectly supervised me in this project by meeting me
occasionally to give advice and be updated on my thesis progress so he could offer timely help and
support in his capacity.
I am as well indebted to all the staff of Hanoi University (HANU), particularly Ms. Pham Thi
Phuong and Ms. Nguyen Minh Hien, who helped me complete all administrative procedures to be
qualified for the Thesis program.
Importantly, I will be forever grateful for the willingness of my participants: ten [10] legal
translators from different law firms based in Ho Chi Minh City. They have given a gift that I could
never repay.
Last, but not least, I specially thank my family, especially my husband for his unlimited sympathy
and for fuelling my mind, body and spirit anytime I felt discouraged that I could not move on and
my little son for reducing my stress.

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ABSTRACT
In the context of Vietnam’s growing integration into international markets since its joining WTO,
legal translation and people doing this kind of job have been badly needed for years, yet demand is
exceeding supply where institutions of higher education in Ho Chi Minh City have failed to produce
sufficient translators who are able to live this occupation successfully and professionally. This
thesis was built to uncover experiences of legal translators at law firms, i.e. how they deal with their
daily work; what kinds of challenges they have faced in translating legal documents, and provide an
overview of tertiary translation training received by students of translation in general and by the
legal translators involved in this study in particular.
I applied narrative inquiry research method as theoretical and methodological framework for the
study. Specifically, I interviewed ten [10] legal translators to hear their stories through which their
education for and experiences of legal translation were unfolded. Data collected in this study
included narrative interviews, legal instruments and translation training materials applied at the
participants’ time. I also weaved my own stories from my experiences as a legal translator
throughout the study. A thematic analysis approach was used for the analysis of data. Results
indicated that the participants and I as the researcher have experienced legal translation similarly
and the training we were offered in the past was also identical in nature in which legal translation
was not included.
Based on the study’s findings, recommendations on legal translation training were proposed with
the expectation that next generations of translation students in Vietnam will be further equipped
with knowledge of legal translation to meet growing demands on professional legal translators once
Vietnam continues to broaden its trade and economy.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ......................................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. ...............................................................................................................ii
ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................................iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................iv
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES .................................................................................................vii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................1
1.1 Vietnamese Legal Context ...........................................................................................................1
1.1.1 The Emergence of Legal Translation in Vietnam ...............................................................1
1.1.2 Basic Structure of Vietnamese Legal System .....................................................................1
1.1.3 Legal Translators in HCMC ................................................................................................3
1.2 Overview of Translation Education in Vietnam ...........................................................................3
1.3 Statement of the Problem .............................................................................................................4
1.4 Aim of the Study ..........................................................................................................................4
1.5 Research Questions ......................................................................................................................4
1.6 Significance of the Study .............................................................................................................5
1.7 Limitations of the Study ...............................................................................................................5
1.8 Outline of the Study .....................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................7
2.1 Definition of Terms ......................................................................................................................7
2.1.1 Translation ...........................................................................................................................7
2.1.2 Legal Translation .................................................................................................................8
2.1.3 Legal Text/Legal Document ................................................................................................8
2.2 Characteristics of Legal Translation ..............................................................................................8
2.2.1 Legal Discourse ...................................................................................................................8
2.2.2 Fidelity .................................................................................................................................9
2.3 Difficulties and Problems Encountered in Legal Translation .......................................................9
2.3.1 Terminology ......................................................................................................................10
2.3.2 Grammatical Elements ......................................................................................................11
2.4 Overview of Translation Training ...............................................................................................12
2.5 Empirical Research ......................................................................................................................14
2.6 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................15

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CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY .....................................................................................16
3.1 Research Design .........................................................................................................................17
3.2 Methods ......................................................................................................................................18
3.2.1 Narrative Interviews ..........................................................................................................18
3.2.2 Legal Instruments ..............................................................................................................21
3.2.3 Translation Training Materials ..........................................................................................21
3.3 Data Analysis ..............................................................................................................................21
3.3.1 Coding ...............................................................................................................................22
3.3.2 Narratives ..........................................................................................................................23
3.4 Research Setting and Participants ..............................................................................................24
3.4.1 Law Firms in HCMC .........................................................................................................24
3.4.2 Legal Translators ...............................................................................................................24
3.5 Cautions about Narrative Inquiry ...............................................................................................26
3.6 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................26
CHAPTER FOUR: STORIES OF LEGAL TRANSLATORS ...................................................27
4.1 My Story .....................................................................................................................................27
4.1.1 Educational Background ...................................................................................................27
4.1.2 A Professional Legal Translator ........................................................................................27
4.2 The Story of Translator 2 ...........................................................................................................30
4.2.2 A Professional Legal Translator .......................................................................................30
4.3 The Story of Translator 3 ...........................................................................................................32
4.4 The Story of Translator 10 .........................................................................................................34
4.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................35
CHAPTER FIVE: A THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF DATA AND DISCUSSION OF
FINDINGS ........................................................................................................................................36
5.1 Skills and Qualities that are deemed essential for legal translators at all levels .......................36
5.2 Tertiary-level Translation Training Programs received by the participants .............................41

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5.3 Training received or considered useful by the participants in legal translation .......................44
5.4 Legal Translation Training offered by the participants’ law firms ............................................46
5.5. Other Issues ................................................................................................................................47
5.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................48
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................49
6.1 Original Aim and Answers to Research Questions ....................................................................49
6.2 Recommendations for Legal Translation Training .....................................................................50
6.3 Suggestions for Further Research ...............................................................................................51
6.4 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................52
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................53
APPENDICES .................................................................................................................................60
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS.....................................................................................60
APPENDIX B: CONSENT FORM FOR PARTICIPANTS INVOLVED IN RESEARCH.............61
APPENDIX C: INFORMATION TO PARTICIPANTS INVOLVED IN RESEARCH..................63

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
TABLES
Table 1.1: Summary of translation training textbooks….....................................................................3
Table 2.1: Illustrations of Latin terms................................................................................................11
Table 3.1: Summary of the interview process....................................................................................20
Table 3.2: Illustration of data categorization…………….................................................................23
Table 3.3: Information of the participants ………………….............................................................25
Table 5.1: Translation training materials used at the participants’ time……....................................41
Table 5.2: Summary of the participants’ opinions on training programs they consider useful at this
stage of work………………………...…………………………………………………...................44
FIGURES
Figure 1.1: The diagram of law making bodies and legal system in Vietnam…….............................2
Figure 5.1: Illustrations of sentence-level translation practice……...................................................42

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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
I have worked as a legal translator for more than three years at two law firms in Ho Chi Minh City
(HCMC) with different working styles and working environments. What I have experienced so far
in both the firms remains so interesting that I am motivated to conduct this study for the purpose of
exploring experiences of other legal translators working in this city and at the same time
considering translation training that the legal translators have received. In this Chapter, the legal
context of Vietnam, legal translators in HCMC, and translation education in Vietnam are issues to
be explored first, followed by the study’s problem, research questions, and the study’s significance.
1.1 Vietnamese Legal Context
1.1.1 The Emergence of Legal Translation in Vietnam
Convincingly winning the war against the United States of America (the U.S.) in 1975, the
Vietnamese government has used its best endeavors to re-build the country, including, among other
elements, promoting its integration into international markets through a restructuring process called
“Doi Moi” started in 1986 (Abbott, Bentzen, Pham & Tarp, 2007). Accordingly, one of Vietnam’s
most significant achievements for the nation’s development was its entry into the World Trade
Organization (WTO) as the 150th
member on 11 January 2007. It is the negotiations process through
which major agreements were reached for the sake of Vietnam’s economy that required a
considerable amount of Vietnamese legislation to be translated into other languages and vice versa
with English a primary language for international trade. Legal translation, therefore, emerged as an
essential course of action that helped speed up global integration, as a result of which demand for
skilled legal translators has risen dramatically. The sustainable existence of legal translation will not
be in doubt as long as Vietnam’s trade is further broadened.
1.1.2 Basic Structure of Vietnamese Legal System
Ruled by China during the eleven hundred years before 938 A.D and then by the French for about a
hundred years, Vietnam was unable to build its own legal system without being significantly
affected by its rulers’ ones. That is why the current Vietnamese legal system is largely “based on
the socialism legal theory and inherited from French civil law system” (Kenfox IP & Law Office,
2009); more precisely, Vietnam operates under Socialist Law that communist states have used to
run their countries with civil law system employed as a foundation (Quigley, 1989).

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As the highest organ of state power, the National Assembly of Vietnam is a legislative body who
appoints the most important politicians, i.e. President, the Prime Minister, etc., and the 21-member
Government. This unicameral body is also liable for the law making activities, including drawing
up, adopting, and amending the Constitution and laws with assistance from committees, subordinate
bodies, ministries and ministerial-level agencies under its control (Kenfox IP & Law Office, 2009).
The present Constitution of Vietnam was adopted by the National Assembly in April, 1992, and
amended in 2001, under which are laws, ordinances, decrees, orders, decisions and other associated
legal documents that deal with various aspects of social life. Figure 1.1 below will help to visualize
the process of law making activities with specific bodies in charge.
Figure 1.1: The diagram of law making bodies and legal system in Vietnam0F
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In brief, businesses in Vietnam will be governed by the above presented legal system.
1.1.3 Legal Translators in HCMC
There exist two kinds of legal translators in HCMC’s legal context who have worked diligently to
protect their position in such a challenging and competitive sector: full-time and freelance
1
Retrieved from: http://www.kenfoxlaw.com/resources/legal-topics/12958-basic-structure-of-vietnam-legal-system.html

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translators. More and more law companies are established in this dynamic city to satisfy the demand
for practical legal advice on cross-border transactions and where there is a law firm to be built, there
is a need for legal translator(s) to be employed. Subject to each firm’s operational scale, the firm
will determine whether it should hire a full-time legal translator or a project-based one. This gives
equal chances for both types of legal translators to retain their jobs as well as for law companies or
individual clients to run their business in a cost-effective manner. Regardless of their form of
employment, most legal translators working in HCMC are English majors in English Translation
and Interpretation, Pedagogy, or English for Specific Purposes with legal translation knowledge
mainly earned by way of on-the-job training and self-studying.
1.2 Overview of Translation Education in Vietnam
Translation has long been taught in institutions of higher education across Vietnam with textbooks
specifically designed to equip students with necessary translation and interpretation skills. Table 1.1
gives an overview of typical textbooks utilized for translation training at certain institutions
nationwide.
Name of Textbook Name of Author Year of
Publication
Name of
University/College/Institution
Translation Theory 2002 Da Nang University; College of
Pedagogy
Unnaturalness in English –
Vietnamese Translation:
Causes and Cures
Le Phuong Lan 2006 Hanoi University
Vietnamese – English
Translation Practice 2
(Thực hành Luyện dịch Việt-
Anh 2)
MA. Nguyen Thanh
Duc
2009 Can Tho University
Translation 1, 2, 4, &5 Nguyen Van Tuan 2009 Hue University College of Foreign
Languages
Translation Psychology Nguyen Van Tuan 2009 Hue University College of Foreign
Languages
Translation and Interpretation
Theory
Pham Thi Thanh
Huyen
2010 Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam
A Translation Course in
Business Translation
Nguyen Ngoc Tam 2011 Ton Duc Thang University
Vietnamese – English
Translation Practice
(Luyện dịch Việt – Anh)
Minh Thu – Nguyen
Hoa
2014 University of Social Sciences and
Humanities
Table 1.1: Summary of translation training textbooks1F
2
Table 1.1 shows that legal translation has remained excluded from translation training in Vietnam
for years even though this 21st
century has created enormous demands on such area and its people.
This training issue will be discussed in more detail in later chapters.
2
Retrieved from: http://www.ebook.edu.vn/?page=1.5&tag=d%E1%BB%8Bch+thu%E1%BA%ADt&alltxt=Y

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1.3 Statement of the Problem
Notwithstanding increasing demands on legal translation resulting from Vietnam’s accession into
international organizations over time, to my best knowledge and belief, HCMC is currently facing
an acute shortage of competent legal translators who own requisite skills and knowledge for the job.
Demand is exceeding supply when both universities and training centers in HCMC offering
translation training have not yet effectively trained and produced an elite group of translators
equipped with real-life practice as well as with helpful translation strategies to meet the current
market needs for legal translation. It is believed that the present translation syllabi applied in most
institutions in HCMC are designed, evaluated and improved without taking into account the social
and cultural development and market demands, let alone legal translation. As the fact reveals,
knowledge of legal translation and legal systems is absolutely required of legal translators, without
which they hardly stay firmly and grow strongly in the legal industry, yet academic translation
training provided in HCMC still gives no room for legal translation or other specialized translation
to be taught. Put another way, students of the translation major badly need “practical training”
whereas what they have actually received is nothing more but “abstract education” (Szczyrbak
2008).
1.4 Aim of the Study
It is the above problem that urges me to start this study to uncover the experiences of legal
translators in HCMC in the context of translation courses conducted in the city’s
universities/colleges to see if the courses meet the needs identified by the legal translators in
practice.
1.5 Research Questions:
In order to navigate my study, I owe a duty to find an answer to the following Research Question:
What are the experiences of legal translators in Ho Chi Minh City?
This main Research Question gives rise to a subsidiary question regarding the translation courses at
tertiary level which must also be answered:
Did translation courses at tertiary level in Ho Chi Minh City address the needs identified by
the legal translators in practice?

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1.6 Significance of the Study
In the event that this study is successfully conducted, it will significantly contribute to legal
translation studies in HCMC for the following reasons:
1 – It unfolds tales of legal translators, particularly their translation education and experiences
accumulated in the course of their daily work.
2 – It investigates whether legal translation is taught; whether the training programs are a
combination of theory and practice that will allow students to hone their translation skills.
3 – It proposes effective approaches to teaching legal translation upon knowing the current
situation of legal translation training.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
This qualitative study is restricted to a limited number of participants within the region of HCMC
only. As such, it cannot be generalized across Vietnam but provides an example of the situation
from which the reader might draw their own comparisons. In addition, the researcher is incapable of
closely investigating translation courses currently conducted in HCMC’s universities, given limited
access to the institutions and its translation syllabuses. Instead, the past translation courses received
by all participants and translation textbooks/materials that have been used for translation training
over time will be looked at to provide an overview of what translation areas have been being taught
while a detailed investigation thereof has not been carried out yet. These restrictions, however, do
not matter much but rather pave the way for further studies on the same issue.
1.8 Outline of the Study
This study is composed of six chapters arranged in the following order:
Chapter One briefly describes the Vietnamese legal system plus the reasons giving room for legal
translation to grow in Vietnam. The statement of the problem comes next, followed by the study’s
purposes and specific Research Questions. This chapter additionally states how significant this
study is to legal translation studies and limitations are presented lastly.
The literature associated with legal translation and translation training at tertiary level is reviewed
in Chapter Two to provide the reader with an understanding of the characteristics of legal

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translation, difficulties and problems encountered, requirements to be met by legal translators and
the teaching of translation/legal translation.
Chapter Three deals with the Methodology selected to conduct this study, which is Narrative
Inquiry, accompanied by its data collection instruments: narrative interviews, legal instruments, and
translation training materials utilized at the participants’ universities in the past. Data analysis
techniques and the research setting and participants will also be described.
Stories of Four Different Legal Translators working in HCMC, including mine, are unfolded in
Chapter Four in order for the audience to ‘sense’ how a legal translator survives his/her daily job as
well as how challenging and difficult such job could become. In other words, this chapter is where
the interviewed legal translators share their stories that reflect their experiences in legal translation.
The stories told in Chapter Four pave the way for Chapter Five which presents a thematic analysis
of the data and discusses in more detail the findings generated from the collected data. In this
chapter, the data will be analysed based on primary themes arising from the interview questions
with evidence drawn from the narratives as well as the participants’ responses and also from the
theoretical framework presented in Chapter Two. In parallel with the analysis of any particular
theme, the related findings will also be discussed to create interconnections among the information
from the narrative interviews.
Chapter Six concludes the entire study by first providing answers to the Research Questions
introduced in Chapter One and then making certain recommendations on legal translation training
to render such specialized translation more reachable, and finally stating the reasons for conducting
further research on this study’s subject matter.

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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
As mentioned in the Introductory Chapter, Vietnam’s joining WTO gave rise to legal translation,
generating high demand for legal translators in Vietnam in general and in HCMC in particular. In
his article titled “Difficulties faced in Legal Document Translation”, Sonawane (n.d.) highlights a
number of requirements for a legal translator to meet to survive legal translation in a successful
way. At first, a legal translator must be competent in three areas: “competency in the target
language’s particular writing style, familiarity with the pertinent terminology, and general
knowledge of the legal systems of the source and target languages” as word for word translation is
unacceptable in translating legal instruments (Ibid.). This requires a professional legal translator to
play various roles at the same time, “a detective, a legal scholar and a linguist,” who would conduct
a large amount of research to decode the source and write its actual meaning which will in no
circumstances deviate from the original text (Ibid.). Being knowledgeable of where the translation
will be used or to whom it is addressed is also required of a legal translator so that he/she could
choose the most appropriate approach in handling the document. In the event that the source text is
not well drafted, a legal translator plays a role here too in deciding whether to translate the text into
something as vague as the original one or make it meaningful, which could be the case but was
hindered by poor writing (Ibid.). A successful legal translator must further satisfy the requirements
of accuracy, confidentiality and punctuality (EVS Translations Blog, 2010). In support of the
foregoing, this Chapter provides a theoretical framework through a presentation of related literature
focusing on the following key issues: noticeable characteristics of legal translation; major
difficulties and problems faced by legal translators and an overview of translation teaching/training
at tertiary level.
2.1 Definition of Terms
2.1.1 Translation
While a variety of definitions of the term Translation have been suggested, this present study will
use the definition suggested by Wilss (1982: 134) who saw it as “a transfer process which aims at
the transformation of a written Source Language text into an optimally equivalent Target Language
text, and which requires the syntactic, the semantic and the pragmatic understanding and analytical
processing of the Source Language text.”

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2.1.2 Legal Translation
Generally, Legal Translation is a law-based translation process involving the translation of legal
texts used in different legal settings (Al-Nakhalah 2013: 167). According to Šarčević (1997: 13),
Legal Translation is not merely translating from the source language into the target language but is
also “a translation from one legal system into another – from the source legal system into the target
legal system.” For the purpose of this paragraph, source language means “the text before
translating where the processes of reading comprehension, analysis and researching are carried out,”
and target language means “the text after translation where the processes of composing, rephrasing
and editing are carried out” (Abdellah 2004: 25).
2.1.3 Legal Text/Legal Document
Harvey (2002: 178), by summarizing related theories, introduces a more inclusive definition of a
Legal Text as follows: “documents which are, or may become, part of the judicial process: for
instance, contracts, wills, court documents, witness statements and expert reports, which are “bread
and butter” activities for lawyers and legal translators.”
2.2 Characteristics of Legal Translation
Legal translation has certain noteworthy features. These are elaborated in the following sections.
2.2.1 Legal Discourse
Matijašević (2013: 120) contends that legal discourse owns a number of interesting features, as
revealed by numerous studies, and one of its distinctive features is “the simultaneous need for high
terminological precision and ambiguity,” which means ambiguity is sometimes created on purpose.
The ambiguous feature of legal language is also confirmed by a number of researchers. Burczak
(2006: 66) finds that legal texts are typically “filled with ambiguous rules and malleable language
which can be mined and interpreted in support of a variety of judicial decisions.” In Posner’s (1988:
240-2) and Jolicoeur’s (2000) opinion, the legal text in this respect can be compared with the
literary text where ambiguity is not considered a defect but as an inherent characteristic to be
preserved in translation. According to Harvey (2002: 182), legal translators should play a more
proactive role, rather than purely a “text producer” to decide if deliberate ambiguity should be
retained.
In respect of morphosyntactic level of discourse, the modal verb “shall” is frequently used to
express an obligation, rather than expressing future time as its common function to secure legal

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effect that legal texts are supposed to have (Matijašević 2013: 120). To take one example, the
following sentence in a Guarantee describes an obligation with the use of the modal verb “shall”:
“Any communication to be made under or in connection with the Finance Documents shall be made
in writing”; that is to say any notice to be made must be made in written form; otherwise, it will be
deemed invalid.
Very long and complex sentences partly indicate syntactic aspect of legal discourse. As Gustafsson
discovered in 1975, fifty five (55) is the average number of words per sentence in legal texts which
doubles those of natural sciences and is eight times more than that of spoken English (as cited in
Gotti 2005). Concerning the level of embedding, Hiltunen’s research carried out in 1984 suggested
that the average embedding level in legal discourse is 3.09, compared to 2 in other ESP discourses
as noted by Ellegard in 1978 (as cited in Gotti 2005).
Gotti also adds other typical features of legal discourse such as repetitively used expressions and
preferentially applied complex conjunctions, as derived from his 2005’s study on specialized
discourse.
2.2.2 Fidelity
Given the principle of fidelity, whether fidelity to the “letter” outweighs fidelity to the “spirit” or
vice versa in legal translation has been a matter for debate over time, dating back to the days of the
Roman Empire when formal correspondence between source and target text was decreed to be vital
to preserve the meaning of both Biblical and legal documents (Gémar 1995a; Šarčević 1997).
Today, legal translation specialists define “fidelity” in a broader sense as “achieving an equivalent
impact on the target reader, which may justify substantial changes to the original text to respect the
stylistic conventions of the target legal culture” (Harvey 2002: 180). In Kasirer’s view (2000: 57-
59), the notion of fidelity demonstrates the positivist tradition in legal interpretation with a belief
that the meaning of a legal text is “declared”, rather than being construed or created, by the person
who interprets it.
2.3 Difficulties and Problems Encountered in Legal Translation
Specialized translation poses certain problems and difficulties and legal translation is absolutely not
an exception with its typical challenges. This is primarily because legal systems vary from one
country to another. What follows below is a detailed description of key difficulties and problems
encountered in translating legal documents with specific illustrations.

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2.3.1 Terminology
Terminological equivalence is a problem of “keen interest”, having considered the major problems
posed by legal translation (Capellas-Espuny 1999: 21). The problems generated by “the absence of
equivalents” are ones that frighten off legal translators at all times, and yet it is impossible to wipe
them out. In fact, the main reason why terminology becomes a heavy burden to most legal
translators may be attributable to the diversity of legal systems as “a particular concept in a legal
system may have no counterpart in other systems” and the lack of exact terminological equivalents
in different legal systems may be deemed the cause of ambiguities, confusion and
miscomprehension of all types (Ibid., p. 22). The primary practical difficulty faced in legal
translation, therefore, is to decide whether a concept is similar or different in two languages, given
the consequences which follow (Ibid., p. 22). Šarčević (1997: 22) confirms the predominance of
terminology by arguing that “Regardless of the type of text involved, all legal translators must deal
with the problem of terminological incongruency”. She additionally views that translating the
source legal system into the target legal system means “selecting terminology that will achieve the
desired results…” (22).
To take a few examples, under Vietnamese law there are no Vietnamese equivalents of the
following two English legal terminologies: “liquidated damages” and “consideration.” The former
can be defined in a legal sense as “a sum of money (agreed-to and written into a contract) specified
as the total amount of compensation an aggrieved party should get, if the other party breaches
certain part(s) of the contract” (BusinessDictionary.com). The latter refers to “something of value
given by both parties to a contract that induces them to enter into the agreement to exchange mutual
performances” (The FreeDictionary.com). In dealing with such terms in any legal document, what a
legal translator should do is not trying to find precise equivalents in the target language but rather
provide the most corresponding expressions in the target language, Vietnamese in this case, that
best preserve legal effect of the terms.
According to Al-Nakhalah (2013: 174), Latinisms (Latin-originated terms) is another noticeable
feature of the English legal lexicon, which leaves legal translators in trouble sometimes. A large
amount of Latin terms are used quite frequently in legal documents. Table 2.1 below introduces a
number of popular Latin terms that could be easily found in certain legal texts:

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Term or Phrase Literal Translation Definition and Use Example
pari passu Ranking equally
Equal in all respects, at the
same pace or rate, in the same
degree or proportion, or
enjoying the same rights
without bias or preference.
The Guarantor must ensure that its
payment obligations under this
Agreement and any Finance
Document to which it is a party at all
times rank at least pari passu with
the claims of all unsecured and
unsubordinated creditors.
mutatis
mutandis
Having changed [the
things that] needed to
be changed
A caution to a reader when
using one example to illustrate
a related but slightly different
situation. The caution is that
the reader must adapt the
example to change what is
needed for it to apply to the
new situation.
The changes proposed for the first
contract apply mutatis mutandis to
all other contracts.
pro forma As a matter of form Things done as formalities.
Audits, financial accountings and pro
forma budgets are merely
informative measures.
Table 2.1: Illustrations of Latin terms2F
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Alcaraz and Hughes (2002: 5) link the existence of Latin terms to a number of reasons, two of
which are that English law was influenced by Latin when the Roman church stretched its power
over Europe at that time and that Latin language was broadly used throughout Europe as a language
of learning and literature for centuries.
To put it in a nutshell, seeking for terminological equivalents is undeniably a painful process that all
legal translators experience in translating legal documents; nonetheless, other apparent difficulties
generated from legal translation must not be ignored.
2.3.2 Grammatical Elements
Successful translation depends a great deal on grammar knowledge that a translator possesses and it
is also true to legal translation in which great accuracy is required as no dictionary can be of help in
assisting the translator to choose the grammatical item that suits best the given context. For this
reason, linguistic devices-oriented studies that examine how phrases, sentences and paragraphs are
linked together to form cohesive units of meaning is considered as crucial as researching the
terminology of a particular field (Selmi and Trouille, n.d.). In view of the fact that grammatical
structure partly conveys the meaning of a text, developing a feel for the right grammatical elements
(Ibid.), besides acquiring knowledge of terminology, has long become integral to the professional
development process of all legal translators. In reality, many legal translators find it more difficult
to do their job due to their inadequate knowledge of grammar as evidenced below.
3
Retrieved from: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/understanding-latin-legalese.html.

12
Altay (2002) perceives the application of unusual sentence structures in the English legal language
one of the most basic grammatical issues confronted by legal translators. Old-fashioned
subjunctives, i.e. “let” or “may”, are blamed for giving rise to such problem while they should
have been stopped being used in modern English, as suggested by Tiersma (1999: 93). The
following phrase frequently used at the beginning of a Power of Attorney “Know all men by these
presents” is definitely an uncommon sentence structure (Altay 2002) among plenty of other odd
grammatical structures that can be found in legal documents. Altay (2002) additionally gives
another example which is the case of the “British enactment clause” as presented below:
Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of
the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and
by the authority of the same….
(Tiersma 1999: 93)
This illustrative clause demonstrates, in addition to the subjunctive, several common features
existing in legal English: French-style word order (Lords Spiritual and Temporal), formal language
(Queen’s most Excellent Majesty), unusual word order (in Parliament assembled), and conjoined
phrases (by and with, advice and consent) (Tiersma 1999: 93), all of which remain very challenging
to legal translators.
In concluding this Section that discusses problems and difficulties arising out of or in connection
with legal translation, I would like to quote Altay (“Conclusion,” 2002, para. 2) as saying that
“While lawyers cannot expect translators to produce parallel texts that are identical in meaning,
they do expect them to produce parallel texts that are identical in their legal effect.” Given such
challenges as above mentioned, it will be a mission impossible for legal translators to produce
completely identical texts in two languages but instead their main duty should be to create a text
reflecting the same legal effect in practice.
2.4 Overview of Translation Training
Translation trainers/teachers seem to agree that there exists a difference between “translation in
foreign-language teaching” and “translation teaching for professional purposes” (Goussard-Kunz
2009: 16). While the former is merely a means to facilitate learners in understanding a text or to test
certain capabilities, i.e. grammar and vocabulary, in the foreign language, the latter is indeed a skill
to be acquired on the basis of L1 and L2 proficiency (Nord 1991a: 140) (as quoted in
Goussard_Kunz 2009: 17). Accordingly, translation learners were once trained to achieve

13
completely different training objectives as afore-said and those who were trained to reach the first-
mentioned goal were not adequately aware of “translational problems” as they were not given
authentic texts to translate and “translation takes place in a vacuum” with no “real communicative
function” (Krings, as quoted in Menck 1991: 151). Hӧnig and Kussmaul (as quoted in Menck 1991:
142) summarize the problem as follows:
Students translate a text they do not understand for an addressee they do not know. And the
product of their efforts is often marked by a teacher who does not have any practical
experience as a translator nor any theoretical knowledge in the field of translation studies.
With the primary focus on legal translation, this study will discuss in detail “translation teaching for
professional purposes” instead of “translation in foreign-language teaching”.
Once legal translation-targeted training is examined under a microscope, a question is raised as to
what type of approach should be employed. According to Manganaras (n.d.), in outlining the policy
for legal translation training, it is imperative to take into account not only the contribution of law
and language but also other economic and professional factors. Selcen and Eryatmaz (2014: 71)
take the view that Law as a discipline somehow covers all other disciplines under its umbrella and
also gives room for translation in the field to grow, owing to which a translation student with no
knowledge of legal translation would not be able to “provide an insight in other courses and in
his/her professional life” as well, adding that all translation processes are more or less connected
with legal field. Accordingly, Selcen and Eryatmaz (2014: 71) suggest to “distill a functioning
approach” as an extension of a key concept in theories relevant to translation, “function”, for legal
translation training. Taking legal translation courses carried out in Yaşar University based in Turkey
where the two researchers are working as an example, an “Introduction to Legal Translation” course
was constructed to help students accumulate knowledge on the field as well as to provide insight
about the notion of legal systems. The course is designed spiraling around a central motif which is
function, a part of which is to form basic knowledge of general and special legal systems (Ibid., 72).
The “Skopos” theory would help to provide a clearer understanding of the so-called functionalist
approach to teaching translation, as Vermeer describes below:
Functionalist approach means that, whenever the “customer (auftraggeber)” “orders” or
“gives” a job (in auftrag geben), he has an aim and a target. Translation is expected to serve
the target culture, and naturally to target audience. The best possible translation is
determined by the norms during the process (Vermeer 2008: 4).

14
Each text is produced for a given purpose and should serve this purpose. The Skopos rule
thus reads as follows: translate/interpret/speak/write in a way that enables your
text/translation to function in the situation in which it is used and with people who want to
use it and precisely in the way they want it to function (Vermeer, as cited in, and translated
by, Nord 1997: 29).
To sum up, it is believed that the functional approach is useful in translation training thanks to its
prominent strengths that help better prepare learners for “real-life translation situations” (Nord
1994a: 66). In Nord’s (1997: 117) opinion, this approach “facilitated a more profession-and
practice-oriented translator training and permitted the inclusion of a wide variety of activities
professional translators are asked to perform.” He additionally argues that the functional approach is
consistent in that it can be applied to both literary and non-literary translation and utilized for any
type of text and language and cultural combination; this, therefore, renders the training of
translators “more rational, economical and independent of linguistic and cultural peculiarities”
(Nord 1994a: 66). Although several trainee translators remain intuitive in taking translational
decisions, functional translation theories provide them with a theoretical framework based on which
the translator is able to justify certain choices over others rationally (Goussard_Kunz 2009: 27).
2.5 Empirical Research
In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of literature on translation/legal translation and
its related issues with such specific studies as summarized in Al-Nakhalah (2013: 168). In
particular, Stern’s research (2004) examined difficulties experienced by court interpreters and the
strategies they employed in coping with legal deliberations at the International Criminal tribunal for
the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) with problems generated by the use and transfer of cognates,
synonyms and neologisms in legal language emphasized. In 2008, Farhaty considered legal
translation in theory and practice by reviewing the history of legal translation in the Western and
Arabic tradition and discussing the most popular difficulties that lie in legal translation with
particular examples from English/Arabic/English legal texts. Biel in the same year (2008) studied
terminology mining in a small way that is used by legal freelance translators in practice, and recent
developments in this field. A few years later, the research conducted by Halahla in 2010 focused on
problems encountered by translators in translating Islamic Religious texts when English lacks the
equivalents and translators are forced to interpret rather than translating the texts in a way that the
original spirit or beauty of the original text is guaranteed. Dweik and Shakra (2011) investigated the
most serious problems faced by the translators when rendering cultural collocations in three

15
religious texts such as the Holy Quran, the Hadith and the Bible, the results of which revealed that
lexical and semantic collocations are ones that cause difficulties and translators of religious texts
should be well aware of the nature of lexical and metaphoric collocations and should always avoid
literal translation by taking the context into consideration.
2.6 Conclusion
Serving as a theoretical framework for the whole study, this chapter discussed key issues attached
to legal translation: typical features which legal translation possesses; noticeable problems and
difficulties experienced by legal translators in doing their daily work and last but not least, the
tertiary-level training of translation/legal translation. Empirical studies were also presented to
disclose what has been discovered in this field with clear findings. This chapter further acts as a
base for the methodological chapter following next.

16
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
Narrative is about understanding the complexities of experience, honoring the subtleties of experience, and
understanding the dynamics between individual experience and contexts that shape experience. Narrative
reaches out to the past, is rooted in the present, and turns an eye to the future; narrative evolves with
changes and shifts in time, place, and interactions. Narrative, as both phenomenon and form of inquiry, is a
perspective that provides illuminating ways of viewing the world.
(Phillion 2002: 20)
In conducting any studies on experiences unfolded through stories, narrative inquiry, ‘the study of
experience as story’ (Clandinin and Connelly 2006: 477), seems to be the most appropriate research
methodology to be adopted for gaining insights into the real experiences of real people, especially
those for whom professional development is an issue that matters. Given my main purposes for
which this study was formed, narrative inquiry fits best when I am desirous to learn more about
Vietnamese legal translators’ experiences through their employment at different law firms based in
HCMC. Indeed, this study aims to seek answers to the Research Questions below.
The main Research Question is:
What are the experiences of legal translators in Ho Chi Minh City?
The sub-question is:
Did translation courses at tertiary level in Ho Chi Minh City address the needs identified by
the legal translators in practice?
I employed narrative inquiry methodology to study the experiences of ten [10] translators coming
from a number of HCMC-based reputable law firms. This chapter explains how narrative interviews
providing the main data source for the research were conducted; how such qualitative data was
analyzed; where I got access to the participants and who they are precisely; whether my study was
carried out ethically; and, last but not least, how my role as a researcher and also a translator with
my own stories to be told affected my interpretation of the data.

17
3.1 Research Design
My research used separate stories from eleven [11] legal translators through which the audience will
see a clearer picture of legal translation and its connected issues.
Connelly and Clandinin (1990: 2) perceive that “Humans are storytelling organisms who,
individually and collectively, lead storied lives,” or for a more comprehensible expression provided
by Ma and Ren (2011: 531), people’s lives embrace stories. From Clandinin’s observation (2007),
narrative research methodology has widely been utilized in a number of particular professions such
as medicine, law, counseling, psychotherapy, teaching, and so on. Similar to other types of research
methodologies applied by social science researchers, narrative inquiry ““inquires” into or ask
questions” about specific aspects of life experience to acquire a profound understanding thereof
(Ma and Ren 2011: 531).
Experience happens narratively. Narrative inquiry is a form of narrative experience. Therefore, educational
experiences should be studied narratively.
(Clandinin and Connelly 2000: 19)
Examples of researchers who used narrative inquiry in education are Bach (1998) with research on
curriculum; Huber and Whelan (2001) with studies in community; Craig (2001) in school reform;
Bell (2002) in language learning; Phillion and He (in press) in language teaching; Elbaz-Luwisch,
Gudmundsdottir, and Moen (2002) and Fenton (2002) in teaching; and Li (2002) and He (2003)
with cross-cultural research, to name a few.
The rationale behind my choice of narrative inquiry mainly generates from myself as a legal
translator who wishes to tell my own professional stories and, concurrently, from my intense
curiosity about the experiences and professional lives of other translators in law firms in HCMC.
Given the said objectives, stories, a specific form of narrative research, can, on one hand, help me
deeper understand myself in terms of my professional life and, on the other hand, can open the way
for me to uncover life experiences and viewpoints of others.
By reflecting my own and collecting narratives, mainly professional ones, from another ten [10]
translators, I would like to dig deeper into work life of people like me to see how they are getting
along at their firms; how their experiences accumulated through their daily work shape their
perception of legal translation; and what implications arise from those stories. All the narratives that
I collected were used as an avenue to examine real experiences of real translators in a very real

18
context that is legal context. In addition, how the other translators and I were trained and what we
have learnt to be competent enough for this occupation is also important to be discussed.
3.2 Methods
Given the fact that the sources from which data is gathered will tell how valid and reliable such data
is, there comes a question to be answered by any researcher: What kind, and how much data will be
collected (Hinchey 2008). As previously stated, the major data source for this research is stories
narrated by ten [10] translators in narrative interviews and those of my own. Legal instruments and
translation training materials act as subordinating data sources.
3.2.1 Narrative Interviews
McNamara (“Introduction,” 1999, para. 1) contends that interviews are really helpful in discovering
“the story behind a participant’s experiences” and in securing in-depth information relevant to the
topic. Since what I yearned to do was bringing experiences of legal translators to light, narrative
interview appeared to be a right choice and semi-structured interview was chosen, having
considered its characteristics that suit best this study. In compliance with the principles to conduct a
semi-structured interview as described in Bernard (2006: 212), I did produce a list of fixed pertinent
questions with room for follow-up questions to be created when necessary by first referencing such
websites as Frequently Asked Questions About Court and Legal Interpreting and Translating and
Translator Interview Questions to visualize what I should ask and then by adapting the questions
that I thought appropriate to my own situation. Eventually, I had a set of twenty-two [22] questions
covering significant aspects of legal translation (see Appendix A). All of the questions were open-
ended and worded with common language of daily life for ease of understanding as generally
agreed by most qualitative researchers (Elliot; Creswell; Sunstein & Chiseri-Strater; Merriam;
Glesne, as cited in Cavendish 2011: 46). As per this research’s purposes, the questions used in my
narrative interviews were formed to explore three main types of information: (a) the translators’
experiences in legal translation; (b) the translators’ past and present translation training; and (c) the
translators’ attitudes towards legal translation.
As a matter of research ethics, before carrying out narrative interviews, I was required to submit to
the ethics committee of Victoria University the list of interview questions and the Application for
Ethical Review of Research Involving Human Participants for their approval. Upon receipt of the
committee’s approval in July, 2014, I immediately proceeded with obtaining consent from all the
participants, using the Consent Form and Information Form in the form provided in Appendix B

19
and C, respectively. With consent from ten [10] translators, I contacted one after another and
arranged interviews at our best convenience. Subject to each participant’s availability, I either
arranged to meet them individually or kept in touch with them and had the questions answered via
email during the whole process. In fact, I tried to conduct as many face-to-face interviews as
possible to gain thorough information from the participants, but in two cases the translators were
too busy to meet so I undertook online interviews instead. With respect to face-to-face interviews, I
could meet eight [08] out of ten [10] translators personally to hear their stories. Each session lasted
about an hour but some extended longer than the scheduled time when the storytellers felt an
interest to share more stories. Many researchers agree that it is not easy to have participants share
their stories and experiences with them for this requires great trust and mutual respect (Fetterman;
Clandinin and Connelly; Glesne, as cited in Cavendish 2011: 47), hence the need for a rapport to be
built among all involved. Accordingly, I tried to develop a friendly-but-not-too-close relationship
with all the interviewees in advance through conversations on the phone and by email and when the
moment came, I used my best endeavours to maintain all interview sessions in a cozy and
comfortable atmosphere and be a good listener who listened to their stories respectfully.
Furthermore, I was conscious of my role as a legal translator during the course of interviews to not
have any preconceived notions of what the translators would tell me or to avoid any leading
questions to get the answer I want. I also tried not to interrupt the interviewees to have narratives
naturally rise from our conversations, as Elliot (2005) recommended. Operated that way, all of the
eight [08] individual interviews were successfully conducted thanks to the rapport that I attempted
to develop from the beginning. Additionally, my understanding of the issues shared by the
participants was a plus point when I could intake and reflect rather precisely what the translators
wanted to express, giving them a feeling that their professional stories were properly and fully
understood. Most of the individual interviews took place in cafeterias at lunch time, after work or
even at weekends when the parties involved were available to meet and I always tried to arrange my
time to meet their busy schedules in most cases. To ensure the interviewees’ responses are captured
in their own terms as well as to serve a detailed analysis of data later on, the recording of
conversations in all interview sessions is, to all intents and purposes, mandatory (Interviewing in
Qualitative Research, n.d., p. 317). Accordingly, I always asked the participants if I could record
our conversations before getting started and take note of what they said so that I could promptly
raise follow-up questions as necessary and minimize the risk of losing data. Luckily, most of them
nodded approval.
Regarding the other two [02] translators who could not offer me a direct talk, I worked with them
through email. First, I sent them an introductory email stating again who I am, what my project is

20
about, and how they can help me to complete it. Receiving their replies, I then sent them the
questions that are as same as those used for face-to-face interviews and asked them to insert their
answers and give them back to me. A drawback of this ‘blind’ process was that the interviewees
worked independently while answering all the questions, which may result in the possibility that
some questions may not be understood correctly unless the interviewer gives further explanations.
To remedy this shortcoming, before sending out the list, I provided detailed explanations to any
questions therein that may cause misunderstanding and gave illustrations when necessary to ensure
the translators knew exactly what I meant. Moreover, I noted that they may need to modify their
responses and revert back if the answers they provided did not adequately cover the issues in
question. This really happened when I received the list back and found that certain answers were
too short or too general to reflect the issue comprehensively. I then asked them to further clarify or
explain the point and re-send me the revised list. That was how my online interviews were
conducted and again I succeeded in getting rather comprehensive replies with no face-to-face
conversations taken place.
Table 3.1 below summarizes the entire interview process.
Participant Form of
Interview
Number of
Face-to-Face
Interview
Number of
Online
Interview
Number of
Recorded
Interview
Interview
Duration
(approximately)
Total
Interview
Session(s)
Translator 1 Face-to-face 1 N/A 1 35 minutes 1
Translator 3 Face-to-face 1 N/A (refusing to
be recorded)
1 hour and a half 1
Translator 4 Online N/A 2 N/A N/A 2
Translator 5 Face-to-face 1 N/A 1 1 hour 1
Translator 6 Face-to-face 1 N/A 1 1 hour and a half 1
Translator 8 Online N/A 2 N/A N/A 2
be recorded)
40 minutes 1
be recorded)
1 hour and 45
minutes
1
Table 3.1: Summary of the interview process
The most remarkable achievement I have attained through the whole process of narrative interviews
is that my relationships with the translators have survived the completion of this project. More
particularly, I still stay in touch with them via email, meet for lunch or a drink after work
sometimes, or ask them for advice on how to translate a strange or difficult term/phrase/sentence in

21
a document I am dealing with. Even though we are working for different law firms, they are always
willing to help and seek my advice in return. For the avoidance of doubt, this good rapport between
the participants and I was developed after the interview process. In other words, there was no
possibility that such relationships affected my data collection process, let alone the interpretation of
the data.
3.2.2 Legal Instruments
Working in a law firm means dealing with legal instruments, or legal documents, on a daily basis.
Types of legal instruments vary from firm to firm, e.g. agreements, contracts, engagement letters,
notices, memoranda, and so on, subject to particular practice areas on which each law company
focuses. In fact, legal instruments demonstrate and help evaluate a legal translator’s performance,
and, additionally, they are where professional stories of a legal translator are revealed. For this
reason, legal instruments, besides narrative interviews, were utilized as another source of data for
my research to illustrate any ideas, opinions or arguments arisen from the translators’ stories. As a
matter of confidentiality, I could not use many samples of legal documents from other law firms.
Instead, I used mine for the most part and some other documents with equal legal effect that the
participants used to illustrate their stories, whose extracts were used across this paper.
3.2.3 Translation Training Materials
Translation training materials, apart from narrative interviews and legal instruments, constitute the
third important data source for this study. To have the training of the translators reflected herein, I
analyzed materials applied at their universities when they were students. Except for the materials
serving translation practice in the past, I also looked at materials that are being applied at present in
other universities to give some limited indication of current translation training. The scope of this
study does not allow for a more detailed investigation of current courses.
3.3 Data Analysis
Qualitative analysis transforms data into findings. No formula exists for that transformation. Guidance, yes.
But no recipe. Direction can and will be offered, but the final destination remains unique for each inquirer,
known only when – and if – arrived at.
(Patton 2002: 432)
As LeCompte (2000: 146) points out in her article titled “Analyzing Qualitative Data”, “big piles”
of collected data will be transformed into concrete findings that give descriptions and explanations

22
of, or prediction about, what the researcher has studied. This section is going to elaborate such
transformation process.
3.3.1 Coding
Defined as “a progressive process of sorting and defining and defining and sorting those scraps of
collected data…that are applicable to your research purpose” (Glesne 2011: 194), coding is
considered the first and perhaps the most critical process for the analysis “gravitated towards”
exploring the content of the qualitative data (Punch , as cited in Gocer 2010: 201). As the coding
process is deemed “the crux of qualitative analysis” (Taylor-Powell and Renner 2003: 2), I made
every effort to complete the coding, or indexing, of the data as satisfactorily as possible so that I
could have clear and meaningful codes for each category at the end.
First, I did a close reading of text to see what was happening therein and created codes based on
what the data actually showed. Lines of information were scanned through and I used gerunds to
describe any actions taken by the participants in their stories and different kinds of phrases for other
‘action-free’ responses. For instance, I used such gerund phrases as ‘attending law school, self-
studying, making a glossary of legal terms’ to describe specific actions that certain translators have
taken to better support their job, or such noun phrases as ‘written communication, reading
comprehension, attention to details’ to reflect some skills and qualities that the participants think
necessary for a legal translator. Those were also some of my initial codes. Such initial coding
process continued until all raw text or information was assigned specific codes or labels.
The next stage was creating categories by looking for data informing the category from the codes
initially formed. In fact, most of my interview questions convey clear and specific themes, i.e. skills
and qualities of legal translators, translators’ translation training, problems and difficulties of legal
translation, to name a few, to facilitate straight answers from the translators. Upon completion of
categorizing the data, I then searched for concrete segments of data that fit perfectly into each
category, and then formed sub-categories accordingly.

23
An example of data categorization is shown in Table 3.2 below.
Question Categories Codes/Labels
What skills and qualities do you
need in your work as a legal
translator (Please specify why
you need such skills/qualities)?
Skills Language skills:
• Written communication
• Reading comprehension
Analytical skills:
• Collecting information on the Internet
• Analyzing collected information
Qualities Attention to details
Accuracy
Carefulness
Legal knowledge:
• Legal terminologies
• Legal systems of source
language and target language
Table 3.2: Illustration of data categorization (Adapted from Taylor-Powell and Renner 2003: 3)
The above Table 3.2 partly illustrates my data categorizing process. When a category emerged, I
looked out for subtopics, comprising both contradictory and similar viewpoints as well as new
insights. I also searched for appropriate quotes from the participants’ responses that communicate
the essence of a theme or a category to have arguments or explanations convincingly presented
later on when I discuss my findings. It should be noted that some questions, i.e. question 04 to
question 11 (see Appendix A) merely address one major theme, translators’ training, thus it is
possible that one segment of text may be put into more than one category if it fits other categories
as well.
3.3.2 Narratives
In answering my questions in the interviews, the translators told stories. In particular, once they
wanted to give as specific answers as possible, they told stories; once they wanted to explain a point
they were trying to say, they told stories; or once they wanted to express their own thinking about a
particular matter in question, they told stories. To take one example, when the following question
was raised: “In your experience, have you ever come across a case that was appealed because of a
translator issue?”, a male experienced translator told me a specific story about his junior teammate,
i.e. how the case occurred and how he dealt with the client’s complaint against his teammate in his
capacity of a senior translator. In summary, narratives emerged in the course of interviews and I, as
an enquirer, encouraged the participants to share their stories freely and comfortably.
Sub-codes
Sub-codes
Sub-codes

24
To recapitulate briefly, once my qualitative data generated from ten [10] interviews’ transcripts was
ready for analysis, I first proceeded with the initial coding of such data by reading and re-reading
the text carefully, marking meaningful segments of text, and assigning respective codes or labels. I
continued this process until all segments of text were identified and coded, which stage is known as
‘Open Coding’ (Strauss and Corbin 1990). In the next stage, ‘Axial Coding’, I formed categories
based on certain themes appeared in most of my questions and fitted the codes initially constructed
into respective categories; sub-categories were also shaped at the same time (Böhm 2004: 271).
3.4 Research Setting and Participants
3.4.1 Law Firms in HCMC
Narrative researchers often “describe in detail the setting or context in which the participant experiences the
central phenomenon”
(Creswell 2008: 522)
Creswell (2008: 522) suggests that the setting of a narrative research may comprise “the
participant’s workplace, home, social organization, or school. It is the place where “a story
physically occurs.”” As the principal focus of my study is on legal translators and their work life,
law firms are no doubt my research setting although I made no visit to any of them during my data
collecting phase, except for my own law firm. At present, there are several law firms, both local and
foreign ones, operating in HCMC. The translators I had approached for interview come from eight
[08] different law firms, including four [04] foreign and four [04] local firms of various scales. I
would like to note here that there are two translators working at the same company; that is why
there are only eight [08] firms while I interviewed ten [10] translators in total. To sum up, I have
nine [09] law firms, including my own, in the list. Stories about these law firms narrated by their
insiders help me visualize to some extent how a law firm runs its business and manages its staff.
3.4.2 Legal Translators
All ten [10] translators interviewed have practical experience in legal translation, ranging from at
least two [02] years to fourteen [14] years max. Among the five ones coming from foreign law
firms, two are from a prestigious U.S law firm that has operated in Vietnam for around twenty [20]
years; two are from renowned law firms founded in France and one is from the largest law firm
established in Malaysia. The rest are working at domestically founded law companies that are also
famous for their legal services. All of the translators have good command of English which is a
requisite for their job, whilst some of them are translators of distinction who demonstrate a vast

25
knowledge of a variety of areas and a rich vocabulary. With the aim of collecting diverse
experiences of legal translators, I made every effort to seek out translators with varied backgrounds
and experience, yet my limited social relationships hindered me from doing that. To have this
obstacle removed, I asked my friends who are lawyers to help introduce me to translator(s) they
knew or asked the translators I already interviewed to recommend other ones with whom they had a
connection. Finally, I met the required number of translators who were able to provide valuable and
diverse information thanks to their differing experiences in legal translation.
Information about ten [10] translators is summarized in the following Table.
Translator Educational Background
Years of
Experience in
Legal
Translation
Current Working Place
Translator 1 BA in English 5 Vietnamese Law Firm
Translator 2 BA in English
LLB
7 U.S Law Firm
BA in International
Business
LLB
7 French Law Firm
Translator 5 BA in English 4 Malaysian Law Firm
LLB
9 U.S Law Firm
Translator 9 BA in English 14 French Law Firm
Table 3.3: Information of the participants
As it is impossible to talk about all ten [10] translators individually in this limited study, I merely
shared stories of three translators from three different law firms and my own. Stories of the
remaining translators played a supporting role in evidencing facts or arguments developed from the
narratives of the four key translators in the thematic analysis chapter. To guarantee the
interviewees’ anonymity, I did not use their real names but rather code them as Translator 1 (T1),
Translator 2 (T2)… till Translator 10 (T10) throughout the paper. The three translators to be
considered in detail are T2, T3 and T10 who come from a U.S law firm, a French law firm, and a
Vietnamese law firm, respectively. Particulars and stories of these three translators and mine will be
elaborated in Chapter Four.

26
3.5 Cautions about Narrative Inquiry
In order to “safeguard” the integrity of studies conducted using narrative inquiry, narrative
researchers are highly recommended to identify and tell their own stories regarding “their own
backgrounds, intentions and purposes” for implementing the study (Clandinin and Connelly 2000:
93). As a narrative inquiry researcher, I am no exception and I did include my own narratives as a
consequence. It is undeniable that inserting my own stories into the study possibly gives rise to
subjective points of view developed by me myself, and, therefore, controlling my own “subjectivity
or the effects of self” (Glesne, as cited in Cavendish 2011: 63) and, accordingly, my
“intersubjectivity” (Cavendish 2011: 63) in my research becomes vital. This means I have to be
cognizant of both my own bias and those of the participants involved and how our interactions
affect the research process and data (Ibid.). Nonetheless, maintaining objectivity is not an ultimate
goal in carrying out my narrative research, but sharing and analyzing my own experiences and
stories matters. Several researchers agree that narrative research stresses the importance of
exploring the researcher’s own “personal narratives” (Clandinin and Connelly; Phillion; He; Lyons
and Labosky, as cited in Cavendish 2011: 63). Thus, it would be perhaps more relevant and useful
to discuss the integrity, research ethics as well as the researcher reflexivity in narrative research
rather than objectivity.
3.6 Conclusion
Resulting from my own preoccupation with legal translation and my insatiable curiosity about how
other legal translators do their job, I insisted on conducting this study on experiences of legal
translators and narrative inquiry methodology perfectly suits my stated purposes. This chapter
furnished the reader with information about my research methodology: research design, data
collection methods, data analysis, setting and recruitment of the participants, and finally cautions
about narrative inquiry. The next chapter tells stories of the three key translators (T2, T3 and T10)
and my own.

27
CHAPTER FOUR
STORIES OF LEGAL TRANSLATORS
At the heart of any story are the people and their lives.
(Cavendish 2011: 1)
As elaborated in Chapter Three, I was incredibly fortunate to be welcomed into stories of ten [10]
legal translators from eight [08] different law firms. All of them generously agreed to participate in
the project in spite of their heavy schedule. Before narrating their stories, though, it is essential to
share my own.
4.1 My Story
4.1.1 Educational Background
Following the completion of high school, I did English Language as my undergraduate degree at Ho
Chi Minh City Open University (HCMCOU). English Language back then was the only major
offered by the University’s Faculty of Foreign Languages, and I chose English Translation and
Interpretation to move forward. This was truly a momentous decision that shaped my entire life. I
enjoyed the course immensely and my passion for English urged me to study hard; my high final
grades demonstrated my constant efforts. Besides the University’s course, I also attended extra
classes in the evening in English Grammar at elementary to advanced level and in translation of
both the local and foreign press during years of university. For press-based translation training, I
learned to translate English articles on an English newspaper in such various fields as economy,
finance, environment, etc., into Vietnamese and translate Vietnamese brief news on a Vietnamese
newspaper into English. It was such extra translation training provided by a good teacher that
helped to vastly improve my translation skills, and becoming a part-time book translator since 2004
with certain books published and sold at bookstores was a good example evidencing my
improvement. In 2006, I graduated as the second highest ranked student of the Faculty.
Undoubtedly, this significantly assisted my future career in translation.
4.1.2 A Professional Legal Translator
August, 2011
It was 6:00 am when I received a call from my former teacher who taught me English Translation
and Interpretation at university. In his capacity as the chief translator at a Vietnamese law firm back

28
then, he was looking for a junior translator to support him in his daily work. I was thought to be an
appropriate candidate for the post even though I had never been involved in legal translation before.
Truly, my life has changed since the call came.
September, 2011
I started my first day at my very first law firm on September 05th
, 2011 with no experience in legal
translation. That was why upon receiving my first translation task on the day, a look of panic
crossed my face. Several English words in the document were like strangers staring at me as I had
never seen them before, and although I was familiar with some of those words, I could not
understand even a single sentence since the words convey totally different meanings in legal
context. To take one example, the following simple sentence did scare me when I first saw it: “The
Mortgagor enters into this Agreement in connection with the Onshore Facility Agreement (as
defined below).” First, I did not know certain words in the sentence, e.g. Mortgagor and Onshore
Facility Agreement. Second, from what I already knew about such words as enter into (take part
in), agreement (the state of sharing the same opinion or feeling), connection (link), and facilities
(buildings, services, equipment, etc. that are provided for a particular purpose), I believed I could
not apply such meanings as provided in parentheses to this context for they turned out to be
inappropriate or meaningless. I was even more frightened when I could not look up appropriate
meanings of the above words/phrases, e.g. Onshore Facility Agreement, in normal language
dictionaries. Hopelessly, I could not do anything but asking my superior for help and it was so
lucky that I had one. To help me familiarize myself with legal terminologies as well as legal
context, he sent me a glossary of terminologies that he had accumulated and updated on a regular
basis over the years as a legal translator. He additionally sent me a Vietnamese template for the
document I was handling so that I could refer to it for the standard form of Vietnamese wording.
With great support from my superior, I could then translate the sentence in its legal sense, which
means The Mortgagor sign this Agreement/Contract connected with the Domestic Loan Agreement
(as defined below). In a word, I did experience legal translation first-hand on my first day at work,
through which I became more aware of how challenging my job was as well as how essential for me
to familiarize myself with legal context and terminologies as fast as I could. Thanks to the glossary
from my superior, high frequency of similar legal templates, and my huge efforts, I was able to do
my job more smoothly a month later, October 2011, once I was more acquainted with terminologies
frequently used in my firm and also the Vietnamese wording of a number of agreements/contracts.

29
October, 2013 to Present
My employment at my first law firm ended in August, 2013. I joined my second law firm a month
later, and have worked there since then. I have acquired considerable knowledge relevant to the
legal industry and its belongings, but most importantly, my translation skills and other skills and
qualities, i.e. reading comprehension, writing skills, analytical skills, etc., which are essential for a
legal translator, have been greatly developed (such skills and qualities will be discussed with
illustrations in Chapter Five). To fulfill any translation tasks in the most satisfactory manner, I need
to take many different steps, and it is a difficult process to go through indeed. In fact, the process of
extensive search for terminologies opens up access to a variety of useful websites. This has greatly
supported my job as I can translate more smoothly once I fully grasp the meaning of all
terminologies and, in the meantime, my legal and background knowledge of other areas has also
been considerably broadened. Concerning problems that I have encountered in doing my job,
lengthy sentences with difficult structures, inter alia, still remain a horrible nightmare to me. The
following sentence is a good example of this:
“Negative pledge: The Guarantor will not, and will not permit any Significant Subsidiary to,
directly or indirectly, incur, assume or permit to exist any Lien of any nature whatsoever on any
of its assets or properties of any kind, whether owned on the date of this Agreement or
thereafter acquired, to secure any Relevant Indebtedness, except Permitted Liens, unless the
Guarantor’s obligations to the Finance Parties rights under [the Guarantee][the Finance
Documents] are secured equally and ratably with (or, if the obligation or liability to be secured
by such Lien is subordinated in right of payment to the Guarantor’s obligations under [the
Guarantee][the Finance Documents], prior to) the obligation or liability secured by such
Lien.”
(Quoted from a “Pledge Agreement”)
This lengthy sentence (115 words in total) reflects one of the most typical features of legal
instruments, the use of long sentences with high embedding level to have the drafter’s ideas fully
covered (see Section 2.2.1, Chapter Two for further details). It took me a lot of time to read, study,
and analyze the sentence over and over again before I could produce a satisfactory translation.
To make a brief summary of my story, I have been growing into my new role as a professional legal
translator over three years working in the field even though legal translation was of no interest to
me at all before I received my teacher’s call that day. I dare not say I am now a translator of
distinction, compared to other experienced and skilled legal translators I met. Nonetheless, I have
been trying my best to get my work done to the satisfaction of both the firm and clients and the fact

30
that I outperform my superior at the present firm demonstrates how hard I have tried to survive
legal translation over such three years. Furthermore, as an employee with an enquiring mind, I have
never stopped learning to be more and more confident and professional in the position I am holding.
4.2 The Story of Translator 2
Translator 2 (T2) started her student life as an English major in 2005 at the Industrial University of
Ho Chi Minh City (the IUH) and graduated from the IUH in 2009 with a BA in English Translation
and Interpretation. She took a degree in Law at HCMULAW in the same year and finished the
course in 2013. Now she is attending the Legal Practice Course at HCMC Judicial Academy as a
requisite requirement for those who want to become lawyers in accordance with the Vietnamese
laws. Four years younger than me, T2 owns two Bachelor Degrees and will soon become a lawyer
with more opportunities to move farther in her professional career.
Like me, T2 began her translation career when she was still an undergraduate. She worked as a part-
time translator for a Vietnamese law firm from 2007 to 2009 and was then promoted to a higher
position, Senior Translator, at the same firm in 2010 and continued holding this position till
December 2010. Her current working place is a prestigious international U.S law firm with offices
located worldwide and also considered one of the largest foreign law firms operating in Vietnam for
over 20 years with more than 100 employees. Joining this U.S law firm in 2011, she is currently a
legal translator-cum-paralegal whose main duties entail translating legal documents of various
kinds; being an interpreter on request; reviewing translated documents provided by clients; meeting
with clients upon emergence of any controversies over a particular translated document; drafting a
number of legal instruments such as power of attorney, service agreements, loan agreements, and so
on, on a case-by-case basis; summarising legal documents newly issued by the Vietnamese
Government or by any governmental authorities; and working with practice groups in the firm in
collecting comments on newly issued regulations. It is such wide range of tasks that has helped
sharpen her translation and other necessary skills, thanks to which she has been more and more
highly rated by her present colleagues and the firm’s partners. Apart from her full-time job, she has
also been a freelance translator since 2008 and has been involved in different projects of both small
and large scale. Apparently, she has devoted herself to her translation career and earned a lot of
knowledge and skills in return. Nonetheless, she honestly shared with me in our interview that she
will work much less when she plans to get married.

31
No matter how experienced and professional she is, T2 has run into difficulties inherent in this type
of work during the course of her employment at her current firm. Specifically, she has to work to
tight deadlines very frequently at the firm’s request or sometimes she struggles to translate a
document with specialized terminologies or ambiguously worded paragraphs caused by the
drafter’s repeated use of the same words/terms with different meanings. Asked to give an
illustration of the said problems, T2 recalled a story as detailed below:
A month ago I was assigned to translate a 27-page Guarantee from English into Vietnamese and
as I rarely address such kind of document, it took me a few days to finish the translation since I
had to do an extensive search on the Internet for sections that are hard to understand. This
document is really a fair reflection of the so-called ‘ambiguously worded paragraph’ frequently
used in legal instruments. Given paragraphs with ambiguous wording, there is one in a Section
titled ‘Guarantee and Indemnity’ where the pronoun ‘it’ is used repeatedly but referring to
different subjects:
“The Guarantor irrevocably and unconditionally agrees with the Agent and each Lender
that if any obligation guaranteed by it is or becomes unenforceable, invalid or illegal, it
will, as an independent and primary obligation indemnify the Agent and/or each Lenders
immediately and on demand against any cost, loss or liability it incurs as a result of the
Borrower not paying any amount which would, but for such unenforceability, invalidity
or illegality, have been payable by it under any Finance Document on the date and by the
time when it would have been due. The amount payable by the Guarantor under this
indemnity will not exceed the amount it would have had to pay under this Clause if the
amount claimed had been recoverable on the basis of a guarantee.”
(Quoted from a “Guarantee”)
When I read the paragraph for the first time, I could not get its precise meaning right away so I
read it again and again with intense concentration on the pronoun ‘it,’ which is applied six
times, to identify the right subject to which the pronoun refers whenever it appears. I knew
whether this paragraph is accurately translated depends mainly on how to interpret such
pronoun. Eventually, I succeeded in matching each ‘it’ with its appropriate subject after 30
minutes reading extensively and carefully studying the paragraph and I was quite sure about
my interpretation. In fact, this pronoun refers to four totally different subjects. Concretely, the
first two ‘it’ refer to the Guarantor; the third ‘it’ refers to the Agent and/or each Lender; the
fourth ‘it’ refers to the Borrower; the fifth ‘it’ refers to the unpaid amount of money; and the
sixth ‘it’ refers back to the Guarantor.

32
Translator 2, Transcript, September, 2014
It is true that T2 is a skilled and experienced legal translator but still encountering new challenges
every working day. The better she deals with them, the more competent and professional she
becomes and to be the chief legal translator as well as an attorney at law at her current firm is an
ultimate goal she is attempting to achieve in the near future.
Translator 3 (T3) was an English major at Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and
Humanities (HCMUSSH) from 1995 to 1999. Also in this period, 1995 - 2000, he was a student
majoring in International Business at the Foreign Trade University (the FTU). In 2004, he decided
to earn his third degree in Law at Ho Chi Minh City University of Law (HCMULAW) to become a
professional lawyer and he graduated from HCMULAW in 2008 with a certificate of merit.
Possessing three Bachelor Degrees in his twenties was undoubtedly his notable educational
achievement.
T3 commenced his translation career in 1998 as a part-time employee at an import-export company
with one of his main duties being translating documents and contracts. Then he worked for a
Vietnamese export and import bank as a full-time translator and interpreter in 2000. He continued
looking for other job opportunities to acquire knowledge of other areas in subsequent years from
2000 to 2007 at big foreign companies where he learned new knowledge of logistics services and
marine and fire insurance. Translation was never excluded from his main tasks. He has chosen legal
translation as his professional career since 2007 to date, and, with a wide knowledge of various
fields, he is such an excellent legal translator that has given a highly creditable performance at his
current firm. He is now working as an attorney at law and also as the chief translator at an
international French law firm where his main duties are translating legal documents from English
into Vietnamese and vice versa as well as doing legal search and helping Vietnamese and foreign
lawyers in preparing legal instruments and answers to clients’ questions relating to legal issues.
During his employment at the current firm, T3 has dealt with different kinds of legal documents in
many practice areas such as corporate, banking, real estate, manufacturing and services. Even
though he is a translator of distinction, he has also experienced certain difficulties and problems that

33
almost all legal translators have faced, e.g. lack of background knowledge of a particular field and
terminologies. The following story told by him illustrates one of these problems:
I was asked to translate a 120-page technical document in the mining sector. I had a look at it
and said that it was difficult to translate as this was a paper about the mining process which
contained a lot of technical terms. I discussed with a lawyer in charge of the file that we could
request the client to ask their engineers to do it and we would correct the English version or to
engage a translation company to do it. Unfortunately, the client did not have good English-
speaking engineers and wanted to keep the document confidential. Therefore, I had to be in
charge of the translation with support by other junior lawyers and I was responsible to combine
and review translated parts of other junior lawyers. This document was a real challenge to me. I
had to do a lot of research on the Internet and discussed with the client. There were some parts
in the document I did not understand so I translated them word by word and sent them to the
client for checking. Finally I finished the document. The client was an Asian company so their
English was not so good. I did not know whether my translated document was satisfactory or
not. I assumed that no adverse response on the translated document meant everything was good.
I learnt a good experience from this case that if I try my best to do something deemed
impossible, I will achieve a result which may not be satisfactory. However, I like the phrase
“better than nothing.”
Translator 3, Transcript, September, 2014
This example partially reveals real challenges facing legal translators . Working as legal translators,
it is inevitable for us to translate a document of a completely strange area that we have never
experienced before. As shown through the example, T3 had to handle a document in the mining
sector while he is only familiar with other practice areas as listed above, which means he hardly had
any knowledge about the document he was coping with at the time. To complete such a tough task,
he had to take many steps as detailed in the above story whereas the quality of the translated
document was not guaranteed. Obviously, lacking background knowledge of the mining industry
and of mining terminologies in both English and Vietnamese really caused T3 intractable problems
when his wide range of knowledge was of no use then. The point is he cannot get rid of those
repetitive problems as long as he works in the field, and the only solution is to keep himself updated
of new knowledge. This is what he has been doing since the date he chose to become a professional
legal translator.

34
Translator 10 (T10) was admitted to the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Ton Duc Thang
University (TDTU) in 2001, majoring in English Language Pedagogy as he wished to become an
English teacher at the time. T10 was taught teaching methodologies for much of his 4-year course,
but, in the meantime, translation was also included in the entire training program as a compulsory
subject to equip students of English major with basic translation skills and knowledge. He
graduated from TDTU in 2005 and went into teaching right after that with no intention of becoming
a translator, let alone a legal translator as he is today.
T10 had been in English teaching for three years before pursuing a professional career in legal
translation in 2007, which turned out to be his successful career advancement. He joined his first
and current law firm in 2007 and his excellent performance thereat has earned him recognition as a
translator of distinction. As regards T10’s present working place, it has won renown as one of the
largest and most successful law firms founded in Vietnam and has been ranked among the 1st tier
law firms by Legal 500, Chambers and IFLR1000 in most of major practice areas for many
consecutive years. From an English teacher with no translation experience in his early stages, he is
now a skilled and experienced legal translator with seven years working in the legal industry and he
is concurrently a treasure of his firm who has significantly contributed to the firm’s long-term
success. Interestingly, his present achievements in legal translation were mainly constituted by his
huge efforts and constant autonomous learning during these seven years.
With respect to difficulties and problems T10 has experienced in doing his job so far, limited
knowledge of other business sectors has given him a lot of trouble sometimes. To illustrate his
point, he told me a story about how he managed to translate a document regarding insurance
products and its marketing strategies which he admitted a tough task to fulfil, given his limited
knowledge of the insurance and marketing industries. Below is one of the most difficult paragraphs
to cope with throughout the said document that took him a lot of time to search for relevant
knowledge and analyse the collected information to produce the most satisfactory translation.
“In the longer term, if the maturity of the Direct Distribution channel in Vietnam creates the
appropriate economic and commercial conditions, the Insurer will investigate the possibility of

Minor thesis on Legal Translation and the Experiences of Legal Translators working in Ho Chi Minh City - Jan2015

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