Comparative analysis of two English translations of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia

Ustava Republike Slovenije, ki je bila sprejeta 23. decembra 1991, je temeljni in najvišji pravni akt države. Da bi njeno besedilo in vsebino čim prej spoznali tudi drugi narodi, je bila ustava v angleščino prvič prevedena leta 1993 v Avstraliji, leta 2001 pa je prevod posodobila skupina strokovnjakov, ki so jo v večini sestavljali rojeni govorci slovenščine. Magistrsko delo obravnava nekatere terminološke in slogovne posebnosti obeh angleških prevodov ustave in se osredotoča na rabo podomačitvenih in potujitvenih strategij pri prevajanju, ki je delno odvisna od vrste besedila, predvsem pa od jezika, ki ga govorijo prevajalci. V teoretičnem delu je predstavljena praksa prevajanja pravnih in predvsem normativnih pravnih besedil, prav tako pa so obravnavani nekateri pomembnejši pojmi, kot so pravni jezik, prevajalski postopki, podomačitev in potujitev ter pojem ekvivalence. Prav tako je predstavljena zgodovina slovenske ustave in prevodov, ki so nastali po njenem sprejetju. V empiričnem delu poskušamo skozi odstopanja med prevodoma oceniti, ali je bila odločitev za spremembo prevoda ustrezna, in prikazati trend izbire podomačitvenih in potujitvenih prevajalskih strategij.The Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, adopted on 23 December 1991, is the fundamental and supreme legal act of Slovenia. The Constitution was initially translated into English in Australia in 1993 and introduced other countries to its text and content. The translation was updated in 2001 by a team of experts, the majority of whom were Slovene native speakers. The master\u27s thesis focuses on the use of domesticating and foreignizing strategies in translation, which partly depends on the type of text and, in particular, on the translators’ native language. It also examines some of the terminological and stylistic differences between the two English translations of the Constitution. The theoretical section covers some important concepts, including legal language, translation methods, domestication and foreignization and the concept of equivalence. Furthermore, it presents the practice of translating legal content, in particular normative legal texts. The section also presents the history of the Slovenian Constitution and the translations that were created following its adoption. We attempt to assess whether certain changes in the translation were essential by examining the inconsistencies between the two translations and demonstrating the trend in the selection of domesticating and foreignizing translation strategies