Analysis of Korean Sign Language Translation Strategy in Translating Legal Terms

Purpose: This study analyzed the translation strategies used in the Korean Sign Language (KSL) translation, targeting 167 KSL legal terms that translated 130 legal terms contained in the 『Sign Language Glossary of Legal Terms for Criminal Procedures(2020)』 published by the National Court Administration. Methods: To analyze the legal terminology translation results, transposition are added to lexical expansion, descriptive paraphrase and definition, and neutral terms, suggested as the translation strategy by Sarcevic (1997). Results: As a result of the analysis, the translation strategies that appeared at a high rate were neutral terms (86/167 cases), descriptive paraphrase and definition (61/167 cases), and lexical expansion (20/167 cases). Neutral terms accounted for the highest proportion, and it was confirmed that the influence of the word order of Korean legal terms could not be overlooked. Conclusions: It was confirmed that lexical expansion has the effect of accurately conveying the meanings of legal terms. Lastly, it was confirmed that when translating legal terms into KSL, translation that takes advantage of the characteristics of visual language, and translation that takes into account the subtle differences in meanings of KSL signs should be considered.