IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v12y2025i1d10.1057_s41599-025-05451-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A corpus-driven study on legal translation challenges among Arab law students: examining gender and academic level in applied legal linguistics

Author

Listed:
  • Dalia M. Hamed

    (Department of Foreign Languages (English), Faculty of Education, Tanta University)

  • Naif Alqurashi

    (Department of Foreign Languages, Taif University)

Abstract

This study introduces Applied Legal Linguistics (ALL) as a praxis-oriented framework that integrates linguistic theory, corpus-based analysis, and legal discourse studies to address the pedagogical, translational, and communicative challenges of legal language use in multilingual and cross-systemic legal contexts. Within this framework, the inquiry investigates the challenges encountered by Arab law students in the English section of the Faculty of Law as they translate legal texts between structurally and culturally divergent legal systems. Anchored in the framework of SDG-4, which advocates for the provision of quality education, this research specifically explores the influences of gender and academic level on the students’ translation competencies. A sample of 139 students, stratified by gender (Male Legal English Section Students (MLESSs), Female Legal English Section Students (FLESSs)), and academic level (2nd-year Legal English Section Students (2nd LESSs), and 4th-year Legal English Section Students (4th LESSs)), participated in the study. The participants translated a legal text, and their outputs were compared to a reference translation produced by two expert legal translators. Utilizing a multidimensional error analysis model assessing lexical, syntactic, spelling, punctuation, and stylistic features, this corpus-driven analysis evaluated various dimensions of the students’ translations. A qualitative examination was conducted to identify error distributions and to assess the degree to which gender and academic level influence the translational outcomes. The findings indicate that 2nd-year students made more frequent lexical, grammatical, and punctuation errors than their 4th-year counterparts, while male students exhibited higher error rates overall than female students, particularly in lexical and grammatical categories. The investigation recommends structured workshops and targeted training, especially for male and early-stage students. It contributes to legal translation research by addressing the overlooked influence of gender and academic level, and by revealing how language proficiency and legalese complexity interact within the context of Arab legal education.

Suggested Citation

  • Dalia M. Hamed & Naif Alqurashi, 2025. "A corpus-driven study on legal translation challenges among Arab law students: examining gender and academic level in applied legal linguistics," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-05451-1
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-05451-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-025-05451-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-025-05451-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-05451-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.