ИСТИНА

Empirical study approach refers to practical solutions to urgent problems legal English teachers are faced with today when dealing with legal translation theories and methods. The translation of a source text belonging to the source legal system into the target text in terms of the target legal system is a serious challenge for both law students and legal English teachers. On the one hand, it can be viewed as the process of the intra-language interpretation followed by inter-language interpretation in linguistic perspective. On the other hand, legal translation can and should be examined as a cognitive skills development, the process of abstract reasoning in two languages which generally follows the well known pattern: concepts – judgments – inferences. This is how students learn to explain similarities and differences between the comparable concepts, institutions, relationships, problems, remedies and solutions existing in the legal systems under consideration. The successful result is attainable when there is complete comprehension of the concept definition as a starting point leading to judgment, inference and critical thinking purported at creating a target text belonging to the target legal system. The experience is not a supportive factor in the teaching/learning context because of the students’ lack of practice. The only experience they have is the legal knowledge and information they acquire in their professional disciplines in the native language. Legal information reported in British and American mass media or more specific legal news and opinions in certain areas of law found in legal sites may fill in the gap. In applied pedagogical terms, the process of legal translation is also seen as a team and individual research. The interdisciplinary approaches beginning with the deeper insight into the legal history, with the origin and development of a particular legal institution shedding the light on its definition, evolution, categorisation are combined with the search for British and American legal and cultural information or background knowledge about historical events, legal reforms, judges, commentators, public bodies, as well as leading cases including facts and rulings, pending cases and disputes, current laws and ending up with domestic law citations.