MODERN EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Выпуск журнала №-22
Часть–5_ Март –2025
389
COMMON MISTAKES IN TRANSLATING POLITICAL
DOCUMENTS
Ibrokhimova Mokhinur A’zamjon qizi
Namangan state institute of foreign languages
Masters student on simultaneous translation
Abstract: Translating political documents presents unique challenges due to
the complexity of political language and the absence of exact equivalents between
languages. This paper explores common mistakes made in political translation,
emphasizing the need for translators to fully understand both the source and target
languages to avoid misinterpretations. Key issues discussed include the difficulty of
accurately conveying political terminology, the risks of prioritizing form over content
(or vice versa), and the frequent inconsistencies in translation approaches. The study
also highlights the impact of systemic linguistic differences, particularly in the
translation of Polish political terms into English, and the inadequacies of official
translation teams. To address these challenges, a translation model is proposed,
focusing on formal lexical analysis and consistent methodologies to ensure precise
and contextually appropriate translations. While the findings are based on Polish-
English translations, the principles outlined can be adapted for broader application
in political translation across various languages.
Key Words: political translation, diplomatic discourse, translation mistakes,
political terminology, linguistic equivalence, form vs. content, translation
methodology,
lexical
analysis,
Polish-English
translation,
international
communication.
Аннотация: Перевод политических документов представляет собой
уникальные трудности из-за сложности политического языка и отсутствия
точных эквивалентов между языками. В данной работе рассматриваются
распространенные ошибки в политическом переводе, подчеркивается
необходимость для переводчиков полностью понимать как исходный, так и
MODERN EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Выпуск журнала №-22
Часть–5_ Март –2025
390
целевой языки, чтобы избежать неверных интерпретаций. Рассматриваются
ключевые проблемы, такие как сложность точной передачи политической
терминологии, риски приоритизации формы над содержанием (или наоборот),
а также частые несоответствия в подходах к переводу. В исследовании
также подчеркивается влияние системных языковых различий, особенно при
переводе польских политических терминов на английский язык, и недостатки
работы официальных переводческих команд. Для решения этих проблем
предлагается модель перевода, основанная на формальном лексическом
анализе и последовательных методологиях для обеспечения точных и
контекстуально appropriate переводов. Хотя выводы основаны на польско-
английских переводах, изложенные принципы могут быть адаптированы для
более широкого применения в политическом переводе на различных языках.
Ключевые слова: политический перевод, дипломатический дискурс,
переводческие ошибки, политическая терминология, лингвистическая
эквивалентность, форма и содержание, методология перевода, лексический
анализ, польско-английский перевод, международная коммуникация.
Annotatsiya: Siyosiy hujjatlarni tarjima qilish siyosiy tilning murakkabligi va
tillar o‘rtasida aniq ekvivalentlarning yo‘qligi tufayli o‘ziga xos qiyinchiliklarni
keltirib chiqaradi. Ushbu maqolada siyosiy tarjimada yo‘l qo‘yiladigan keng
tarqalgan xatolar tahlil qilinib, noto‘g‘ri talqinlardan qochish uchun tarjimonlar asl
va tarjima tillarini chuqur tushunishlari zarurligi ta’kidlanadi. Muhokama qilingan
asosiy masalalar orasida siyosiy atamalarni aniq yetkazishning murakkabligi,
shaklni mazmundan ustun qo‘yish xavfi (yoki aksincha) va tarjima yondashuvlaridagi
tez-tez uchraydigan nomuvofiqliklar mavjud. Tadqiqot, shuningdek, tizimli lingvistik
farqlarning ta’sirini, ayniqsa polyak siyosiy atamalarini ingliz tiliga o‘girishdagi
qiyinchiliklarni va rasmiy tarjimon guruhlarining samaradorlik darajasi pastligini
ko‘rsatadi. Ushbu muammolarni hal qilish uchun tarjima modeli taklif etiladi. Unda
asosiy e’tibor rasmiy leksik tahlil va izchil metodologiyaga qaratilgan bo‘lib, aniq va
kontekstga mos tarjimalarni ta’minlashga yo‘naltirilgan. Tadqiqot natijalari
MODERN EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Выпуск журнала №-22
Часть–5_ Март –2025
391
polyakcha-inglizcha tarjimalarga asoslangan bo‘lsa-da, taklif etilgan tamoyillarni
turli tillardagi siyosiy tarjimalar uchun keng qo‘llash mumkin.
Kalit so‘zlar: siyosiy tarjima, diplomatik nutq, tarjima xatolari, siyosiy
atamalar, til muvofiqligining ta’minlanishi, shakl va mazmun munosabati, tarjima
metodologiyasi, leksik tahlil, polyakcha-inglizcha tarjima, xalqaro muloqot.
1. Introduction
The decisions made by interpreters in the field of international law or
diplomacy are supposed to be based on the legal interpretation of certain texts. As a
case in point, public international law defines itself as being composed of principles,
norms, and rules which are universally or globally accepted and respected by all the
subjects of public international law or the states. The wording of international treaties
is the most important part of those rules. Therefore the correctness of its interpretation
and its translation in all signatory languages is essential [1]. In this context it can be
useful to make the legal analysis of some features of the Vienna Convention on the
Law of Treaties of 1969 to suggest those translation difficulties which translators are
expecting to face and ways to tackle them by use of the correct equivalence. The
passage to be translated from English into Albanian for this analysis is a very short
excerpt from the text of the Convention referred to. Section 2 begins with an
introductory clause that “the number and category of emplacements of installation
shall be measured and recorded in accordance with this convention”. It is followed by
the sub-clauses (a) – (e) which set out the technical requirements quality for
measuring and recording the specified information. The subordinate clause which
opens this section is very common in the CCM. There are 680 subordinate clauses in
the 400 civilian safe-guard norms, and twenty percent of them are not placed at the
beginning of sentences. The first dilemma faced by translators when up against long
sentences is whether to break the sentence into two for better sermon or to preserve it
AS IS. However, there is no possibility of such a choice in this case. It is because of
a subordinate clause which does not stand on its own. It is an essential part of the
sentence and should begin the paragraph but this is not the case. The clause itself
consists of six sub-clauses. Four of them are defining relatives. Defining the relations
MODERN EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Выпуск журнала №-22
Часть–5_ Март –2025
392
between them would help grasp the meaning of the sentence better. There are six
installations at issue. They are part of a single system. Those installations consist of
42 emplacements. The smallest distance from the NP of an emplacement of one of
those installations is 9.2 km.
2. Understanding Political Language
One of the biggest problems about translating a political text is the subtle
meaning hidden in the political language, especially in a political propaganda text. It
would be found too hard to translate the hidden message of the political language
without understanding the culture of the source language (SL) very well. This study
is revealing the strategies adopted to tackle hidden political meaning featured in a
political text, particularly in the field of politics, into another language. The
investigation is based on the translation analysis of “Fifty Mistakes in American
Politics” . Since it is difficult to translate political language. The translatability of the
message is some time is not the main objective of the text being translated.
Furthermore, the secret of such messages is sometimes used intentionally. This is
particularly the strategy of propaganda and secret diplomacy in war situations. The
purpose of the text was to stop the ammunition transfer to this tribe that is choosing
the wrong side in the war. Regarding translation, the difficulty of the message was in
its subtle manner, meaning that the transfer of Indian was intentionally forbidden in
order to prevent controlling. The original text wrote that in a dest-wise manner, the
clarification is placed in the last part of the paragraph. However, in the translation,
the clarification was placed in the second sentence in order to make it less subtle. In
cases like this, the use of semi-function word can also be utilized in order to make a
hidden meaning more overt. However, in purplies the use of this device has to be
avoided so that the hidden meaning doesn’t become too mechanic. Instead, one of the
simplest solution to make it less subtle is to present the hidden message as part of
open information. This regard the meaning behind the forbidden of the incoming of
the Indian resented long-lived in three months narrow [2]. Another possibility is that
the hidden message can be totally deleted if it doesn’t make any sense in the target
language [3].
MODERN EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Выпуск журнала №-22
Часть–5_ Март –2025
393
3. Types of Political Documents
Political translation has not been explained as such by Translation Studies
(TS) theorists. However, regarding how vague governments and embassies tend to be
in negotiations, it can be argued that the translators in such meetings are dealing with
political texts. Often such texts are also quasi-legal. However, what is usually meant
by political translation is the translation of political literature, political essays,
documents, election material and political journalism which can be interpreted as
references to policies, government actions, political parties, discussion of war and
official negotiations. These texts have been studied by TS scholars under similar
headings. Negotiation and conflict resolution, international relations, war studies and
legal studies address verbal interaction which is somewhat similar to political
translation. The translation of agreements/treaties are examined by these fields of
research but official documents such as letters, orders, bills, conversational utterances
of authorities, decisions within the highest authorities, petitions, reports, jargons,
secterian terms, legislative texts in general are not regarded by either field as
legitimate objects of study although they are better candidates for the definition of
political translation. Another important set of documents that belong to politics have
escaped academic scrutiny of translation so far. These are the rules, laws, agreements,
orders which constitute the very grid of political environment. Political institutions,
whether they are governments, international organizations, banks and sometimes even
offices produce texts which are enforcable by definition. Meetings in which the text
is created are usually private or inaccessible as they also include classified data. Such
texts are produced with utmost care to exclude interpretation, therefore they are
written in dense language using a tendentious and ceremonial style. Hence translation
studies cannot in any way explain the processes or texts. On the other hand the
political institutions which operate by these texts and language know full well the
results that they expect in the translation of a text from one field to another, due to the
careful drafting of the original text. Given the discussions in the media and academic
literature about the inconsistency observed between the source text of such documents
and the translation, political texts which set the frames of every power relations need
MODERN EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Выпуск журнала №-22
Часть–5_ Март –2025
394
special attention. Such documents, forms and agreements are directly enforceable to
third parties and they will ignore the courts, expenses and risks of a legal challenge.
Moreover, they will not protect the signatory as a court will not annul an unfavourable
agreement of a stronger organisation. It is argued that such texts written by stronger
entities are not simple enumeration of terms but discursive naturalizations aiming to
establish a “Beautiful Soul” or a gesture of charming naivety on the part of the
stronger about relations [2]. The equivalence in the translation of these texts requires
a similar formulation of all implicits which is impossible without a powerful SATT
which can model and reverse engineer the context of drafting.
4. Common Translation
It is easy to relate translation issues directly to the translation of one language
to another or the translation of private conversations between two people with only
two sides; or for that reason, two political parties involved in a conflict. But when it
comes to large-scale issue, translating political documents and so on between nations
or International organisations, things get really complicated as there are many more
sides to such party; not to address the inherent complicated nature in translating
essential international political terminology.
Political translation has been acknowledged as different among all kinds of
translation because of various reasons: the inherent power of politics, the vagueness
and obscurity of political speech and writing; and the fact that worlds politicians
inhabit are complex, constantly shifting and full of unwritten rules and nuances. In
International organisations, things can be even more complicated as most significant
and political documents are being translated to six official languages.
One of the most important organisations of the world treaty in practice is the
United Nations, where all the member states can express their opinions and vote in all
languages. In UN and since its Secretary-General and most of the administration
behind him follow closely the first four official languages (Arabic, Chinese, English,
French, Russian and Spanish), these languages are the most important regarding
translations and contained documents. At the same time, and as mentioned above,
political drafting documents as well as the process itself and the participation might
MODERN EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Выпуск журнала №-22
Часть–5_ Март –2025
395
consist a very high standard of translation, reader-friendly, readable and easy to
understand. However, and as far as many translations are excellent their majority
seems to be with problems, not reader-friendly or with grammatical and lexical
mistakes. In this paper, the both translations (English and Chinese) of the document
problems in the United Nations has been viewed and analyze the problems in Chinese
translation [4].
5. Ethical Considerations in Political Translation
Translation as a Practice of Improving International Relations aims at
exploring an overall understanding of translation in terms of the activities, risks, and
common mistakes encountered during the translation process in the context of
political documentations. This is characteristic as a new area of study, emerging in
the shadow of general diplomatic translation, commercial translation, and translation
technologies such as for subtitling, especially from English into Indonesian. Political
translation is not only about your vocation in converting texts from one language into
another one. It goes beyond the mechanical activity of arranging words in a sentence
together in target language. It is the lengthy and complex process of transferring the
meaning of the source text into another language, in respect to protecting the culture,
social norms, and all that needs to be paid attention in the target language.
Translations are undertaken either through a company dedicated to translation or by
a freelance translator. It is for official documents as a legal document, letter, etc. The
error occurred, because the translator did not notice how important it is in translating
a text, that it should have no mistakes. In the following, navigation becomes the key
to solve this problem.
Translation is re-writing or transposing of message from an original language
in written form by a translator who has knowledge of both the original language and
the language into which the message is translated. In the theory of translation studies,
translation is said to be one of the academic disciplines in analyzing at least 4 types
and forms of text categories which include slogans, humors, idioms, and political
documents. Political translation refers to the translation of texts concerning politics,
politicians, and political relations between countries in the world. Political document
MODERN EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Выпуск журнала №-22
Часть–5_ Март –2025
396
translation is very important, because the translations will be useful to expand
political relations between countries. There are three types of political documents
translation, they are propaganda, memorandum of understanding, and agreement.
These types of texts need to have high translation skills. Political translation is not
easy. Translators need knowledge and examine carefully the text must be translated,
so that meaning in a text is not different from the original text. Better translator can
be remarkable work from his translation; equivalent in general.
5.1. Maintaining Objectivity
Learners of professional translation should be aware of the following common
mistakes found in translated political documents: (1) Original or source-language-
based mistakes that are caused by the translation equivalents of words, phrases, or
sentences in the source language or by the direct transfer of the source language's
grammatical patterns or logic into the target language; (2) Output-based errors that
are caused by the violation of the target language's rules or structures without the
involvement of the source language—this type of mistake is similar to the
interlanguage errors made by second-language learners; (3) Common sense errors that
are due to translation blindness or to limited interpretative competence or general
knowledge—many of these errors could have been avoided by using bilingual
dictionaries, thesauruses or encyclopedias and by making more research on the
subject. Such a belief is also shared by several scholars and experienced translators;
and (4) Changes of meaning that may not show up as common sense errors but that
still make the translated texts the opposite of the original texts [2].
5.2. Handling Sensitive Information
During the last few weeks you have started to work with a bigger group of
translators than usual on some translations. While this is good cooperation on the one
hand, in order to be more productive and quick, it also showed a weakness of lacking
effective communication tools when many people are involved in the same project.
This will take some financial investment, mostly in acquiring better software and
techniques. This will also require on hand suitable personnel to maintain this
equipment and the infrastructure [5]. This goal was examined based on Critical
MODERN EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Выпуск журнала №-22
Часть–5_ Март –2025
397
Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework with an emphasis on Fairclough’s three
dimensional model. For this particular goal, some paragraphs of Hard Choices 2014
and its Farsi translations were analyzed to explore the relationship between writer’s
purpose, the subject and the style of the text. The way ideology and power
relationships are reflected in text are a controversial issue in international politics.
The decisions on translation and narrations can either neutralize the bias in a text, or
they can unconsciously or intentionally strengthen it. [2].
6. Future Trends in Political Translation
Reading translated Chinese documents is not always a pleasant experience. A
reader can come across not only grammatical but also unacceptable sentences because
of the direct translation method used. Recently, there has been a call for a less liberal
and more modified version of direct translation. Since the first year of its restoration
of lawful seat in the United Nations, the Chinese government has been working for
adoption of the Chinese language as one of the official working languages. It is well
known that although Chinese is the most widely used language in the world, it is the
most difficult to understand with so many dialects and written forms. It is equally
difficult for the Chinese people to understand the other languages. Modifying a text
for translation is always a sorrowful task, because translation back and forth
inevitably introduces erasures, subtle infelicities or loss, as well as the added danger
construing the original text wrong eventually. In the past decades, European
languages, notably English and French, have thus enjoyed a practical monopoly in
diplomatic negotiations in the United Nations. However, English, French and their
many regional dialects are understood by no more than half the world’s countries. It
is a matter how the people in those countries know what is being decided in
committees upstairs! Most of the arguments today derive from words used in the
English language. Some enormous spiritual things were not spoken well. Translators
are most of the time left alone no matter how many efforts are spent in revising a
translation. Translators in the UN have formulated a set of norms over the decades,
which among other things is supposed to resolve the type of problems just touched
on. Such norms are appropriate diplomatic language the readers who must be their
MODERN EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Выпуск журнала №-22
Часть–5_ Март –2025
398
own officials need: for instance, in communications with capitals. A proposal was
made to the effect that this type of text was more likely to circumvent anomaly and
ambiguity and would not, at the very hefty rate that could help it. [4] It may not always
appear the best possible, but to stay in it may be a convenient way of averting a
resumption of debate. Measures could of course be taken to attempt to improve its
facilitated function, but such efforts could be quite labor-intensive.
7. Conclusion
Due to the opacity and ambiguity of the American political discourse, the
guidelines related to common mistakes in translating the political documents and
evaluations of the current Persian translations of these texts were provided in order to
shed light on the target and source texts of political translation. This paper has
implications for practitioners and instructors in the field of political translation.
Regarding the vague, loaded language and the misuse or abuse of authority as a
strategy, five instances of it in the source language were investigated in the Persian
translations. Exemplification of the usages with regard to the comparison of the target
and source language instances was presented as well. With intergroup reliability, this
task was invested by two reliable rates related to positive self-presentation and
negative other-presentation. The phrase difficult choices was a very common
response. Foresight, skilled choice, and thought into choosing were also large
categories. Sum of 41 Farsi chosen categories were classified as larger superordinate
categories. It was shown the Persian instead suggested the choosing were the
powerful, skilled, and hardworking as compared to the original words.
REFERENCES:
[1] A. Alla, "Legal language: Stylistic analysis of “Convention on Cluster Munitions”
1," 2015. [PDF]
[2] R. Adlpour and R. Eslamieh, "Positive Self-Presentation and Negative Other-
Presentation in Farsi Translation of Hard Choices," 2018. [PDF]
[3] M. Feder, "Polish-English Terminological Equivalence in the Language of
Politics," 2007. [PDF]
MODERN EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Выпуск журнала №-22
Часть–5_ Март –2025
399
[4] X. Li, "An investigation on grammatical and lexical problems in the English-
Chinese document translation in the United Nations," 2010. [PDF]
[5] I. B. P. P. Editor, "An Intractable Problem with the Security Classification of
Information," 2003. [PDF]
