Legal Terminology in Belarusian Legislation from a Retrospective and Prospectus Viewpoint

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the problem of formation of legal terminology in the Belarusian language. It is noted that since the beginning of the twentieth century, legislative acts in Belarus were initially developed in Russian, and then translated into Belarusian. The main periods of rule-making before the period of independence, when the status of the Belarusian language was the only state language, are analyzed, and the distinctive features of the transition period are highlighted. The problem of translating terms into the Belarusian language is analyzed on the basis of an analysis of international agreements and acts of domestic Belarusian legislation. It is noted that the dominance of the practice of translating legislative acts into the Belarusian language, the lack of a permanent tradition of rule-making in Belarusian, the inability to use the Belarusian language in law enforcement negatively affects the development of special legal terminology in Belarusian. As a result, borrowings, mainly Russianisms, get along in translations. As a possible solution to the problem, it is proposed to analyze the origin of the term during translations, and combine the translation process with scientific research activities. In the context of the existence of two official languages, it is important to simultaneously create authentic texts in both languages. The best solution to the problem is the existence of the Belarusian language as a single state and a single language of legislation.