To the problem of formation of the theoretical and methodological basis of legal translation in the Chinese-Russian language pair

This paper examines different approaches to the study of legal translation and their corresponding research concepts. The purpose of the study is to identify the essential differences between different research approaches, to compare the semantic features of terminological units in Chinese and Russian, to substantiate the transformation theory as the most effective theoretical and methodological basis of legal translation, to show the pragmatic effectiveness of formal-semantic transformations as a way to achieve translation adequacy. Methods. The general scientific methods of synthesis, analysis and comparison are used to create an overview of legal translation research. Comparative analysis of terminological units in the languages under study is carried out using definitional analysis, component analysis. Results. The linguistic and communicative-functional approaches in terms of key parameters have been considered. The main research aspects of the study of legal translation have been characterised. The results of the comparison of legal lexicon in different linguocultures show that non-equivalence of concepts is caused by the divergence of linguistic specificity, inconsistency of concepts according to the legal definition and the presence of culturally specific components. The effectiveness of applying the transformational concept in legal translation has been confirmed. Conclusion. It is concluded that it is necessary to take into account the specific characteristics of the material to be translated in order to choose a translation approach. It is proved that due to the divergence of word-formation characteristics and grammatical rules of use of legal lexicon of the compared languages, as well as due to the mismatch of legal definitions in different systems of law, it is necessary to apply algorithmic translation operations, which are carried out within the framework of transformation, in order to accurately convey the content of a legal text.