I recently had the pleasure of attending a presentation hosted by the Chartered Institute of Linguists, the professional organisation I am a member of, on the topic of “Offences of dishonesty.” Sue Leschen, a French-English translator, a UK solicitor (one of the UK’s foremost Lawyer-Linguists), and the director of Avocate Legal and Business French Interpreting and Translation Services Ltd, presented the topic and her experiences within the field.
Offences of Dishonesty
For an outsider such as myself, Legal English is a minefield. As I have documented previously in Doublets (and Triplets) in English, Legal English often uses two or three words to express the same concept. This is because, after the Norman invasion in 1066, England (and eventually the UK) had a complex legal and linguistic structure that combined laws for the average peasant (the terms of which came from Old English, a Germanic language), laws for the nobility (French-speaking), and laws for the clergy (more commonly known as Ecclesiastical Law, which was in Latin). To cover all bases, laws that affected multiple groups had to include phrases of terms, such as “cease and desist” (both meaning “to stop”), which is still used today.
Sue Leschen’s presentation focused on legal terminology and the differences between it. For example, was the crime pre-meditated (thought out beforehand) or spontaneous? Was a weapon used? Was harm caused? What was the value amount of the damage/destruction/theft? These were explored through case studies and hypothetical situations.
Sue also examined the difference between official terminology (and official definitions) and how these terms are used in everyday English. For example, robbery versus burglary are nearly interchangeable outside of Legal English. However, “robbery” is the intent or use of force during theft, whereas “burglary” is more closely related to the intent to trespass in the legal field.
Sue’s presentation was presented in a way that was most beneficial for linguists (especially translators and interpreters), explaining differences and how terms are used succinctly.
How does this help translators not in the legal field?
As a rule, I do not touch legal translations with a 10-foot barge pole! In addition to its extremely complex nature, you need to know the ins and outs of at least two legal systems to be a translator or interpreter. Additionally, if you translate English, Spanish and German as I do, it is impossible to know every legal system of every country or region that speaks those languages. Usually, a “legal translator” focuses on the legal systems in two countries; an example would be translating legal documents from the German legal system (in German) to the British legal system (in English). This person would be unable to accurately translate to the US legal system, for example, due to the significant differences between the two systems. In addition to being a lot of work, including:
- Learning about (usually one aspect of) the legal system in your native language/country (e.g. contract law)
- Learning a second language
- Choosing and learning about (usually one aspect of) the legal system in a country that speaks the second language (e.g. contract law)
This also seems very restrictive to me. You could only translate between two legal systems and only for a specific aspect of the law, which would be much more restrictive than other translations (e.g., scientific English, which is more universal).
So why attend at all?
The short answer is that the legal field touches everything. As a medical and scientific translator, I have also had to translate texts concerning informed consent, patents and compliance with relevant laws. While not nearly as complex as most legal texts, I still have to be familiar with laws (and, in German, abbreviations of law names) that pertain to the field. A current example is the German Medicinal Products Act (Arzneimittelgesetz, AMG), which has undergone many changes since its inception in 2005, including the most recent in July 2024.
Fortunately, I only have to be familiar with a few of them. The German government publishes an official English translation of the AMG (and many laws), making my job much more manageable.
However, it is always good to stay abreast of knowledge, especially general knowledge, as translators encounter a wide range of information. Some of these may be part of a translation in their domain but fall outside their specialisation (e.g., legal English for medical trials).
