LEGAL TEXTS The bad news legal texts contain a lot of specialized jargon and terms that are not used in general communication The good news it ID: 566813
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "10. LEGAL AND COMMERCIAL TEXTS" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
10. LEGAL AND COMMERCIAL TEXTSSlide2
LEGAL TEXTS
The
bad
news:
legal
texts
contain
a
lot
of
specialized
jargon
and
terms
that
are
not
used
in general
communication
.
The
good
news:
it
is
easy to
find
online
dictionaries
and to
find
examples
of EU
legislation
in the
languages
of
all
the
member
states
.Slide3
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/HR/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32001L0029&from=EN
Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society
AZ EURÓPAI PARLAMENT ÉS A TANÁCS 2001/29/EK IRÁNYELVE
(2001.
május
22.)
az
információs
társadalomban
a
szerzői
és
szomszédos
jogok
egyes
vonatkozásainak
összehango
DYREKTYWA 2001/29/WE PARLAMENTU EUROPEJSKIEGO I RADY z
dnia
22
maja
2001 r.
w
sprawie
harmonizacji
niektórych
aspektów
praw
autorskich
i
pokrewnych
w
społeczeństwie
informacyjnym
Slide4
The characteristics of “legalese”
The aim is to be flawless and entirely unambiguous
Repetition of nouns to avoid the potential ambiguity of pronouns
Apparent redundancy
Syntactically complex sentences
Highly specialized lexis
Archaic terminology and Latin expressions
Units of meaning. Taylor (p.127) gives the example of “statement of defence”, which translates as “replica del
convenuto
”, not
dichiarazione
di
difesa
Great use of conditional forms
Deontic expressions (obligation):
shall
in English;
dovrà
/
dovranno
in Italian
Formulaic expressions rarely used in other contexts:
whereas/
permesso
che
,
in witness
thereof/in
fede
di
ciò
Terms almost exclusively used in legal contexts:
to sue
/
citare
,
far
causa
,
summons
/
mandato
di
comparizione
Performative
expressions:
it is hereby certified
/
certifica
,
I, the undersigned
…/
il
sottoscrittoSlide5
“The distinction between English legal and ordinary English discourse is greater than that between legal Italian language and ordinary Italian.” Taylor, p. 129. He gives the following examples of legal expressions in English that differ enormously from normal language:
Without let or hindrance
:
senza
(
alcun
)
impedimento
Malice aforethought
:
premeditazione
Force majeure
:
forza
maggiore
Aid and abet
:
essere
complice
Whereupon and wheref
ore: al
che
Goods and chattels
:
ogni
sorta
di
beni
mobili
Null and void
:
nullo
So your problem as English-to-Italian translators regards the source texts.
Those translators who decide to specialize in legal texts find that their job gets easier as they acquire experience. Much of the terminology used is formulaic and recurs in one text after another. Sample documents are also available online. Slide6
2. TERM, TERMINATION & SURVIVORSHIP: This Agreement and all provisions hereof, except and unless otherwise provided, in writing, shall be in full force and effect and shall extend for a term of Twenty five (25) years for the U.S. and all other worldwide markets. The effective date of this Agreement shall be the date first written above. At conclusion of the initial term, this Agreement shall automatically renew for two (2) year periods thereafter, unless terminated by either of the parties upon six (6) months prior notice
.
In
the event of any breach of any material provision of this Agreement, this Agreement may be terminated by either Party hereto, with sixty (60) days written notice to the other Party provided that, during the sixty (60) day period, the breaching Party fails to cure such breach, in which case ZGSI shall have six (6) months from the effective date of termination of this Agreement to sell any inventories of product existing, product already in production or on order as of said effective date of termination.
Read
more:
http://agreements.realdealdocs.com/Royalty-Agreement/LICENSING-AND-ROYALTY-AGREEMENT-3110363/#ixzz3pZeoX2tLSlide7
COMMERCIAL TEXTSSlide8
Commercial correspondence
Like legalese, the language of commercial correspondence is rather formulaic. Taylor (
pp
131-135) gives examples of standard formulae used in both informal
memoes
and formal business letters.
Today email has replaced the memo but the linguistic conventions are similar.
For important business agreements involving huge sums of money, formal letters are still required. They may be scanned and sent as email attachments nowadays, but as regards language they are little different from the letters sent by post thirty years ago.Slide9
ENGLISH
ITALIANO
Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for your order (n. 26/74418). We are delighted to inform you that delivery will
be carried out within the agreed time limit.
Egregi
Signori
,
Vi
ringraziamo
per
il
Vostro
ordine
(n. 26/74418)
e
siamo
lieti
di
informarVi
che
la
consegna
sarà
effettuata
entro
I termini
stabiliti
.
Our warehouse staff tell us that they
have started to prepare the consignment, which will be ready by the end of this month. The packaging instructions that you have provided will be carried out with all due care.
Dal
magazzino
ci
informano
che
hanno
già
iniziato
a
preparare
la partita,
che
sarà
pronta
entro
la fine di
questo
mese
. Le
istruzione
di
imballaggio
che
ci
avete
fatto
pervenire
saranno
eseguite
con la
dovuta
cura
.
The forwarding agent has sent us a quotation for all the expenses for transport of the goods, insurance and customs clearance. In the pro forma
invoice herewith enclosed there is a list of all these costs along with the price of the goods.
La
spedizoniere
ci ha
fatto
avere
un
preventivo
per
tutte
le
spese
di
trasporto
,
assicurazione
e
sdoganamento
delle
merci
.
Nella
fattura
proforma
,
che
accludiamo
,
c’è
un
elenco
di
tutti
questi
costi
,
insieme
col
prezzo
delle
merci
.
Slide10
ENGLISH
ITALIANO
As
soon as we have been notified
that a letter of credit has been issued
in our favour, we will instruct our carrier to proceed and we will contact you as soon as possible.
Non
appena
riceveremo
notizia dell’apertura di una lettera di credito a nostro favore, daremo istruzioni al nostro trasportatore e Vi contatteremo al più presto.We look forward to hearing from you in due course.Yours faithfully, (Yours sincerely,)In attesa di Vostre notizie, Vi inviamo i più cordiali saluti.
In a short text we have six technical terms: consignment, forwarding agent, customs clearing, pro form invoice,
letter of credit, carrier.
Note the use of
carry out
instead of
execute
.
Due
(adjective and adverb) =
dovuto
(“… with all due care.”)
Due to
=
dovuto
a
Owe
(verb) =
dovere
(
soldi
/un
favore
a
qualcuno
)Slide11
FALSE FRIENDS 10
What do you remember about
accurate
and
clamorous
?
Cognate
: a word that has the same derivation as another word (
victory
/
vittoria
)Cognato/a: brother-in-law, sister-in-lawCommedia: a playComedy: a comic production for the theatre, cinema or TVShakespeare’s plays fall into four categories: tragedies, comedies, history plays and problem plays.Commodity: merce. The village shop doesn’t just sell food but also a range of other commodities/goods: cleaning products, soap and shampoo, cosmetics, prescription-free medicines etc.Comodità: 1. Convenience
. The convenience of living in the city centre is counterbalanced by the problem parking the car. 2.
Comfort
. When I buy shoes, comfort is more important than style.Slide12
THE DIARY OF A BRAVE TRANSLATOR VERILY IN LEG – PART 10
My niece, Julie, has been getting on my nerves. She’s always complaining about how she feels stressed out all the time since the baby arrived. But for six years she did nothing but complain about how she desperately wanted a child but couldn’t get pregnant. In the end I told her straight: “Did you want the bicycle? Now pedal it!” But she still went on about how she doesn’t have any social life now because she has no one to babysit for her. “That was your choice,” I told her. “You can’t have the barrel full and the wife drunk.” She didn’t like that at all. In fact she told me to go and get myself blessed.Slide13
You’ve made your bed. Now lie in it.
You can’t have your cake and eat it.
She told me to…… get lost
go take a running jump
piss off/fuck off (DANGER!)
go forth and multiply (Biblical euphemism)