10. LEGAL AND COMMERCIAL TEXTS
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.
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
The characteristics of “legalese”
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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
sottoscritto
“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 wherefore: 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.
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/RoyaltyAgreement/LICENSING-AND-ROYALTY-AGREEMENT3110363/#ixzz3pZeoX2tL
COMMERCIAL TEXTS
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.
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.
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.
In attesa di Vostre notizie, Vi inviamo i più
cordiali saluti.
Yours faithfully, (Yours sincerely,)
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)
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-law
Commedia: a play
Comedy: a comic production for the theatre, cinema or TV
Shakespeare’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.
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.
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)