Introduction to the methodology and practice of translating scientific and technical texts on the basis of internationally established principles. The texts come from the fields of macroeconomics, European law, and French Commercial Law. Particular emphasis is placed on the proper translation of terms and on developing the student’s skill to accurately transfer the message of the source text into the target text.

The aim of the course is to help students develop the skills needed for successfully meeting, as professionals, the challenges posed by economic and legal texts from various fields from French to Greek. This general aim encompasses the following specific objectives:

- introduction to the peculiarities of economic and legal texts;

- introduction to the characteristics of the languages for specific purposes ​​of macroeconomics, European law, and French law;

- familiarisation with both the cultural incompatibilities between the languages ​​involved and their impact on the translation process;

- familiarisation with text typologies which are representative of the translation market for texts of macroeconomics, European law, and French law;

- identifying and resolving translation difficulties and problems, with particular emphasis on terminological aspects and coherent reasoning for translation decisions;

- systematic application of a methodology for analysis, comprehension and translation of texts, which will be readily adapted to the conditions of each translation project and will include the management of documentation aids and related printed and electronic translation tools.

Upon successful completion of the course the student should be able to:

• distinguish and identify economic and legal terms as well as semantic-conceptual, grammatical and morphosyntactic peculiarities in specialised texts so as to be generally at ease with the written discourse in the two languages involved ​​with respect for the stylistic tradition and the communication conventions applicable to the target culture;
• identify features of French economic and legal cultures as well as of the wider cultural context in texts of escalating specialization and generally recognize the pragmatic particularities of these texts;
• use printed and online language and translation tools;
• search for, identify and evaluate the relevance and reliability of parallel and comparable texts in the languages involved;
• correct and generally revise his/her translation;
• collaborate on group translation tasks. 

Week 1: Introduction to the issues and challenges of economic, legal, and political translation. Basic principles of terminology and terminography. Overview of the course structure and delivery. Introduction to the fields of macroeconomics, law, and European law relevant to the texts to be translated.

Week 2: Translational approach of a text of intermediate specialization on the topic of inflation. Characteristics of macroeconomic terminology (I).

Week 3: Translational approach of a text of intermediate specialization on the topic of inflation. Characteristics of macroeconomic terminology (II).

Week 4: Translational approach of a text of intermediate specialization on the topic of the European Central Bank. Characteristics of economic terminology within the context of the European Union (I).

Week 5: Translational approach of a text of intermediate specialization on the topic of the European Central Bank. Characteristics of economic terminology within the context of the European Union (II).

Week 6: Translational approach of a text of intermediate specialization on the topic of the European Parliament. Characteristics of legal terminology within the context of the European Union (I).

Week 7: Translational approach of a text of intermediate specialization on the topic of the European Parliament. Characteristics of legal terminology within the context of the European Union (II).

Week 8: Translational approach of a text of intermediate specialization on the topic of the French Conseil d’État. Specificities of the French legal system and its terminology (I).

Week 9: Translational approach of a text of intermediate specialization on the topic of the French Conseil d’État. Specificities of the French legal system and its terminology (II).

Week 10: Translational approach of a highly specialized text on the topic of the French Commercial Code. Characteristics of economic language in legal texts (I).

Week 11: Translational approach of a highly specialized text on the topic of the French Commercial Code. Characteristics of economic language in legal texts (II).

Week 12: Translational approach of a highly specialized text on the topic of the French Commercial Code. Characteristics of economic language in legal texts (III).

Week 13: Review of the characteristics of economic and legal terminology and the respective languages for specific purposes.

Face-to-face / Τranslation of and comments on texts in class. Elements of theory and methodology of financial and legal translation and terminology are discussed.

Use of ICT.

Support of the learning process through the Open eClass platform.

Course material upload (notes, lecture slides, exercises, etc.) onto the Open eClass platform.

Compulsory semester project: translation of an economic/legal text and terminology extraction (30%).

At the end of the semester: Written examination on the translation of an economic/legal text and terminology extraction (70%).