This course is the first part of the specialisation cycle in economic, legal and political translation from German into Greek. Students become familiar with constitutional and legislative texts, legislative drafting materials and contracts, and study the genre conventions of these texts in the German and Greek legal systems. Particular emphasis is placed on the asymmetry of legal concepts, on documenting terminology through parallel texts and databases, and on the functional rendering of standardised formulations. Through workshop-based translation of authentic texts, the course fosters well-founded translation decisions and a critical stance towards machine translation and artificial intelligence.

The course aims to develop the translation competence required to render German public-law and private-law texts into Greek.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

1. identify the features, structure and genre conventions of constitutional, legislative and legislative drafting texts and of contracts in both legal systems,
2. explain basic concepts of German constitutional and civil law and compare them with their Greek counterparts,
3. identify cases of conceptual asymmetry and select well-founded translation strategies (functional equivalent, descriptive rendering, borrowing, established term),
4. render accurately the structure and cross-references of legislative texts (article, paragraph, sentence),
5. translate authentic texts of these genres with consistent terminology, style and phrasing,
6. use legal databases, parallel texts and terminology resources to support their choices,
7. critically evaluate translations produced by machine translation and artificial intelligence systems,
8. justify their translation decisions in writing in an annotated translation.

Generic skills: searching for, analysing and synthesising information using ICT, decision-making, independent work and teamwork, critical thinking and self-reflection, professional and ethical responsibility.

Week 1 – Introduction to legal translation. Legal translation as translation between legal systems, German and Greek law as systems of the civil law tradition, conceptual asymmetry and functional equivalence, a typology of legal texts.

Week 2 – Research and sources. Legal databases (gesetze-im-internet.de, Greek Government Gazette, EUR-Lex), parallel texts, IATE, building a terminology glossary.

Week 3 – Constitutional texts I: the Basic Law. The structure of the Grundgesetz compared with the Greek Constitution, fundamental rights (Grundrechte) and how to render them.

Week 4 – Constitutional texts II: the organisation of the state. The federal principle, constitutional bodies, the division of competences, rendering institutional terms without a Greek counterpart.

Week 5 – Constitutional texts III: constitutional case law. Decisions of the Bundesverfassungsgericht: structure, Leitsätze, reasoning and operative part.

Week 6 – Legislative texts I: the structure and wording of statutes. The hierarchy of norms (Gesetz, Verordnung, Satzung), Paragraph, Absatz, Satz and their Greek equivalents, cross-references and abbreviations.

Week 7 – Legislative texts II: the Civil Code and EU law. Excerpts from the BGB compared with the Greek Civil Code, EU legal acts in their German and Greek language versions.

Week 8 – Legislative drafting texts I: the legislative process. Law-making in Germany and Greece, Referentenentwurf, Gesetzentwurf and Begründung compared with the Greek draft law and explanatory memorandum.

Week 9 – Legislative drafting texts II: drafting rules. The Handbuch der Rechtsförmlichkeit and Greek rules on better law-making, amending acts (Artikelgesetz, Änderungsbefehle).

Week 10 – Legislative drafting texts III: parliamentary documents. Bundestag-Drucksachen, committee reports and recommendations (Beschlussempfehlung), plenary records.

Week 11 – Contracts I: the structure and language of contracts. Freedom of contract, general terms and conditions (AGB), standard parts of a contract and stock formulations.

Week 12 – Contracts II: types of contract and clauses. Sale, lease and employment contracts under the BGB and the Greek Civil Code, jurisdiction and governing-law clauses, the salvatorische Klausel.

Week 13 – Synthesis: quality and technology in legal translation. Revision and quality assurance, official translation, critical evaluation of MT/AI output, course review.

Legal translation studies

• Cao, D. (2007). Translating Law. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
• Sandrini, P. (Hrsg.) (1999). Übersetzen von Rechtstexten: Fachkommunikation im Spannungsfeld zwischen Rechtsordnung und Sprache. Tübingen: Narr.
• Šarčević, S. (1997). New Approach to Legal Translation. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.
• Stolze, R. (2014). Praxishandbuch Urkunden- und Rechtsübersetzung. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.

Legal background and legislative drafting

• Bundesministerium der Justiz. Handbuch der Rechtsförmlichkeit. Berlin.
• Creifelds, C. Rechtswörterbuch. München: C.H. Beck.
• Γεωργιάδης, Α. Γενικές Αρχές Αστικού Δικαίου. Αθήνα: Π.Ν. Σάκκουλας.
• Μανιτάκης, Α. Ελληνικό Συνταγματικό Δίκαιο. Αθήνα–Θεσσαλονίκη: Σάκκουλας.
• European Union. Joint Practical Guide of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission for persons involved in the drafting of European Union legislation. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the EU.

Digital resources

• Gesetze im Internet: gesetze-im-internet.de
• Dokumentations- und Informationssystem für Parlamentsmaterialien: dip.bundestag.de
• EUR-Lex: eur-lex.europa.eu
• IATE: iate.europa.eu

Teaching is face-to-face and workshop-based: each session combines a short theoretical introduction with the translation and discussion of authentic texts.

• Theoretical input: the legal and textual background of each text type.
• Translation workshop: in-class translation, individually and in small groups, with discussion of alternative renderings.
• Comparative analysis of parallel texts: contrasting German and Greek texts of the same genre.
• Home assignments: weekly translations with feedback from the instructor.
• Annotated translation: written justification of translation decisions.
• Evaluation of MT/AI output: identifying and classifying errors in machine-generated renderings.

ICT is used in teaching, in communication and as an integral part of translation research.

• eClass platform: texts and course material, announcements, submission of assignments and the final project.
• Legal databases: gesetze-im-internet.de, dip.bundestag.de, National Printing Office (Government Gazette), Hellenic Parliament, EUR-Lex.
• Terminology and language resources: IATE, Creifelds Rechtswörterbuch, DWDS, corpora.
• Computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools: terminology management and consistency in recurring formulations.
• Machine translation and AI: critical comparison of MT/AI output with human translations.
• Communication: email, eClass, and office hours in person.

Written midterm examination (Week 7)

Final written project

Assessment criteria: accurate transfer of the legal content, correct and consistent terminology, adherence to the genre conventions of the target language, linguistic accuracy, documentation of choices. Detailed criteria are posted on eClass at the start of the semester.