The rationale of this module is to introduce students to the demanding genre of legal translation, and enhance both their legal knowledge and their linguistic knowledge. Its aim is to familiarize students with legal environments as a basis to carry out translation work and any further translation-related research in the field. It also offers students the opportunity to study key issues of British law and Greek law and gain significant insights into the differences between common law and civil law and the problems that these differences pose to translators both at the conceptual level and, by extension, to the terminological level. This module also seeks to develop the students’ translation skills in a variety of legal registers and styles and also teach them how to carry out efficient documentation and make appropriate use of research tools in solving translation problems specific to legal texts. For the translation of texts assigned as homework, the use of machine translation tools is permitted, provided that students use them consciously and carefully review their work. The use of MT tools is discouraged when translating texts, but is permitted when searching for the translation and definition of certain terms with specific prompts, provided that students review the results carefully.

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

• understand the principles of legal translation and the main concepts of Legal Translation Studies
• understand the importance of comparative law for legal translation
• understand the idiosyncracies of legal language and its illocutionary force
• understand the lack of conceptual equivalence and use appropriate strategies for addressing it
• use legal terminology in well-developed and properly structured texts
• translate semi-specialised and specialized descriptive and prescriptive legal texts accurately and coherently
• justify their translation choices on the basis of translation

Main Textbook:

Νανάκη, Ε. (2016) Ελληνοαγγλικό Νομικό Γλωσσάρι. Εκδόσεις Ε. Νανάκη

Suggested Reading:

Agallopoulou, P. (2005) Basic Concepts of Greek Civil Law. Athens: Sakkoulas.

Alcaraz Varó, E. & Hughes, B. (2002) Legal translation explained. Manchester: St Jerome.

Βαλεοντής, Κ.Ε. &  Κριμπάς Π. Γ. (2014) Νομική γλώσσα, νομική ορολογία: θεωρία και πράξη. Αθήνα: Νομική Βιβλιοθήκη/Ελληνική Εταιρεία Ορολογίας 

Bhatia, V.K. (1993) Analysing Genre: Language in Professional Settings. London: Longman.

Βαλεοντής, Κ.Ε. & Κριμπάς, Π.Γ. (2014) Νομική γλώσσα, νομική ορολογία: θεωρία και πράξη. Αθήνα: Νομική Βιβλιοθήκη/Ελληνική Εταιρεία Ορολογίας.

Bowers, F. (1989) Linguistic Aspects of Legislative Expression. Vancouver: University of British Columbia.

Cao, D. (2007) Translating Law. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Desblache, L. (ed) (2001) Aspects of Specialised Translation. Paris: La Maison du Dictionnaire.

Gibbons, J. (ed.) (1994) Language and the Law. London: Longman.

Harris, P. (2006) An Introduction to Law. Cambridge: CUP.

Kerameus, K. & Kozyris, P. (eds.) (2006) Introduction to Greek Law. Athens: Sakkoulas.

Langford, I. (2000) "Forensic Semantics: The Meaning of Murder, Manslaughter and Homicide," Forensic Linguistics, 7: 1, 72-94.

Mayoral Asensio, R. (2003) Translating Official Documents. Manchester: St Jerome.

Matoesian, G. (1999) "Intertextuality, Affect, and Ideology in Legal Discourse," Text, 19:1, 73-109.

Morris, M. (1995) Translation and the Law, American Translators Association Scholarly Monograph Series, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Nelken, D. (ed.). 1996. Law as Communication. Brookfield: Dartmouth Pub. Co.

Posner, R. A. (1988). Law and Literature: A Misunderstood Relation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Šarcevic, S. (1997) New Approach to Legal Translation. New York: Aspen Publishers.

Schäffner, C. (1998) “Parallel Texts in Translation”. In L. Bowker, M. Cronin, D. Kenny & J. Pearson (eds) Unity in Diversity: Current Trends in Translation Studies. Manchester: St Jerome.

Spencer, A. 1980. Noun-verb expression in legal English. Birmingham: Language Studies Unit, University of Aston.

Storey-Whyte, K. (1999) "KISSing the Jury," Forensic Linguistics, 4, 280-286.

Tomaszczyk, J. (1999). Aspecs of Legal Language and Legal Translation. Łodz: Łodz University Press.

Turnpin, C. & Tomkins, A. (2007) British Government and the Constitution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The lesson has a hybrid lecture-workshop format. It is largely based on the interaction with students and classroom discussion. Hands-on-sessions focus on practical aspects of the issues covered and described during the lectures. Students have hands-on sessions translating various prescriptive economic texts with reference to the TS theory they learn. The class material is made available on the e-class platform.

Several ICT tools are used, mainly ppt presentations, online videos and Internet resources. The class material is made available on the Open e-class platform.

Students have to complete a written examination, i.e. a translation from Greek into English of an economic text of approximately 300 words. The use of monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual dictionaries, both specific and general, is permitted. The use of lecture notes is permitted.