Legal English as the Lingua Franca for International Law. Traits and Pitfalls for ESP Practitioners and Legal Translators.
Keywords:
lingua franca, legal translation, legal language, legal linguisticsAbstract
The dismantling of international boundaries in the pursuit of international markets and global agreements has meant the matching of different legal frameworks in the global context, as well as the implementation of legislative procedures and juridical processes across countries. Hence, it could be said that globalized business activities and dispute resolution through arbitration between individuals and institutions has been accompanied by a process of legal internationalization. However, such a process requires a common language for legal officials and scholars to understand one another, and such language is, undeniably, English. Hence, the advent of the so-called 'Anglo-internationalization of business', with major impact over the last two decades which is unlikely to change in the near future. In fields such as the legal profession, linguistic phenomena coming from different cultural systems and structures are peculiar to each language and country, thus challenging the ability and skills of the translator, linguist and/or specialist in the area. This talk will provide explanation of the historical, epistemological, functional, anthropological and hermeneutical differences between the Common law system of Anglo-American countries and the Continental system of most of Europe (including Finland and Spain), in order to provide a conceptual framework that may account for the complexity of Legal English, and what problems may the translator and LSP practitioner be faced with when trying to account for some of its peculiarities.
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