ESP: English for Law
Course:
ANBE71901, Fall 2008
Time & place:
Monday 10:00-11:40; Kassai Bldg., Room 33
Instructor:
Zoltán Simon (zsimon@dragon.unideb.hu)
Main Bldg., Room 118 (: 512-900 / 22069)
Office hours:
Monday 9:00-10:00, Friday 10:00-11:00; also by appointment
Description:
Since English is increasingly the lingua franca of business
communication and because law often has interfaces with the corporate
world, an important part of Business English Studies is familiarity with
certain aspects of legal English. The aim of this course is to provide
students with a basic-level competence in understanding legal concepts
in English (especially as they relate to the business world) and to
provide an introduction to the terminology of this huge and often
intimidating field. In addition to vocabulary, which must be at the core
of any ESP course, attention is also given to the special syntax of this
field, as well as to translation skills (especially English to Hungarian).
Rather than pretending to teach students all there is to know about law
in the Anglo-American world and the language of the law in English,
the course sets out to give them some useful tools and resources in
dealing with this special field.
Texts:
A diversity of English-language legal documents, mostly authentic texts
written by English- speaking lawyers, mainly native speakers, but due
to the nature of this field, also by non-native speakers, which provides
an opportunity for identifying common, returning mistakes or
differences from standard use. Names and other recognizable
information in such documents are deleted or altered. A number of texts
are also adopted from the textbooks listed below. In addition, magazine
articles on current issues, informative brochures and materials, Internet
resources are also introduced.
Bibliography:
Bart István, Klaudy Kinga. EU fordítóiskola: Európai uniós szövegek fordítása angolról
magyarra. Budapest: Corvina, 2003.
---. Angol fordítóiskola. Budapest: Corvina, 1996.
Brookes, M, and D. Homer. English for Law. Budapest: Kerszöv, 1997.
Deák András. An English Reader for Students of Law. Budapest: ELTE ÁJK, 1991.
Döme Eva. English for European Studies: A Coursebook for Law Students. Pécs: JPTE, 1999.
Erdei András, et al. Magyar-angol-magyar jogi szakszótár. Budapest: KJK-Kerszöv, 2003.
Heidinger, Franz J., et al. Bevezetés az Európai Unió jogába és nyelvezetébe: Angol-magyar
nyelven. Budapest. HVG-ORAC, 2000.
---. Angol-amerikai jogi nyelv: Budapest: HVG-ORAC, 1994.
Pásztor Krisztina. English for law students. Miskolc: Miskolc University, 1997.
Riley, Alison. English for Law. London: Macmillan, 1991.
Smith, Tricia. Business Law. Harlow: Pearson, 2000.
Topics in a week-by-week breakdown:
Week 1: Introduction and orientation
Week 2: Some special features of “legalese”; the idiosyncrasies of legal English
Week 3: The law of business organizations (corporate law); types of business organizations;
the translatability of company names/forms and other legal notions
Week 4: Corporate documents (Memoranda of Association, Articles, Certificates of
Incorporation, by-laws, charters, etc.)
Week 5: Translating corporate documents
Week 6: The vocabulary of courts; criminal vs. civil law (text if focus: “There are no
excuses”)
Week 7: Consultation week
Week 8: The law of the European Union; sources of primary law in the EU; regulations,
decisions, opinions, directives, etc.; useful resources in Community law; Regulation 1 of the
Council of the European Communities (The Language Charter of the EC)
Week 9: The law of contracts; types of contracts; some basic notions, including
consideration, indemnification, confidentiality, etc.
Week 10: The law of contracts; typical parts of Anglo-American contracts; translating
contracts (text in focus: distribution agreement)
Week 11: Revision and consolidation, translation practice
Week 12: In-class test (including translation with dictionary)
Week 13: Other fields of law (copyright, tax law, insurance law, etc.) as requested
Week 14: Electronic resources and computer-aided translation in the field of law
Week 15: The lighter side of law; conclusions and evaluation