“legal terminology and the 'glocal' world of communication”

Antonella Distante

“LEGAL TERMINOLOGY AND THE 'GLOCAL'

WORLD OF COMMUNICATION”

Luxembourg, 28 march 2011

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Introductory features

The global trend

The local identity

Our lessons learned

New research strands

Developments expected

Questions and answers time

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The global trend

The local identity

Our lessons learned





LEGAL TERMINOLOGY AND THE 'GLOCAL' WORLD OF COMMUNICATION

Analysing the objective pursued through this title

Using a blend ‘glocal’ (global + local) to qualify the world of

communication stemming from the idea of providing a sort

of ‘settlement’ between global and local instances

We are going to analyse both aspects: the global trend &

the local identity

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The global trend

The local identity

Our lessons learned




The global trend (1)

Exchanging documents, transferring data, providing legislation, giving rise to international exchanges on a global scale all entail the chance of exploiting well-known means to attain some beneficial results in transferring forms from one language to another, in other terms, in favouring communication

The infinite chances of the global trend: the use of corpora, glossaries and other well-known technological resources as tools aimed at facilitating our communication strategies

The opportunity of sharing knowledge worldwide is another fundamental aspect the global approach is offering us: “globish” and the new frontiers of languages

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The international framework: an eye to the UN language charter, Officialese & Ngoish jargon

Stakeholder

Quango, Engo, Bingo, Wango, Ringo

Capacity-building

The global trend (2) 7

The idea of attaining a sort of standardisation is essential for languages within the European framework. Official and working languages in the EU: the language Charter, Regulation n.1/1958 (as amended) aimed at paving the way to mutual understanding.

Eurospeak & Eurocratese and the chance of exploiting common means of communication to attain better results in terms of ‘red tape’, aka bureaucracy.

Words of Latin origin confer to the legal document a higher degree of formality, solemnity and constitute an essential basis to develop a relevant extent of standardisation of the legal discourse.


The positive outcomes, descending from the global framework, can affect the field of research, notably the chance of exchanging ideas, data and other main strategies amounting to a proactive knowledge-sharing approach.

This approach can stem problem solving skills - encountering the need to find a balance between global and local contexts - and also promote common and comprehensible means of communication throughout the EU framework.


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The global trend

The local identity

Our lessons learned




The local identity (1)

Language as a marker of identity. Italy and other European contexts: a brief overview

Regional instances as a mean of distinction but also as a chance of exalting the intrinsic value of these challenging varieties

From language to terminology toward legal discourse: a groundbreaking challenge

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Legal terminology and legal translation: a consistent link

The intrinsic and relevant non-transferability of concepts among different legal cultures

The civil-law system, its major forms and expressions underlie its foundations on some essential legal issues varying from country to country.

The Italian legal language: main features

Formalism vs Formality: an overview on Legalese

The local identity (2) 12

The need to find common strategies aimed at enhancing problem-solving skills.

The need to collocate expressions through the legal document.

The importance of attaining a relevant balance between form and substance, a journey throughout the legal terminology and the hurdles encountered “moulding” concepts from English into Italian and vice-versa: some selected examples as listed below.


The abstract idea of our Constitution differs from the substantial image of the same regarded through the image of the Constitution within a Common-law country.

The concept of ‘compensation’ can be translated (from English into Italian) into ‘risarcimento’ and under certain circumstances into ‘indennizzo’ but how can you identify the right correspondent if you do not own a basic knowledge of the legal gist related to these forms ?

The fundamental role played by substance can be figured out also through the following examples.


The term ‘jurisdiction’ can give rise to misinterpretation as it amounts to more than a sole legal gist

The sources of law: key cases

The legal profession


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The global trend

The local identity

Our lessons learned




The indissoluble link between training and research is one of the pillars of our professional activity

Our research experience as a trigger to attain new and challenging objectives. Some of the means are the following:PERMANENT TERMINOLOGICAL OBSERVATORYWORD DETECTING, an on-line section,

www.englishfor.itENGLISHFOR, THE ESP ON-LINE JOURNAL

www.englishfor.itESP SERIES, COLLANA INGLESE PER SCOPI

SPECIALI

Our lessons learned (1) 17

PERMANENT TERMINOLOGICAL OBSERVATORY

This is an opportunity of monitoring languages through global resources: it is an attempt to pursue different objectives, among the other things, understanding and “decrypting” buzz words, neologisms and foreign terms.

Our fields of interest: Social & international communication International relations, political, economic, financial and legal

issues Medical & scientific area Green economy, sustainable development & environmental

security Information Communication Technology Food & Wine


WORD DETECTING:

It is a monthly on-line section, whose main target is “detecting words”: a chance to show some of the results achieved via the Observatory, providing definitions in English and Italian and also presenting some of the sources used to analyse the terms in question.

A group of ‘Word detectives’ composed of translators, trainers, interpreters and researchers, namely, A. Distante, C. Dodich, M.P. Montoro, E. Verardi, whose interest and enthusiasm for this research has given rise to many positive outcomes. Here follows a shortlist of some selected forms.


Our lessons learned (4)

Global economy Earmarking Agflation Intrapreneur

Mideast and Northern Africa uprising Keystroke revolution

Green economy Garbology

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Social trends Neet

Foreign terms and language loans Balconing Flash mob Finger food


ENGLISHFOR, THE ESP ON-LINE JOURNAL

Its aim is to promote research, within the language field, notably English for special purposes.

This on-line journal is a means of presenting cutting-edge studies and professional experiences in action.


ESP BOOK SERIES – COLLANA INGLESE PER SCOPI SPECIALI

A further chance is setting up a book series to promote research on English for Special Purposes, regarded as training as well as a professional instrument.

The first issue on Medical English and the new initiatives in progress

From this research activity to new challenging and demanding targets


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The global trend

The local identity

Our lessons learned




The establishment of a group of research composed of specialists (teachers, translators, experts, EU and MSs officials, and so on) to develop the following:

outline common guidelines to be followed to attain better results in terms of terminological research, taking into account several fields of interest (legal, political, economic, military, ICT, and so on) and at the same time underlying an interdisciplinary approach.

In order to draw up these research guidelines, another perspective should be the incidence of foreign terms and/or mutual influences among EU languages (analysing some selected idioms, starting from the working languages and some of the official languages).

New research strands (1) 25

Promote the use of on-line platforms (Active Server Pages or

similar tools) to carry on terminological researches in order to

exchange data and develop “knowledge sharing” (entailing

information on bibliographical references, courses, seminars

and other relevant initiatives).


Stage periodical roundtables, seminars in order to

present the outcomes obtained (on yearly basis, for

instance). These last initiatives are aimed at triggering

smooth and consistent procedures among the group of

study, imposing a scheduled time of research and also

spreading the results of such activities through media

in order to give notice of the goals achieved to the

concerned institutions, bodies and academies.


Give rise to training courses for would-be translators,

terminologists, experts and teachers involved in these matters

by means of a centre of excellence designed as an instrument

to promote research and training whose features are compliant

with the European criteria. This centre should also provide

courses for professionals (belonging to different fields) in order

to develop groundbreaking long-life learning programs.


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The global trend

The local identity

Our lessons learned




It would be desirable to favour mutual

understanding throughout the European framework

and also facilitate communication between Europe

and the rest of the globe. And last but not least,

rendering our way of communicating a means of

deep cultural identity: our European languages,

notwithstanding their diversity, can mirror our

common essence. Conclusions and

acknowledgements.

Developments expected (1) 30

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The global trend

The local identity

Our lessons learned





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Antonella Distante

“LEGAL TERMINOLOGY AND THE 'GLOCAL'

WORLD OF COMMUNICATION”

Luxembourg, 28 march 2011

“legal terminology and the 'glocal' world of communication”

Documents

global framework

global approach

global scale

answers timethe global

blend glocal global

local contexts

local instanceswe

answers timethe local