Technology for legal and financial translation: lecture video

memoQfest 2018, held this year in Budapest from May 31 to June 1, was a great event as I noted in my recent discussion of how Kilgray – or rather "memoQ" as the company is now called – is on track with changes to the product and additions to its development and support teams in the broadest sense. This year, I spoke on some of the benefits of technology in general and memoQ technology in particular for translating specialists for law and finance. This was, in part, an abbreviated and updated version of my talk last year at the translation program in Buenos Aires University's law faculty and it is of course simply an overview of possibilities with some examples. This is a subject which could easily make up a full course for a semester or year, and in less than an hour one can only discuss a few bones of the concept, much less the full skeleton or the vital and varied body of modern practice.

The recording of the talk was released recently on the memoQ YouTube channel, so here it is embedded for those who missed it and want to see what was said:


I'll be giving a similar talk at the end of this in Valencia, Spain at IAPTI's international conference this year, though from a little different perspective. I hope to meet some of you there.

Contract Language Explained for Translation - with Paula Arturo

On February 5th at 5:00 pm GMT (noon EST, 9 am PST, 6 pm CET), translating attorney Paula Arturo will be presenting a webinar for the American Translators Association on the application of language categories in contract translation. This should be an interesting and useful session for persons working into or out of English.

For more information, have a look at the presenter's announcement - and check out the rest of her interesting legal translation blog, Language with a Pinch of Law.

The New England Translators Association stands tall against attacks

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
                                                                           — Martin Niemöller

The New England Translators Association (NETA) has published an open letter of support for Aurora Humaran, president of IAPTI, who is faced with lawsuits against her and her organization in brute violation of her personal freedom of opinion and expression and against IAPTI members as a whole, whose freedom of association has been threatened. Here is the text:

To Aurora Humarán, president of the International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters (IAPTI), from Diana Rhudick, president of the New England Translators Association (NETA), on behalf of the Board of Directors and members of NETA

January 26, 2015

Dear Ms. Humarán:
It has recently come to the attention of NETA’s members that you, as IAPTI’s president, are facing lawsuits for allegedly authoring an anonymous blog post that was critical of a translation agency’s practices and for using social media to circulate it. We have further learned of threats made by this agency to publicize the names of IAPTI members who refuse to disavow support for you as its president and to denounce them personally to other clients for whom they work.
As a fellow association of professional translators and interpreters, NETA is deeply concerned about the dangers that these lawsuits and threats pose to the freedom of expression guaranteed to you, as an individual and as president of IAPTI, and to the freedom of association guaranteed to all of IAPTI’s members. We believe that, more broadly, these dangers represent an affront to the rights of all translators and interpreters to express their opinions, to share information through social media or any other channel, and to associate with their colleagues without fear of retaliation. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrines the freedom of opinion and expression, including the circulation of ideas through any media and across any frontier, as well as the freedom of association. NETA condemns all efforts to suppress such freedoms taken by any person, translation agency, or other entity against any translator, interpreter, or the organizations that represent them.
As president of NETA, I therefore wish to affirm our unequivocal support for IAPTI and for you as its president to exercise your legitimate freedoms of association, opinion, and expression without interference, without threats, and without restrictions placed on the venue or medium through which opinions are expressed or circulated. We strongly hope that the lawsuits against you will be promptly dismissed and the threats against IAPTI members will be fully retracted.
Since this is an open letter, we are publicizing it through NETA channels and we invite IAPTI to publicize it through its own channels as it sees fit.

Diana RhudickPresident, New England Translators Association, on behalf of the Board of Directors and NETA Members

The recent deranged attack by a bulk market bogster is part of a long-standing pattern of attacks by self-interested parties from the low-end translation bog and other exploiters and charlatans seeking to sell their sleazy interests to trusting professionals and turn these against their own. I am long familiar with such things myself, for example with the recent threats received, in public and in private from the I Am That I Am of translation, His Hendzelness, for discussing questions about Translators Without Borders and its sometimes dubious practices (more on that to come), questions which may have influenced the resignation of that organization's head as the evidence mounted, but Mr. Chiosso's illegal and unethical campaign aggainst IAPTI's president and its members raises the ante to a new level.

And the silence so far from certain pundits and some other professional associations is deafening.

IAPTI Member Paula Arturo, a translating attorney, has written an post titled "Defamation or Freedomof Expression? Can Translators Share Bad Practices Info Online?". It is worth reading.

I applaud the sound ethical instincts of the New England association, the first to show backbone in standing up beside another organization and its president to prevent cancers like this from spreading. Like the recent action from the ITI in the UK, begun under its former chairman, my esteemed colleague Nick Rosenthal, and which finally resulted in the conviction of a deceiving translation agency operator who defrauded his suppliers - translators - of large sums, this is the sort of thing where we all need to stand against the criminals. Not support and promote such practiceZ as some do.

I took the picture above in a Swiss courtroom a few years ago, where another infamous bogster and defaulter on payments owed to translators sued me for daring to discuss his unethical practices on this blog. The costs awarded to me in that action remain unpaid to this day. But let's hope that the same graphic could be used soon to report the fate of Mr. Chiosso, who most definitely belongs in the dock. And on that day, we shall see who stands for free, honest expression and the rule of law in our societies and who remains... silent.

Workshop: juristisches Englisch, aber richtig!

Die drei Veranstaltungen der Seminarreihe mit RA Stuart Bugg, ein führender Experte und Ausbilder für Rechtsenglisch im deutschen Sprachraum, sind eine seltene und willkommene Gelegenheit, sich mit den wichtigsten und schwierigsten Fallen der sprachlichen und rechtlichen Aspekte der angelsächsischen Juristenwelt auseinanderzusetzen. Wieder erfolgreiche Geschäftskommunikationstagung in Cambridge neulich, diese von Stridonium in englischer Sprache angebotene Workshops für englische Verträge, rechtliche Gestaltung und kommerzielles Recht verfahren nach dem Prinzip, bekannte Experten im Fachbereich mit denjenigen, die tagtäglich mit den Themen befasst sind, zusammen zu bringen, in diesem Falle Rechtsanwälten und professionellen Sprachdienstleistern. Herr RA Bugg, Autor des Referenzwerks Contracts in English: an introductory guide to understanding, using and developing 'Anglo-American' style contracts (C.H. Beck) und Mitverfasser des Fachwörterbuches Kompakt Recht Englisch von Langenscheidt, hat Verbindungen mit Rechtsanwaltskammern in vier Ländern (Neuseeland, Australien, Großbritannien und Deutschland) und hat als Dozent an Universitäten und juristischen Fakultäten in Neuseeland, Deutschland und den Vereinigten Staaten agiert. Er ist einer, an den sich Leute sowohl in Regierung- als auch Industriekreise bevorzugt wenden, um Englisch für Zwecke der internationalen juristischen und handelstechnischen Anwendung besser zu verstehen und einzusetzen. Es freut mich sehr, dass die Organisatoren bei Stridonium nochmal das Niveau der professionellen Ausbildung erhöht haben und anstatt die „üblichen Täter“ in den Kreisen der Sprachdienstleister, einen echten Experten aus der juristischen Welt, in der sich unsere Endkunden befinden, für erstklassige Weiterbildung ernsthafter professionellen Übersetzer sowie Rechtsanwälte erworben haben.

Diese Workshops sind eine hervorragende Gelegenheit, bei der diejenigen, die juristisches Englisch schreiben und übersetzen müssen, die besten Ansätze lernen und besprechen können, um häufige Fehler, sowohl sprachlich als auch durch Unterschiede der Rechtssysteme entstehend, zu vermeiden, und die Grundsätze der eindeutigen, rechtsverbindlichen Anwendung der englischen Sprache im professionellen Einsatz zu beherrschen.

Der entspannende Veranstaltungsort in Holten (NL) nah zur deutschen Grenze ist einfach mit Auto bzw. der Bahn zu erreichen. Er ist bestens für formale und informale Austausche zwischen Teilnehmern geeignet, mit wunderschöner Lage am Rande des Dorfes und unglaublich leckerer, kreativer Küche. Alle Workshops finden montags statt; Frühbucher können in der Regel ein Zimmer im Veranstaltungshotel für Sonntag Abend umsonst mitbuchen (soweit noch verfügbar).

Sie können sich für die einzelnen Workshops auf der (englischsprachigen) Veranstaltungsseite von Stridonium anmelden. Der Teilnahmegebühr beträgt 350 € pro Workshop. Falls Sie alle drei Workshops besuchen möchten, können Sie das Gesamtpaket zu einem Sonderpreis mit Anfrage an die Veranstalter (info (bei) stridonium.com) buchen.

Die Anzahl der Verträge in Europa, die sich auf Englisch für Ihre rechtsverbindliche Version stützen, hat in den letzten Jahrzehnten erheblich zugenommen, mit dem Ergebnis, dass immer größer werdender Druck auf Anwälte, ihre Mandanten, Übersetzer und Dolmetscher besteht, die englische Sprache in juristischer Anwendung richtig zu verstehen, damit die rechtlichen Konzepte eines Landes in der anderen Sprache eindeutig und klar zu verstehen sind.

Die geplanten Workshoptermine sind:

English Contracts - 28. April 2014
    - Common Law vs. Civil Law
    - Cross-System Contracts
    - Legal English Terminology
    - Lost and Found in Translation

Legal Drafting - 26. Mai 2014
    - Basic Drafting Principles
    - Legal Terms
    - Principles of Drafting and Interpretation
    - Avoiding Ambiguity: Exercises in Drafting

Commercial Law - 2. Juni 2014
    - Overview
    - Legal Entities
    - Employment Law
    - Bankruptcy and Insolvency

Jeden Sonntag Abend vor dem entsprechenden Workshop findet eine entspannte Networking-Abendessen statt, an der sich alle beiteiligen können. Die Kosten für die Mahlzeit sind nicht im Programm enthalten. Einzelheiten zu den Themen und der Zeitplanung jedes Workshops sowie Registrierungslinks sind in englischer Sprache auf der Stridonium-Veranstaltungsseite zu finden.

Für jeden Workshop werden 6 CPD-Punkte vom niederländischen Bureau BTV und 6 ATA CE-Punkte anerkannt.

Anfahrt (Google-Karte):

Mit Zug
- 10 Minuten Fußeg vom Bahnhof (Beukenlaantje)
- ODER informieren Sie die Organisatoren über Ihre Ankunft damit sie Sie oder das Hotelpersonal Sie abholen können.

Mit Auto (kostenlose Parkplätze reichlich vorhanden)

Aus Richtung Deventer (A1)

A1 Richtung Hengelo/Enschede
Ausfahrt 26: Lochem/Holten
Links abbiegen nach Raalte, den (ausgeschilderten) Weg nach Holterberg fahren
Geradeaus über den Kreisverkehr, nach der Hochbrücke rechts abbiegen, dann links an der T-Kreuzung
Dann links am Kreisverkehr und nach 50 m nach Holterberg rechts abbiegen
Nach etwa 1 km rechts abbiegen (am gelben Gebäude)

Aus Richtung Enschede/Hengelo (A1)

A1 nach Deventer/Apeldoorn/Amsterdam
Ausfahrt 27: Holten/Markelo
Weiterfahren durch Holten, dann am Kreisverkehr die Ausfahrt für Holterberg nehmen und nach 50 m nach Holterberg rechts abbiegen
Nach etwa 1 km rechts abbiegen (am gelben Gebäude)

Legal English: Getting It Right!

That's not the title of the upcoming workshop series by attorney and linguistic specialist Stuart Bugg, but perhaps it ought to be. Like the recent successful business communication conference in Cambridge, these Stridonium courses for English Contracts, Legal Drafting and Commercial Law once again bring together a recognized subject authority with those involved in practice with the topics, both working attorneys and professional linguists. Mr. Bugg, author of Contracts in English: an introductory guide to understanding, using and developing 'Anglo-American' style contracts (C.H. Beck) and co-author of Langenscheidt Fachwörterbuch Kompakt Recht Englisch, has been associated with legal societies in four countries (NZ, AU, UK and DE) and has taught at universities and law school in New Zealand, Germany and the United States. He is one of the "go-to guys" in Europe training attorneys as well as government and industry professionals to understand legal English better and improve their use of it in international commercial practice. I cannot say how pleased I am that the Stridonium organizers have once more raised the bar and gone beyond the "usual suspects" of the translation circuit to connect more effectively with real experts who are at home in the world of our direct clients and offer first-class continuing education for serious professionals.

These workshops are an excellent opportunity for those who write and translate legal English to learn and discuss best practice, common pitfalls based on linguistic issues as well as differences in legal systems, and how to apply the principles of good, professional language for unambiguous, legally sound communication.

The relaxing venue in Holten, in the east of the Netherlands near the German border with excellent road and rail connections, is a perfect place for formal and informal discussions and exchange of ideas and is noted for its beautiful setting in the woods at the edge of town and its outstanding cuisine. Each workshop is scheduled on a Monday, and early registrants can usually secure a comfortable room at no charge as part of the event registration (subject to availability).

Attendees can register for individual workshops on the Stridonium events page; the fee for each full day of instruction is €350. But if you plan to attend all three workshops, a special rate can be obtained by inquiry to the event organizers at info (at) stridonium.com.

The past few decades have seen a dramatic increase in the share of European law contracts relying on English for their binding version. The result is ever-greater pressure on attorneys, their clients, translators and interpreters to understand and use legal English correctly and to understand how best to explain the legal principles of one country in the language of another.

The schedule of workshops is as follows:

English Contracts - April 28, 2014
    - Common Law vs. Civil Law
    - Cross-System Contracts
    - Legal English Terminology
    - Lost and Found in Translation

Legal Drafting - May 26, 2014
    - Basic Drafting Principles
    - Legal Terms
    - Principles of Drafting and Interpretation
    - Avoiding Ambiguity: Exercises in Drafting

Commercial Law - June 2, 2014
    - Overview
    - Legal Entities
    - Employment Law
    - Bankruptcy and Insolvency

There is a networking dinner each Sunday evening before the Monday workshop for early arrivals. Details of each workshop's topics and schedule as well as registration links are on the Stridonium events page.

Each workshop has been awarded 6 CPD points by the Dutch Bureau BTV and 6 ATA CE points.


How to get there (Google map link):

By train
- A 10-minute walk from the station (Beukenlaantje)
- OR let the organizers know when you arrive and either they or hotel staff will collect you!

By car (plenty of free parking!)

From Deventer(A1)

Take the A1 towards Hengelo/Enschede
Exit 26: Lochem/Holten
Turn left for Raalte, follow the signs for Holterberg
Go straight ahead over the roundabout, turn right after the viaduct and left at the T-junction
Turn left at the roundabout and after 50 m take a right turn for Holterberg
After approx 1 km turn right (at yellow building)

From Enschede/Hengelo (A1)

A1 towards Deventer/Apeldoorn/Amsterdam
Exit 27: Holten/Markelo
Continue through the center of Holten, take the Holterberg exit at the roundabout and after 50 m take a right turn for Holterberg
After approx 1 km turn right (at yellow building)