From Wordlab I discover you can spell with flickr. You can also change individual letters at a mouseclick when you create your word:

Das Variantenwörterbuch des Deutschen wurde schon überall empfohlen. Ich habe es aber erst jetzt gekauft, da ich übersah, dass es “Die Standardsprache in Österreich, der Schweiz und Deutschland sowie in Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Ostbelgien und Südtirol” behandelt, d.h. für juristische Ausdrücke durchaus nützlich ist. amazon.de-Link (now removed re malware):

Ich frage mich jetzt bloß, ob ich lieber die gebundene Ausgabe hätte. Hoffentlich bricht der Rücken des Buchs nicht auseinander.

Die Einträge enthalten auch Querverweise zu Synonymen in den anderen Varianten.

Das Buch zeigt auch Begriffe, die deutsch sind und nicht gleichzeitig auch österreichisch, was ganz nützlich bei einigen Rechtsbegriffen ist.

Einträge geben Definitionen und Beispielsätze. Es gibt eine sicher nützliche Bibliographie.

At the Kater Verlag website, you can see a page or two of the books, by clicking on Entscheidungshilfe. It’s listed under Sprache – scroll down.

An example from the book: Kridatar Kridatarin is Austrian. There is a Swiss equivalent (q.v.), Konkursit. Def. ‘Schuldner(in), über dessen bzw. deren Vermögen ein Konkursverfahren stattfindet, durch das alle Gläubiger anteilmäßig befriedigt werden sollen; Gemeinschuldner(in).’ Example: ‘Diversion bedeutete, dass der Kridatar vor allem bei fahrlässiger Krida nicht verurteilt werden muss, sondern das Verfahren auf eine Probezeit von zwei Jahren eingestellt werden kann.’

I had a query this week:

bq. Is there an “official” English translation of the “BImSchG” available anywhere on the Internet? I have a couple of paragraphs as a quote.

Since this comes up frequently, here is a note of my answer:

1. Check at the two websites that link to English translations of German statutes (and delegated legislation): the German Law Archive (the Statutes page has a list of web links first and a list of printed versions second) and Robin Stocks’ page at Carob (click at the top right of the screen on German laws in English).

You may like to start with Robin, because he uses only the German names, which makes it easier to find the right one.

In my opinion, none of these translations are official and you should certainly not rely on them completely.

2. If you don’t find a translation, try a web search. There are many more translations out there (please let me know the link if you find one). Many German ministries have translation on their sites, and so do international law firms. Maybe searching the Deep Web will help. Here’s an LLRX article on Deep Web Research 2005 with many links. – If you find a translation of a statute, please send me the link. I send all the links I find to the two sites mentioned above.

3. Even if you don’t find a translation, you may well find an article or newsletter on a law or accountancy firm site that describes the effect of a statute in detail and that will give you ideas for the vocabulary you need. Just enter a few of the German terms and some likely English terms into Google and see what comes up.

In the case in question, I found a translation by Inter Nationes via Robin’s site. This was on page 37 of a PDF file.

That site gives two translations of the title, Bundes-Immissdionsschutzgesetz_ Act on the Prevention of Harmful Effects on the Environment caused by Air Pollution, Noise, Vibration and Similar Phenomena / Federal Immission Control Act.

I used to use the first of these, but now I use Federal Environmental Impact Act (thanks to Marc ‘Linux for Translators’ Prior). When I had to translate the title recently I enquired of English-speaking translators in Britain whether the word immission has entered the English language yet, and the consensus was that it hasn’t. It isn’t in Collins English Dictionary, whereas it is in German dictionaries of the same size.

These translations are often used, as in this case, to give the client an idea of the legislation. Sometimes you will have to go to a printed version, or rather, it will probably be too late for that, since deadlines seem to be getting shorter.

John Neilan is a freelance translator in Berlin. He has now added a weblog to his site (the site itself has a fair amount of information).

The weblog is headed German English Translator, which is close to The German-English Translator. Still, I suppose I have got used to having both law blog and Law Blog. And at one time it looked as if we’d have another Translate This!

Test

I had to lie about two questions, because none of the alternatives fit. Spreading toilet paper (lavatory paper?) in front of a building is new to me, and I use none of those terms for an easy class.

(Via Anna’s Journal)

Luxus linguae
Il lusso di leggere e (tran)scrivere di una filoglotta. Manifesto:

bq. Luxus linguae è proprio il lusso della lingua: è un lusso leggere, un lusso (tran)scrivere, un lusso tenere un blog. Un lusso interessarsi di cultura (v. Luxus 2). E navigando beatamente nel superfluo, chi si accorge più del lusso di potersi dedicare a tutto ciò? (v. Luxus 3)

Related original texts are at Prototesto.

Biblit blog

Translation Notes by Julio Juncal
Translation resources, news, ideas, and tools. Particularly, on translation from English and French into Spanish or vice versa.

Notas Terminologicas, also by Julio Juncal
Terminology Notes of the Spanish Translation Service of the United Nations, New York