John Kuti (he is in St. Petersburg, so this must be his Linked In profile) has started a Legal English wiki. This will be mainly for teachers of legal English, although among the Wanted pages is one on translation. Obviously this depends on people contributing.

At lawtalk.org.uk, John has put up a short slide presentation of how the wiki works.

The wiki is called LawTalk. There isn’t much in it yet, obviously, but it sounds promising.

LATER NOTE: I gather that this poster was supplied by a graphic artist, and the manhole covers are not necessarily from Fürth. The name on the poster is R. Merbig (Roland Merbig) at dokufilm.eu. He does at all events live in Fürth, but he seems to make his living from video.

Conference in Amsterdam in January 2011:

ACLL-CSECL: The Role of Legal Translation in Legal Harmonization

On 21 January 2011 the Centre for the Study of European Contract Law (CSECL) and the Amsterdam Circle for Law & Language (ACLL) organize an international conference on the Role of Legal Translation in Legal Harmonization.

The speakers of the conference examine from different perspectives to what extent and in which ways legal translation affects legal harmonization in the EU.

Date: 21 January 2011
Location: Amsterdam

I got the date from a post to the Forensic Linguistics mailing list, which added:

Perhaps interesting for the conference calendar of the FL homepage, I
would like to inform you that the Amsterdam Circle for Law & Language
(ACLL) and the Centre for the Study of European Contract Law (CSECL) are
organizing a conference on 21 January 2010 on the role of legal
translation in legal harmonization. It will take place in Amsterdam, the
Netherlands. Seven prominent speakers will discuss this issue from the
perspective of the legislative procedure in the EU, legal translation
studies and comparative law.

Translation Commentator is a weblog by Rosene Zaros that has been running for some time, mainly with comments on the translation industry in the USA.

A recurrent topic is the commodification of translation (it does appear that this term is more common than commoditization, both on UK and edu sites). To quote Bernie Bierman’s email given in her latest entry:

Translation (and) the translation process, is (are) not about words…big words, little words, short words, long words, whole words or particles of words. It is equally not about numbers or names or formulas or equations. Translation is about writing and communication. Indeed, before the so-called “wizards” of technology came long in the late 1990’s or early 2000’s, translation was viewed by many as one branch of the communications arts. Indeed, from any clear point of view, whether objective or subjective, translation is about writing and communication. It is not about word-matching, as some if not many of today’s technologically-obsessed translators, CAT workers and CAT operators believe.

Two issues frequently discussed by translators:

1. How shall I charge?
by source text
by target text
by word
by line
by page
What is a word?
What is a page?
What is a line?

NB German words are on average longer than English words
German words in legal texts are on average longer than German words in general texts

I have an Excel file someone gave me to adjust between styles of charging. There’s also a website somewhere that helps. I’ll add it if I remember it.

I can’t get very excited about this, and I think whichever method you use, you have to fix a rate that gives you enough per hour at the end of the day.

2. The use of CAT tools
in particular translation memory
in particular the way translation agencies/companies use TM programs to reduce payment to translators
the idea that using TM saves time

Again, I find TM excellent for quality control, and it doesn’t save me time.

There was an exciting exchange on Jill Sommer’s blog, Musings from an overworked translator, on this topic last November, Trados ad = tempest in a teapot. (That’s US for storm in a teacup – I thought they had done away with the tea).
This in turn went back to a discussion on ProZ. A Trados ad quoted a translator who translated over 34,000 words in 10 hours rather than 17 days, with a fairly empty TM. It sounds to me like a repetitive text.

An example of the Franconian ‘weiches P’, I assume.

Not welcome at Country Corner, Fürth.

LATER NOTE: I thought this Frankenberger was a local hoodlum, but the penny has just dropped – it refers to Sebastian Frankenberger, who initiated the Bavarian referendum as a result of which Bavaria now has the strictest anti-smoking regulations in Germany.

I am pleased to announce that Victor Dewsbery has a new weblog, Language Mystery. Let’s wish it a long and active future.

At Victor’s website there are a number of resources, such as translations of the titles of German statutes, a glossary of Christian terms, German public institutions, advice on not trusting dictionaries, and a lot more.