FaHCE - UNLP

Traducción jurídica y económica 2 (inglés) | 2024

READING GUIDE # 2

READING ASSIGNMENTS:
Adams, Kenneth. “Translating English language contracts”. In: ITI Bulletin, October 2004. Pp. 17-19.
Chiesa, Ricardo. “Matices y contrastes”. En: Intercambios, N 15/1, Alexandria (USA), 2011. P. 16.
Mayoral Asensio, Roberto. Translating Official Documents. St. Jerome Publishing: Manchester, 2003. Pp.
96-110.

1- a) Read the following fragment from Crystal (2004: 141-142) and reflect on the use of
doublets and triplets today. Do lawyers include long synonym strings when drafting contracts
for the same reasons that Crystal mentions?
“As the profession of the law became regularized during the thirteenth century, French replaced Latin as the
primary language of legal expression. The court reports known as the Year Books run from around 1260 to 1535
and are entirely in French. French also begins to compete with Latin in the statutes, and by the fourteenth century
was the dominant voice (p. 138). Then, during the fifteenth century, law French was gradually replaced by law
English. […]
The problem was: how can tradition be respected yet precision maintained when there are three languages
competing for attention? It is plain that lawyers spend a great deal of their time worrying about the precise
significations of words: David Mellinkoff even begins his classic account with the statement: ‘The law is a profession
of words’. So what words should be chosen when Latin, French, and English each provide a copious supply of
relevant items? How does one choose between synonyms, or – even more difficult – between two words which
seem to be synonymous, but which might just have enough differential meaning to allow a lawyer one day to make
an argument based on the difference?
The solution, in many cases, was: don’t choose; use both. In Middle English, we see the rise of the legal lexical
doublets which would become one of the stylistic hallmarks of that profession. Old English goods and Old French
chattels resulted in Middle English legalese goods and chattels. The words were often paired to cover distinct
nuances, thereby avoiding ambiguity; but sometimes the pairing seems to be no more than a more emphatic
expression of a single meaning; and sometimes it seems to be just a stylistic habit, perhaps fostered by its
undoubted rhythmical appeal in oral performance. But whatever the reason, it became a major feature of legal
style which continues to the present day.”

b) How can we approach their translation according to Adams and to Mayoral Asensio?
Read what Ricardo Chiesa (2003: 43) suggests in connection with the doublet ‘goods and
chattels’.
‘[…] En el inglés jurídico, por ejemplo, son frecuentes las construcciones léxicas donde se enumeran dos, tres y
hasta cuatro términos que, en la superficie, aparentan merecer una traducción individual, pero que, una vez
escrutada su sustancia, resultan ser sinónimos entre sí. Otras veces, se advierte que uno de los elementos está
semánticamente incluido en otro u otros. Una frase como “goods and chattels” es, a menudo, traducida
literalmente al castellano como “bienes y mercaderías”. Esta traducción es incorrecta por superficial. Desde el
punto de vista jurídico veremos, por un lado, que hay razones históricas y retóricas que explican el armado de esta
frase acuñada hace siglos; no hay, en cambio, razones semánticas para pretender, en la frase, distinción alguna
entre los dos términos. El sentido de la frase en su conjunto es el de “cosas muebles” y éste debería ser su
equivalente en castellano; por lo demás, la expresión “bienes y mercaderías” es confusa, ya que contiene una
subordinación por hiponimia entre “bienes” (género) y “mercaderías” (especie) (del estilo de “mamíferos y
leones”), que sugeriría que “mercaderías” pertenece a algún género distinto de “bienes”.’

2- Read the following fragments from an agreement, do some research in monolingual and
bilingual dictionaries and decide whether the doublets/triplets highlighted could be translated
into a single word or not.

1
 FaHCE - UNLP
Traducción jurídica y económica 2 (inglés) | 2024
[...]
Indemnification. Customer covenants and agrees to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Seller and its
affiliates, subcontractors, vendors, officers, directors, employees, agents, consultants and representatives
(collectively, the “Indemnitees”) from and against any and all claims, demands, suits, liabilities, injuries
(personal or bodily), causes of action, proceedings, losses, expenses, damages or penalties, including
without limitation court costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees (collectively, “Claims”), arising or resulting
from its use of the Product.
[…]
Termination. If Customer uses the Product for any use other than as specified herein, this Agreement shall
be null and void and Customer’s right to use the Product shall immediately cease without further action by
Seller.

3- Tomando como punto de partida el análisis que Ricardo Chiesa hace en su artículo
“Matices y contrastes” sobre los usos del término enforce, lea las siguientes cláusulas y
proponga una posible traducción para cada una de ellas:

20.10 Severance: If any provision of this

Agreement shall be held to be unlawful, invalid
or unenforceable, in whole or in part, under any
enactment or rule of law, such provision or part
shall to that extent be severed from this
Agreement and rendered ineffective as far as
possible without modifying or affecting the
legality, validity or enforceability of the remaining
provisions of this Agreement which shall remain
in full force and effect.
[Employment agreement]
Authority. This Agreement constitutes the legal,
valid and binding obligation of the Company and
Executive and is enforceable against the
Company and Executive in accordance with its
terms.
INDEPENDENT NATURE OF LENDERS'
RIGHTS. The amounts payable at any time
hereunder to each Lender shall be a
separate and independent debt, and each
Lender shall be entitled to protect and
enforce its rights pursuant to this Agreement
and its Notes.
The Designer shall be entitled to performance and
enforcement of obligations under the Contract for
Construction intended to facilitate performance of
the Designers’ duties.