"Del caso" - an important idiom in Spanish
One of the most frequently misunderstood idioms in the translations from Spanish that I review every day is the phrase del caso, which means "appropriate." So
le daré las instrucciones del caso means "I will give him/her the appropriate instructions" (not "instructions about the case"). Adoptar las medidas del caso means "to take appropriate action" (not "action on the case"). No es del caso en esta ocasión reabrir nuevos debates means "it is not appropriate to reopen new deb
Translation Seminar at University of Johannesburg
Today, thanks to the hospitality of linguistics Professor Dr. Eleanor Cornelius and the South African Translators Institute, I gave a lecture on legal translation between English and Afrikaans at the University of Johannesburg. I gave part of the lecture in Afrikaans, which was expertly interpreted into English by Dr. Cornelius, and part of it in English. We discussed issues such as the translation of the Afrikaans word skuld, which means "guilt" in criminal law, "fault" in t
Legal Translation in South Africa
Today I had the privilege of conducting a workshop on legal terminology in Afrikaans and English for the South African Translators' Institute in Cape Town. We discussed the characteristics of legal English, how legal terminology differs from one English-speaking jurisdiction to another, "false friends" between Afrikaans and English, Latin phrases used in legal Afrikaans and legal English, and hidden meanings in legal English. After a break for a strong cup of tea, we discuss
