Monthly Archives: November 2011

Simply the best legal humor blog

Posted in Resources by

Lowering the Bar is an inspired fount of humour (or should I say humor). Whenever you’re feeling down and need to laugh out loud, I suggest taking a look at this wonderful blog. It is compiled by a San Francisco lawyer called Kevin Underhill. He is also a thoroughly good egg, who manages a pro bono program called Pets are Wonderful Support. (Mr Monti take note in Italy, please).
http://www.pawssf.org/

Here is just a taster. Go and explore – and do let me know your personal favorites!
http://kevinunderhill.typepad.com/lowering_the_bar/comical_case_names.html

Canadian legal advice – webinar library

Posted in Resources, Training by

The Law Foundation of Ontario funds an excellent website which covers family law, consumer law, criminal law, education law, employment and work, environmental law, health and disability, housing law, human rights, immigration and refugee law, the legal system, social assistance and pensions, and wills and estates.

Although the content is specific to Ontario, Canada, it contents a wealth of legal information, links and an archive of legal education webinars that can be freely accessed.

In my opinion, it could be really useful both for translators and for lawyers whose native language is not English.

Here is a direct link to the webinar section of the site.
http://yourlegalrights.on.ca/training-archive

Are you an accidental outlaw?

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Nominet is the not-for-profit organisation that has managed .uk, one of the world’s largest internet registries, since 1996. It is entrusted with the safe, stable and secure management of the .uk internet name space.

Knowthenet is an educational and advisory portal to help individuals or businesses. It is a public service to support and guide people through the complexities of the internet, giving advice, best practice and explanations.

This fun, visually attractive and informative quiz covers the law on social media, uploading, music, online discussions and selling. Only takes a few minutes and you might learn something really important!

Conference – Comparative law: Engaging translation

Posted in Conferences by

The Kent Centre for European and Comparative Law invites participation in an international conference entitled “Comparative Law: Engaging Translation” to be held at Kent Law School, Canterbury, UK on 21-22 June 2012.

The conference’s main assumption is that the question of comparative law is through and through one of translation. Yet, even in today’s globalised world where the need to communicate beyond borders arises in ways that are possibly unprecedented, most comparatists, for reasons which participants will want to explore, continue not to address the issue of translation as it pertains to comparative law.

This conference seeks to attract critical and interdisciplinary papers that will draw on fields such as translation studies, linguistics, literary theory, sociology, philosophy or postcolonial studies in order to analyse the central role of translation in comparative law.

Click here to access the call for papers and further details on the conference.

The dictionary on steroids

Posted in Resources by

The website Wordnik, launched in 2009, now employs a staff of 18, many of whom worked for the US arm of Oxford University Press. According to its own words it is a “dictionary on steroids”. Users have the choice of consulting the site on an ad hoc basis, or subscribing to “words of the day”, and can also use it for games.

For translators and lawyers, it is an excellent resource – as well as definitions (and pronunciation), there are many examples, showing the corresponding sources. The lists of related words are far more extensive than any thesaurus, and if you scroll to the bottom of the page you can even see use of the word in recent tweets.

Take a look, you won’t be disappointed!

http://www.wordnik.com/

Machine translation of the law

Posted in Articles by

In this post, I would like to give you a taster of the controversial subject of machine translation (MT). Full references are given below so that you can read further if you are interested.

Potentially, MT could, inter alia, reduce costs, widen access to content, process large volumes of data in order to identify items of interest, make translators’ work more interesting by taking over repetitive tasks, and facilitate communication, for example in social networks or where very unfamiliar languages are involved. The key caveat is that users be clear about the limitations of MT with respect to the translation skopos (or purpose).

Continue reading →