Back in March, I published a post about a program in Maine, USA aimed at recruiting and training court interpreters for the purposes of supporting diversity and migrant needs, in particular fulfilling an increased demand for Somali interpreters.
A couple of weeks ago, I came across¹ a case involving a witness speaking a Tanzanian dialect of Swahili, where first a Rwandan, and then a Kenyan had been called in to interpret, with apparently unsatisfactory results on both occasions.
I came across a very interesting case a few days ago, concerning Toyota and a legal translator who decided to reveal documents and internal memoranda to which she had become privy, in what she felt were the interests of public safety.
I am always interested in Finnish initiatives (they are often very innovative), since acquiring a soft spot for Finland when I was working in the northern part of that country on a European project. I thoroughly recommend a presentation that I came across recently, which explains a crowdsourced lawmaking project in the shape of an “Open Ministry”.
Arie de Vois – Portrait of a Notary
Europe denounces the monopoly of notaries, as well as the condition of access to the profession, both of which are considered not competitive. Moves were already under discussion in the drafting of Directive 2006/123/EC on services in the internal market, but had been shelved. A CJEU ruling in 2011 determined that notarial activities are in the field of competition, and a recent Council recommendation (see page 5) has underscored that ruling.
Today I have the pleasure of welcoming Pedro Satué. He holds a postgraduate degree in Legal Translation from the University of Alicante and a 5-year degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Seville. Pedro is also a sworn (i.e. official) translator appointed by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs – and says “My appointment is so old that the arms on the letterhead still bear the old imperial eagle watching from behind the shield. 🙂 Some other minor diplomas and certificates give evidence of my commitment to the so called Continuing Professional Development – there is no age limit on learning“.
So, over to Pedro for a very educational post…
“What is this legislative creature?” With thanks to Library Boy, let’s find out!
Canada’s Library of Parliament recently published a paper entitled ‘Omnibus Bills: Frequently Asked Questions’ that tries to get to the bottom of the issue.
In August this year, a US Judge, Steven D. Merryday at the District Court, Tampa Division, Florida, rejected submissions by lawyers that exceeded the page limit, and in his Order even gave them a lesson in editing – to avoid “redundancy, verbosity, and legalism”!
A new language and linguistics magazine has just been launched that might interest you. The quarterly is called “Babel” and this is the editors’ description:
“Whilst Babel is written in English, it will address issues relating to many different human languages, including those under threat of disappearing as well as the world’s major languages. There will be regular features, such as biographies of influential thinkers on language (‘Lives in Language’) and explanations of technical terms (‘A Linguistic Lexicon’) and there will also be feature articles on topics of general interest as well as regular quizzes and competitions.”
A few weeks ago, I was invited by Jonathan Goldberg of the blog Le mot juste en anglais to review a paper, Les conceptions juridiques du harcèlement sexuel en France et aux USA – Avant et après l’affaire DSK¹, comparing the way in which the law sees sexual harassment in the United States and in France. I am thus in the slightly odd position of reviewing a paper originally written in English, but finalized in its French version, where my review itself is to be written in both English and French! Anyway, back to the point.
One of the opening statements in Abigail Saguy’s article is the affirmation that the Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) scandal could only have erupted in the USA². She then analyses the laws, legislative debate and case law over a period from the 1960s (in the US and rather later in France) to the present, in support of her argument that the scandal has also changed the “political and legal landscape” and “might influence the way in which France deals with sexual harassment cases in the future”.
I recently came across the film Hot Coffee. For a film essentially about tort law, it is remarkably watchable. 😉
First-time filmmaker and former public interest lawyer Susan Saladoff used the infamous legal battle that began with a spilled cup of McDonald’s coffee to investigate what is behind America’s zeal for ‘tort reform’ – which , she states, “threatens to restrict the legal rights of everyday citizens and undermine the entire civil justice system“.
From Words to Deeds: translation & the law 
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