Aproximación gradual a la traducción jurídica: un recorrido didáctico1 Gradual approximation in legal translators’ training: a didactic proposal
Gianluca Pontrandolfo
Università degli Studi di Trieste
ABSTRACT
The present paper is framed within the macro-area of specialised translation training and, more specifically, in the field of legal translators’ training. The paper aims at defining and organising training material for novice legal translators. The final aim of the article is to provide students with the necessary tools to analyse and translate a number of important legal genres, with morphosyntactic, lexical, terminological, phraseological, semantic and pragmatic accuracy. The paper is based on the methodology of the “gradual approximation” proposed by Widdowson (1978: 91), applied to legal texts by Garzone (2007: 211-216). The method consists in the exploration of the vertical diversification of the legal discourse, starting from less specialised texts and more popular ones, gradually getting to the most specialised ones, typical of legal discourse. The thematic proposal elaborated in the paper is structured into four content blocks, which can either be used as core modules of a single course or as single and independent modules: 1) between legal and literary translation: the case of ‘legal thrillers’ (see Pontrandolfo 2012); 2) translation of press/popular texts on legal matters; 3) translation of international and European legal texts; 4) translation of national legal texts (doctrinal, legislative, administrative, notarial and judicial texts). The focus relies on the practical part, so that the final training goal is not only the acquisition of definitions and theories on textual analysis, but also the active participation of trainees through a number of resources.
KEYWORDS
Gradual approximation, legal translators’ training, textual approach, Spanish-Italian.