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Kurzarbeit/furlough
In this time of lockdown, the question has arisen as to how to reduce employees’ hours and pay them less. I’m jjust going to touch on the terminology here – anyone who wants to know more can do a...
View ArticleMiscellaneous online queries
A number of discussions have turned up on ProZ recently. I fear they are too complex to make anything sensible out of in the time I have available, but I can at least showcase them. Adrian MM directed...
View ArticleUnverzüglich
A colleague recently had the word unverzüglich in a legal text and wondered whether it mattered which of the many alternatives to choose. Romain: prompt, forthwith, without delay Dietl-Lorenz: (ohne...
View ArticleUsing CAT tools for translation
I’ve been using computer-aided technology for translation since 1998. I use Transit, currently TransitNXT, from STAR. It’s a very good program and has many excellent features I am too lazy to learn...
View ArticleRechtsverordnung – translating into English
How should one translate the German term Rechtsverordnung, which is often abridged as Verordnung, especially in titles, into English? In this blog, I have discussed it in the context of Geoffrey...
View Articlehilfs-hilfsweise
A note on a translation problem: a colleague had a sentence with hilfsweise and later hilfs-hilfsweise. I have met ‘in the alternative…in the further alternative’. Also encountered: ‘in the first...
View Articleunverzüglich/without undue delay
I normally translate unverzüglich as without undue delay. This is always in contracts governed by German law where the German-language version takes precedence. The background is in section 121 of the...
View ArticlePersönlich bekannt
I have always found it confusing that persons appearing (die Erschienenen) before a notary may be described as ausgewiesen durch Personalausweis or persönlich bekannt. It makes it look as if there is...
View ArticleKausalgeschäft – the abstraction principle
Although we know about the abstraction principle in German contract law, we don’t often have to translate it. Here is Markesinis on the principle: We now come to what is one of the most intriguing...
View Articleobiter dictum
I see that Obiter Dictum, das is now in the Duden. (in einem Urteil eines obersten Gerichts) rechtliche Ausführungen zur Urteilsfindung, die über das Erforderliche hinausgehen und auf denen das Urteil...
View ArticleSelbstverwaltung/Fremdverwaltung
I was translating a text about local government in Germany. There are three levels of government: federal, Land and local. The local government authorities sometimes perform their own duties...
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grundsätzlich
Grundsätzlich can have two completely different meanings – see the quote from Philip Slotkin below. This sign at Berlin Hauptbahnhof (formerly Anhalter Bahnhof) shows the problem of translating the...
View ArticleWords – Wörter
Asylerheblichkeit Globuli phloem podocarp fish ladder ‘non-refoulement’ Schrankentrias Verabschiedungskultur smile timer Baumpfleger
View Article“Wir sind da ein Rechtsstaat”
There’s been some discussion of how Angela Merkel responded to a Palestinian girl who spoke very fluently of her situation but afterwards began to cry, apparently in the stress of the moment. Merkel...
View ArticleDIN terminology online
Beuth Verlag publishes standards, and on the few occasions I would have liked to use one, they were too expensive for me. Now the publisher has put DIN terminology online free of charge. The first site...
View ArticleChanges in legal terminology
If a legal concept changes slightly, a new term may be introduced to replace the old. For instance: enduring power of attorney (EPA) up till September 2007 lasting power of attorney (LPA) from October...
View ArticleChanging terminology
In another mailing list last week, I was struck by the question of how to translate the term divorce decree into German. One would normally write Scheidungsurteil, but recently the term Urteil has been...
View ArticleInter alia et al.
Inter alia This was a recent mailing-list discussion. We are advised nowadays to avoid Latin expressions, even in legal English. When avoiding inter alia, we are widely advised to use among others, but...
View ArticleGesetzesvorbehalt
There’s a term in German constitutional law, Gesetzesvorbehalt, literally (reservation/requirement of a statute). On Legally Yours, Rob Lunn discusses the equivalent Spanish concept. How to translate...
View ArticleUnterlassungsgläubiger
I was wondering what to do with Unterlassungsgläubiger in the case of a declaration of discontinuance. If it had been Unterlassungsschuldner, I could have used declarant, and I was tending here to the...
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