CASE STUDY: TEACHING FINNISH - ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES (LSP) LEGAL TRANSLATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI

Abstract

Finland is widely recognized as one of the top countries to live in, with transparency and an excellent education system, which provides for top English proficiencies. The applied English translation case study that is examined in this paper focuses on Finnish into English legal translation teaching coupled with studying at the University of Helsinki. Scrutiny of the course structure, teaching materials and teaching methods was undertaken as part of the empirical research and the efficiency of the new teaching method and course structure inspired this paper. Methodology also included interviews/surveys to obtain up to date data. The case study in brief illustrates that students at the outset of the course acquired the basic concepts of Finnish and comparative law. This was done in a blended learning environment with reverse classroom makeups and small group discussions being used instead of teacherfronted lectures. Students were also asked to look up information on the Internet and undertake translations comments, company visits, and translating an entire court case. From the teacher’s perspective Moodle was used as a file managements system. Results suggest that the students are satisfied with this method and see it as beneficial. It can be used for benchmarking for legal translation courses in others settings.

Keywords

• LSP
• Finnish
• English
• translation
• translation teaching