Developing Generic Competence in Legal Translation Trainees

Abstract

This paper addresses the notion of legal genres and text types from a classroom perspective. It presents several classifications of legal texts developed for legal translation (training) purposes and a critical reflextion thereof. Drawing on the classifications, the paper discusses what the rationale behind text selection in legal translation training should be, and why certain texts are more suitable than others in this respect, depending on the length and level of training. This is followed by a series of exercises designed to raise register and genre awareness in legal translation trainees. The exercises focus on the (a)symmetry of legal genres across languages and legal systems as well as the macrostructure of certain genres.

Keywords

• legal translation training
• legal genres
• generic competence
• macrostructure
• legal text types