Legal stuff is fun...

[alexpgp]

...to a point.

What I like about some of the legal documents I translate (such as the one before me right now) is the repetition. You start out with something like:

To acknowledge ownership, by the [incredibly long and complicated name of enterprise A], of the whole [industrial] production property complex of the [incredibly long and complicated name of enterprise A], which was transferred as a contribution to the statutory fund of the [incredibly long and complicated name of enterprise B], in accordance with the conditions of an agreement, dated December 7, 2004, creating the [incredibly long and complicated name of enterprise B], concluded between [incredibly long and complicated name of enterprise C] and [incredibly long and complicated name of enterprise D], and the appendix to that Agreement, which is an integral part of the Agreement, and to acknowledge ownership, by the [incredibly long and complicated name of enterprise A], of all property that is part of the whole [industrial] production property complex of the [incredibly long and complicated name of enterprise A], including acknowledgement of ownership, by the [incredibly long and complicated name of enterprise A], of all property that was transferred by the [incredibly long and complicated name of enterprise C] to the [incredibly long and complicated name of enterprise B] as a contribution to the statutory fund of the [incredibly long and complicated name of enterprise B].

(Hey, that's 169 words in one measly sentence!)

Well, having set forth the above, you get to a section where the complainant actually gets down to stating what he wants, among which points is... the blockquote above! Almost verbatim! (Two words were different, and didn't change the meaning of the 'sentence'.)

The part I don't like about some legal documents (such as... the one before me right now) is the rather large number of translator notes I have to insert, along with a liberal sprinkling of [sic] to let the reader know that, for example, a document date of "September 5, 3003" isn't my idea.

The 9 pages are done, except for a review, which I'll do tomorrow. For now, I'm going to go to the store and give Drew some time off.

Cheers...

Comments

[tamaraland.livejournal.com]

I think legal translation is a special kind of ordeal. I admire people who can make it a specialty. When I was involved in a 200,000+ page Czech to English litigation translation project, I couldn't even tell if what was coming in was new or not because it all looked the same after a couple months.

And Russians are so succint and to the point in their legal docs too...

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

My approach to legal translation is similar to my approach to spice in cooking: a certain amount is good, but more is definitely not better.

And if there's one thing I've learned about legal stuff, it's that terseness and clarity are rare, and when they do appear in legal text, it's generally the result of carelessness.

Cheers...