переводом, можно научиться переводить тексты по различным специальностям.
Кроме того, в процессе обучения студентов, преподаватель сам постоянно изучает специальность и специфику языка этой специальности. И этот процесс бесконечный, так как нет пределов совершенствования.
Давайте начнем наше занятие с выяснения специфики языка права.
Глава 2. Специфика языка права
Translate into English:
§ 1. Язык права
Язык права непростой, в нем:
-обычные слова употребляются в необычном значении
-предложения такие длинные, что компьютерный редактор подчеркивает их
-часто встречаются архаизмы в относительно первозданном виде
-слова французского происхождения употребляются наряду со словами англо-саксонского происхождения
-фразы и слова на латинском языке употребляются зачастую без перевода
-синонимы (парные и тройные) употребляются для обозначения одного понятия для того, чтобы избежать двусмысленности
-иногда цепочки синонимов употребляются для того, чтобы описать ситуацию с разных сторон
-сознательно употребляются не совсем точные слова и фразы для возможности интерпретации
-в документах отдельные слова пишутся с заглавной буквы либо полностью большими буквами
-каждая деталь имеет значение
-употребляются формальные или церемониальные слова и конструкции
-термины с точным, хорошо понятным значением употребляются наряду с жаргоном
-употребляется огромное количество клише и устойчивых выражений (особенно это характерно для контрактов и документов).
Vocabulary
Редактор - word-processor, copy editor, redactor Обычный - conventional, customary, general, usual Необычный - odd, queer, rare, uncommon
Архаический, отживший, устаревший, устарелый – archaic Syn: old-fashioned
Первозданный - primeval, primitive
Происхождение - ancestry, derivation, descendance, descent, linkage, origin
Англо-саксонский - Anglo-Saxon синоним - synonym
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Парный, двойной – doublet
Тройной – triplet
Двусмысленность (документа) ambiguity, equivocacy Цепь – chain
Прописная (заглавная, большая) буква - capital letter
Сознательно - deliberately, knowingly, wittingly, animo (лат.) Формальный - ceremonial, formal, perfunctory, protocolary Жаргон (воровской) - cant, slang, jargon
Клише – cliché, topos (речевое)
officialese (о словах, словосочетаниях и т.п. в документах официальноделового стиля), hackneyed phrases, stock phrases
Legalese общ. невразумительная юридическая терминология, юридическая заумь бизн. юридический язык
неодобр. юридический жаргон
Translate an extract from “The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language” by David Crystal
§ 2. Language for special purposes
“They don't seem to be talking the same language.” This common observation acts as a reminder that "barriers to communication exist, and indeed are commonplace, even within a language. Linguistic difficulties are inevitable when there is interaction between people from different racial, regional, cultural, social, or occupational backgrounds - something that is increasingly common in modern society as people become more mobile and come into contact with diverse forms of linguistic behaviour. A major aim of linguistic studies, accordingly, is to investigate the factors that promote and maintain the existence of varieties within a language (Part II), and to provide descriptions of their use. These studies have an intrinsic intellectual interest, as they provide a means of observing change in contemporary culture and civilization. But they can also be of practical assistance, by clarifying the reasons for the use of unfamiliar language, and thus providing a perspective that may help to resolve cases of linguistic conflict.
There is no theoretical limit to the number of special purposes to which language can be put. As society develops new facets, so language is devised to express them. In recent times, whole new areas of expression have emerged, in relation to such domains as computing, broadcasting, commercial advertising, and popular music. Over a longer time scale, special styles have developed associated with religion, law, politics, commerce, the press, medicine, and science. A detailed linguistic account of any one of these areas would itself require an encyclopedia, as the analysis of the language used would require an exposition of the conceptual system that gave rise to it. The following illustrations of linguistic varieties and attitudes are inevitably highly selective, therefore, in both range and depth of
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treatment. But they do provide a hint of the extensive resources that language makes available to meet the special needs of developing societies, and of the complications that arise as people slowly come to terms with them.
Vocabulary
Commonplace
1. 1) общее место, банальность; трюизм
2)афоризм, общеизвестная цитата; избитая фраза
3)обычное явление, привычное дело, типичный случай
2.банальный, обычный, избитый, неоригинальный, ничем не примечательный (о человеке, словах, предметах)
Background
1) задний план, фон; незаметная позиция
2) подоплека; подноготная (какого-л. события, явления)
3) условие, исходные данные; предпосылка (проблемы, теории и т. п.)
4) истоки, происхождение, биографические данные; связи, окружение все, что связано с жизнью, образованием, связями и т. п. человека)
Diverse
1) иной, отличный от чего-л., различный; несходный Syn: different, divergent
2) многообразный, различный, разнообразный, разный; разнотипный Syn: several
Perspective 1) вид 2) перспектива 3) перспективный 4) точка зрения Facet 1. 1) грань (алмаза, кристалла и т.п.) 2) аспект, грань, сторона Syn: aspect
2.гранить; шлифовать
3.совершенствовать, улучшать
Devise
1.1) завещание (как акт или намерение)
2) завещанное имущество (в т.ч. недвижимое)
2.1) разрабатывать, продумывать (планы, идеи); выдумывать, изобретать Syn: conceive, contrive, formulate, invent
3.2) завещать (недвижимость)
Domain
1) владение, имение 2) территория, зона 3) домен
4) область, сфера 5) область определения 6) область, домен Time scale 1) временная шкала 2) временной масштаб
Exposition
1)описание, изображение (процесс и его результат) Syn: explanation, description, account
2)выставка, экспозиция (выставление чего-л. для всеобщего просмотра)
Conceptual
1)абстрактный, отвлеченный Syn: speculative
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2) понятийный, когнитивный; концептуальный
Attitude
1) ориентация, пространственное положение 2) отношение, позиция 3) поза
Extensive
1) обширный 2) подробный 3) пространный
4) протяженный 5) широкий 6) экстенсивный
§ 3. Plain English campaigns
Popular anxiety over special uses of language is most markedly seen in the campaigns to promote 'plain' speaking and writing — notably, the Plain English movements of Britain and the USA. The main aim of these campaigns is to attack the use of unnecessarily complicated language ('gobbledegook') by governments, businesses, and other authorities whose role puts them in linguistic contact with the general public. The campaigners argue that such language, whether spoken or written, should be replaced by clearer forms of expression.
The movements took shape only in the late 1970s, so it is too soon to ascertain their long-term influence on the characteristics of language varieties. But they have certainly played a major part in promoting public awareness of the existence of communication problems, and have influenced many organizations to do something about it. In Britain, the campaign was launched in 1979 by a ritual shredding of government forms in Parliament Square, London. By 1982, the government had published a report telling departments to improve the design of forms, and to abolish those that were unnecessary. By 1985, around 15,700 forms had disappeared and 21,300 had been revised. In the USA, President Carter's Executive Order of March 1978 required regulations to be written in plain English, and although this was revoked by President Reagan in 1981, it promoted a great deal of legislation throughout the country, and an increase in plain English usage among corporations and consumers.
Today the Plain English campaigns continue to grow, focussing especially on such everyday consumer products as forms, official letters, licences, leases, contracts, insurance policies, and guarantees. In Britain, annual publicity is given to the Plain English Awards competition, which gives trophies to organizations that have produced the clearest documents, and booby prizes (the Golden Bull Awards) to those whose materials are least intelligible. In the USA, similar interest is shown in the annual Doublespeak Awards, awarded by the National Council of Teachers of English to 'American public figures who have perpetrated language that is grossly unfactual, deceptive, evasive, euphemistic, confusing, or selfcontradictory'.
In these cost-conscious days, it is stressed that clear language not only avoids anxiety on the part of the recipient, it also saves time and money. The campaigns have large dossiers of problem cases. In one case, an official government letter provoked so many complaints and questions that a second letter had to be sent to explain the first. In another, an application form was wrongly filled in by 50% of the applicants, which resulted in a considerable outlay of effort in returning and
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reprocessing the form. On the positive side, there are cases of businesses revising their literature to avoid legal jargon, and benefiting from increased sales.
Particular concern is expressed about the ambiguities and omissions found in medical labels. For example, in one pharmaceutical survey, the instruction to 'use sparingly' was found to be misunderstood by 33% of patients. The instruction to 'take two tablets four hourly' received a variety of interpretations (e.g. to take eight tablets an hour). Related areas of concern include the use of warning labels on household goods (such as disinfectants) and on toys for children.
The instructions accompanying do-it-yourself products are also regularly cited as a source of unnecessary expense or frustration. Few companies seem to test their instructions by having them followed by a first-time user. Often, essential background information is omitted, steps in the construction process are taken for granted, and some degree of special knowledge is assumed. This is especially worrying in fields where any failure to follow correct procedures can be dangerous.
Objections to material in plain English have come mainly from the legal profession. Lawyers point to the risk of ambiguity inherent in the use of everyday language for legal or official documents, and draw attention to the need for confi- dence in legal formulations, which can come only from using language that has been tested in courts over the course of centuries. The campaigners point out that there has been no sudden increase in litigation as a consequence of the increase in plain English materials. Similarly, professionals in several specialized fields have defended their use of technical and complex language as being the most precise means of expressing technical and complex ideas. This is undoubtedly true: scientists, doctors, bankers, and others need their jargon, in order to communicate with each other succinctly and unambiguously. But when it comes to addressing the non-specialist consumer, the plain English campaigners argue, different criteria must apply.
Vocabulary
Plain
1)гладкий 2) обыкновенный 3) очевидный 4) простой
5)равнина 6) чистый 7) ясный
in plain English прямо, без обиняков
Notably
1)исключительно, особенно, в особенности, больше всего
2)весьма, заметно, очень, сильно
Syn: very, highly Gobbledegook (gobbledygook) a)пустой набор слов
б) специальный жаргон (речь определенного узкого круга людей, часто профессиональная)
в) употребление длинных непонятных терминов и т.п., неясное и витиеватое изложение мыслей; непонятная напыщенная речь, белиберда
Ascertain
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