Specialising in Contract Law?
Thread poster: sarahann
sarahann
sarahann
United Kingdom
Oct 22, 2014

Hello all.

I'm currently studying French and German at university and I'm very insterested in becoming a freelance translator.

In terms of picking a specialisation, I'm interested in contract law. I have no legal background at all, but I've lately begun reading up on the subject. To some, it might not be the most thrilling branch of law but it's definitely the one that interests me the most.

I was wondering, in your opinion, is this a realistic specialisati
... See more
Hello all.

I'm currently studying French and German at university and I'm very insterested in becoming a freelance translator.

In terms of picking a specialisation, I'm interested in contract law. I have no legal background at all, but I've lately begun reading up on the subject. To some, it might not be the most thrilling branch of law but it's definitely the one that interests me the most.

I was wondering, in your opinion, is this a realistic specialisation choice for my languages pairs (FR/DE - UK ENG)? Or am I limiting myself too much, in that I would be focussing heavily on just one aspect of law? Would love to get some advice from those who translate contracts on a regular basis. I'm also interested in translating things like birth certificates and perhaps exam transcripts as well. Does this sound like a good plan of action?


Any book (esp. in FR and DE) that you could recommend to improve my knowledge (regarding either contract law, or documents such birth certificates) would also be a huge help.

Any advice is massively appreciated!
Thanks, guys

Sara
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Phil Hand
Phil Hand  Identity Verified
China
Local time: 15:30
Chinese to English
Contracts often demand extremely broad knowledge Oct 23, 2014

Hi, Sara. I don't know anything about your pairs, but I have translated a fair number of contracts. In my experience they don't really form a specialism on their own, because every contract is about something else. For example, an engineering contract may well contain a lot of engineering terminology - and you have to really understand the engineering concepts and intentions behind it to make sure the translation comes out right. Distribution contracts may contain a lot of marketing terms. And f... See more
Hi, Sara. I don't know anything about your pairs, but I have translated a fair number of contracts. In my experience they don't really form a specialism on their own, because every contract is about something else. For example, an engineering contract may well contain a lot of engineering terminology - and you have to really understand the engineering concepts and intentions behind it to make sure the translation comes out right. Distribution contracts may contain a lot of marketing terms. And financial contracts are a whole different species!
Certainly contract law and contract terminology are very useful. I expect most translators on here have got a few dispute resolution clauses tucked away in their TMs. But I think a specialism has to be simultaneously broader (applicable to more types of document) and narrower (focused on one industry) than just "contracts."
As to how limiting it is - there's certainly plenty of work out there in all specialisms, but it is worth noting that a lot of translators start as generalists and specialise later. That's not necessarily the right thing to do, but if it happens that way for you then don't worry too much about it!

[Edited at 2014-10-23 01:13 GMT]
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jyuan_us
jyuan_us  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:30
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
That's exactly it Oct 23, 2014

Phil Hand wrote:

Hi, Sarah. I don't know anything about your pairs, but I have translated a fair number of contracts. In my experience they don't really form a specialism on their own, because every contract is about something else. For example, an engineering contract may well contain a lot of engineering terminology - and you have to really understand the engineering concepts and intentions behind it to make sure the translation comes out right. Distribution contracts may contain a lot of marketing terms. And financial contracts are a whole different species!
Certainly contract law and contract terminology are very useful. I expect most translators on here have got a few dispute resolution clauses tucked away in their TMs. But I think a specialism has to simultaneously broader (applicable to more types of document) and narrower (focused on one industry) than just "contracts."
As to how limiting it is - there's certainly plenty of work out there in all specialisms, but it is worth noting that a lot of translators start as generalists and specialise later. That's not necessarily the right thing to do, but if it happens that way for you then don't worry too much about it!


To me, any branch of law is not a specialization in itself, although most translation companies and quite some linguists think it is.

In a contract, only that sentence " Party B shall indemnify and hold harmless all directors, officers, employees... against any claim of loss and damages..." is a specialized expression in nature but you will find the established translation in virtually all language pairs online.


 
Rachel Waddington
Rachel Waddington  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:30
Dutch to English
+ ...
It will be useful Oct 23, 2014

Hi Sara,

I think a knowledge of contract law is useful to any translator, even if it does not become your main specialism. Keep on reading on this subject and keep a record of what you have read as you may want to tell people about it when you start looking for work. There is certainly plenty of work available translating contracts, though as Phil says, you will probably need other knowledge too.

In any case, it's good that you are already thinking about specialisms no
... See more
Hi Sara,

I think a knowledge of contract law is useful to any translator, even if it does not become your main specialism. Keep on reading on this subject and keep a record of what you have read as you may want to tell people about it when you start looking for work. There is certainly plenty of work available translating contracts, though as Phil says, you will probably need other knowledge too.

In any case, it's good that you are already thinking about specialisms now as it's very important for a translator.

Rachel
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