The Importance of Being A Linguist in International Law

Аннотация

This paper explores the vital function of linguists in the realm of international law, emphasizing how their knowledge of language structure, translation principles, and intercultural communication enhances and often exceeds the linguistic skills of lawyers. While attorneys are educated to interpret and apply the law, they can encounter challenges with the intricate linguistic aspects of legal English, such as outdated terms and contextual subtleties. Linguists, particularly those who are also lawyers, play a crucial role in drafting, translating, and interpreting multilingual legal documents with accuracy and clarity, ensuring legal equivalence among languages. The study also presents research that compares the skills of linguistic and legal students in areas like terminology, analysis of legal texts, search strategies, and communication, demonstrating that both professions possess distinct strengths. The results support the need for greater interdisciplinary collaboration between law and linguistics to improve the precision, efficiency, and fairness of international legal proceedings. Keywords: International law, linguist, lawyer-linguist, legal English, translation, multilingual legal documents, legal drafting, intercultural communication, terminology, interdisciplinary collaboration. native speakers use. Legal English is a form of English Introduction: International law is crucial for every used in the field of law in England, America and other individual, not only for them, but also for countries. It countries whose official language is English (Veretina- interacts heavily with official documents, including Chiriac, 2012). Because it has various unusual features treaties, conventions, and diplomatic correspondence, related to terminology, which are linguistic features where linguists can be better at than lawyers. Although and punctuation. Legal English is the style of English lawyers are taught to deal with legal documents, they used by lawyers and other legal professionals in the may lack the deep comprehension of language course of their work (Supardi, 2013). Legal English structure and translation theory required for precise includes some updated words that can lead to interpretation across multiple languages. misunderstanding. The use of archaisms: Archaic terms Linguists, however, improve their ability to analyze refer to the use of old expressions by lawyers called syntax, syntax, and cultural context, which makes them legalese, such as under (under; by); before (before); indispensable in drafting, translating and interpreting after (after), etc., which makes it hard for laypersons to international legal texts. This article explores how understand (Veretina-Chiriac, 2012). Plain English is linguists, especially those with legal practice, play a when linguists replace legal English with appropriate critical role in ensuring clarity, regularity, and justice in words. Although legal practitioners have tended to international legal communication. It argues for wider simplify legal English by replacing them with more recognition of their role and the necessity for understandable forms, that is “Plain English” interdisciplinary practice in both law and linguistics. movement (Mellinkoff, 2004), a variety of archaic Legal English and its struggles words, e.g., hereinafter, aforesaid, therein, thereto, Legal English differs from the general English that thereof, can still be found in English legal documents under the common law legal system. People who want International Journal of Law And Criminology 28 https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ijlc International Journal of Law And Criminology (ISSN: 2771-2214) to be linguists spend more time understanding the languages." The goal of these professionals, trained in context of the written communication, which includes both language and the law, is essentially to close the books, articles, and even old documents. Even if they gap between lawyers and linguist-translators that can have reading skills, which is useful for understanding create problems with the quality and equivalency of international legal texts. Reading comprehension is, texts by revising texts in their mother tongue and however, not an easy task at all. (Broek, 2012)states comparing the resulting text with a base text model. that: “reading comprehension is a complex interaction This method ensures greater accuracy and ensures a among automatic and strategic cognitive processes more faithfully equivalent translation. (Hargitt) (442p, that enables the reader to create a mental INDIANA JOURNAL OF GLOBAL LEGAL STUDIES 20:1). representation of the text”. Lawyers are only trained to In recent times, people have noticed lawyers’ weak find suitable information for their cases; on the other point, which is understanding of legal English. As a hand, they sometimes face rare cases that make the result of this problem, it causes lawyers to spend more information challenging to understand when the time than