City's Legal Translation MA will allow you to acquire a specialisation in an area of translation for which there is an increasing demand.
The course provides an overview of the legal systems and terminology in England and Wales as well as those of the country of your other language.
It establishes a theoretical framework for legal translation and provides practice in translating key documents in a wide range of legal fields.
The curriculum was developed in consultation with the legal translation industry and is tailored to its needs.
Last year the part-time option was scrapped and the course reviewed, apparently with the result that it will be stopped altogether. I wonder what reasons will be given. Probably the part-time option was very attractive and closing that avenue was the beginning of the end.
A similar situation has arisen with the Imperial College Translation Studies Unit, which Imperial College feels does not fit into its programme - presumably with the argument that translation is an art. The course ought to be relocated, they say - but this seems tantamount to closing it.
Here's a link to a petition against this http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/petition-against-the-transferral-or-closure-of-the-translation-studies-unit:
The Imperial College Management Board has informed us that the activities carried out by the Translation Studies Unit (TSU) are not considered core to the College strategy and that, if possible, the Unit should be transferred to another institution. If this solution proves not to be feasible, consideration will be given to closing the unit by the end of September 2013.
Here's something about the TSU.
Defined tags for this entry: law, translation
I'm afraid that news like this is going to keep on coming as long as the big players in our industry don't give a damn about translator training and aren't willing to invest in it.
I know that not all the lecturers on the City MALT course have received glowing reviews, but surely that's par for the course (if you'll pardon the pun). Overall, my understanding is that the quality has been very good, and I'm not saying that because I teach parts of the Financial Legal module myself.
UniS quote: 'And you are NOT lawyers. So don't pretend to be'. Also used at an ITI family law workshop.
Beware: Barristers & Solicitors who get their facts wrong.
Employment law was not actually part of the MA course (other than contracts of employment being used as examples of contracts).
As for not being lawyers- well, some of the students were, but that is not the point. I did warn students against offering (or being understood to offer) legal advice, because they are not insured for the consequences, they are not trained to provide legal advice, and they are not paid to do so.
Being aware of the fact that the authors of texts can make mistakes, whether they are solicitors, barristers or otherwise, is important. Not necessarily because one can then crow about it & feel smug, but rather so one does not assume that it must be correct, and as a result tries to interpret meaning into the translation which is not there.
http://www.city.ac.uk/events/2013/april/legal-translation-ma-reception?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alumni+%26+Giving&utm_campaign=2156675_Legal+Translation+MA+Reception&dm_i=O4W,1A83N,9D2CWO,4CL1G,1
shows that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing...
You mean what you were trying to say if you hadn't taken the employment law elective at Bar School/the Inns of Court School of Law and distinguished contractual wrongful dismissal from unfair dismissal at Common Law: cf translating licenciement abusif FR/EN or ordentliche vs. außerordentliche Kündigung DE/EN.
Also, the point of purporting to give legal advice is a red herring.
An arrogant UniS Barrister lecturer putting down his touchy MALT students who complained to the Head of the Unit - or an ITI Barrister family workshop leader telling the interpreters and translators present that they were not lawyers was uncalled for and added nothing to their legal translation techniques.