Informational pamphlets for asylum seekers in English

Abstract

The aim of our study is to examine the legal and administrative English used in the informational pamphlet the Spanish Ministry for Home Affairs created to explain Law 12/2009 to international protection applicants. To do so, a linguistic revision of the translated pamphlet was carried out in order to identify the linguistic and discursive elements which make comprehension difficult. Then, using translation techniques developed by Molina and Hurtado Albir (2002), an intralinguistic translation was proposed with the goal of rewriting the text in easily-understandable English. Additionally, errors were classified and corrected in accordance with Toledo Báez’s (2010, 2015) analytical assessment scale and the pamphlet’s design was updated. Lastly, the readability of both the original and simplified translations was evaluated using the Flesch Reading Ease Formula.