Translating Law in 19th-Century Belgium: Criticisms of Official Translations of Laws and Decrees

Gerwen, Heleen van; Bourguignon, Marie; Nouws, Bieke

doi:10.1163/22112596-02201006

Cited by 4 publications

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“…At the official level it was deemed sufficient to provide a Flemish version, faithful to the source text and printed next to the original, which was conceived as an expression of courtesy to the Flemish citizens. However, complaints regarding the poor quality of the official translations, mostly denouncing the fact that these were often incomprehensible and riddled with errors, underscored their insufficient nature and the lack of true access to the legal text (Van Gerwen et al, 2017). Consequently, many semiofficial and non-official translations endeavoured to provide acceptable alternatives for official translations, not only by providing a correct and readable translation or summary, but also by attempting to render the text comprehensible through explanations and commentaries.…”

Section: Functions Of Legal Translationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Studying the forms and functions of legal translations in history: the case of 19th-century Belgium

Gerwen

2019

Trans-Int

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Research on translation history is thriving: scholars are becoming progressively interested in the role of translations in history in general as well as in the history and historiography of translation. With the exception of some studies on legal translations, institutional translators and institutional translation policy, research on the role and implications of legal and institutional translation in a specific historical and cultural context has been neglected by both (legal) historians and translation studies scholars. In this paper, I argue that the study of the historical role of legal translations constitutes a crucial component of translation history and sociocultural history in general. This paper offers a contribution to the interdisciplinary research field of historical legal translation through the discussion of legal translation practices in the context of multilingual 19th-century Belgium. More in particular, I will focus on the sociocultural role of translation, examining the ways in which legal translation contributed to the intellectual debate on the creation of multilingual and participatory citizens. Legal translations played a significant role in providing access to legislation for the Flemish citizens who were not able to read the official French text. Concurrently, they also assisted in the development of a Flemish legal language and culture. Many translations did not only offer a Flemish equivalent of the legal text, they also included notes and explanations. In this way, legal translations did not only offer purely material access to legislation, but also enabled citizens to understand the law and fully participate in legal and political life.

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Section: Functions Of Legal Translationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Studying the forms and functions of legal translations in history: the case of 19th-century Belgium

Gerwen

2019

Trans-Int

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“…10 Het Vlaamsch Bestuur (1889-1909), Bestuurlijk Tijdschrift voor Vlaamsch-België (1889-1899, Rechtskundig Tijdschrift voor Vlaamsch-België (1897-1963. See van Gerwen 2017 for the role of translation practices in Flemish legal journals. It should also be noted that private translations raised additional issues.…”

Section: Translation Directionsunclassified

Translation space in nineteenth-century Belgium: rethinking translation and transfer directions

D’hulst

Gerwen

2017

Perspectives

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Translation space in 19 th -century Belgium:Rethinking translation and transfer directions 'Landscape', 'space' and 'directionality' are metaphors that have become widely accepted in the humanities, including translation studies. This contribution focusses on translation and transfer directionality, a metaphor that covers a broad and complex range of techniques, actions, places and policies, beyond the supposed one-way process of bridging languages. It provides building blocks for a comprehensive study of translation and transfer directions and presents the results of a pilot study devoted to 19 th -century Belgium, a young, multilingual entity that has elaborated a sophisticated and influential network of translation and transfer directions in the legal and administrative domains. The detailed account of these directions reveals that translation issues have penetrated to the core of social, political and cultural life, addressing questions of representative democracy, language standardization, language equality, cultural identity and citizenship.

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Bilingual Education in the Early Twentieth Century

Mattschey

2023

The Effects of Bilingualism on Non-Linguistic Cognition

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Translating Law in 19th-Century Belgium: Criticisms of Official Translations of Laws and Decrees

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Studying the forms and functions of legal translations in history: the case of 19th-century Belgium

Studying the forms and functions of legal translations in history: the case of 19th-century Belgium

Translation space in nineteenth-century Belgium: rethinking translation and transfer directions

Bilingual Education in the Early Twentieth Century

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