On disputes, verdicts and removals from the offi ce: student errors in translating legal texts

Abstract

The article deals with the issue of errors made by German language students in translating legal texts. The corpus consists of translations prepared by students of the German Language and Literature Studies at the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz (part-time 2-year master course). The study, apart from presenting most common mistakes, aims at describing the status quo and reflecting on its causes. The analysis has shown that problems arise in three main areas. The first one is the target language command, the second – mother tongue command and, last but not least, the knowledge of the law-related issues. They often result from a superficial analysis of the text or inability to understand parts of the text. This, in turn, leads to incomprehensible phrasing. Students tend to translate passages literally or word-by-word. They often make use of loan translation in the fields of morphology, lexis and syntax. They often employ most typical equivalents which do not correspond to the subject matter, thus resulting in errors connected with specialist lexis. What truly seems indispensable is to develop the habit of using dictionaries, companions and source materials and texts combined with their skillful use. The most pessimistic conclusion is that students often struggle with their mother tongue. They seem to lack the knowledge in the Polish language morphology. They use grammar categories incorrectly, often have problems with word order and collocations. Their translations contain a considerable number of punctuation and spelling mistakes as well as tautologies.