- Be careful. Law has many subtleties, and a word-for-word translation might give a horribly wrong impression.
- There are established sources with fairly reliable translations of different laws. For instance, Constitutions of the Countries of the World has English translations of constitutions that are prepared by experts. The set often includes copies in the original languages as well.
- A great source for finding laws in translation for most countries is the Foreign Law Guide, a database linked from the library's homepage.
- The EU's website includes a great tool: IATE (InterActive Tool for Europe). You can enter a term in one EU language and ask for the equivalent in another. For example, if I enter "jurisdiction" in English and ask for it in Spanish (abbreviated ES, for Español), I get
- competencia,
- competencia judicial, and
- jurisdicción
- The UW's Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal often articles or primary materials. Recent translations include:
- Divorce and the Best Interest of the Child: Disputes Over Visitation and the Japanese Family Courts, written by Takao Tanase, translated by Matthew J. McCauley, 20 Pac. Rim L. & Pol'y J. 563 (2011),
- Initial Research on the Malfunctions ofthe Criminal Process, written by Chen Ruihua, translated by Timothy Webster, 20 Pac. Rim L. & Pol'y J. 359 (2011), and
- Patent Protection of Medical Methods—Focusing on Ethical Issues, written by Yusuke Sato, translated by Jiameng Kathy Liu, 20 Pac. Rim L. & Pol'y J. 125 (2011)
Curious about why September 30 was chosen to be International Translation Day? It honors St. Jerome, the patron saint of translators (because of his translations of the Bible). For more about Jerome, see these articles in The Interpreter Hall of Fame, the Catholic Encyclopedia, and Catholics Online. He is also listed as the patron saint of students and of librarians, so we all have something in common.
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