La langue de communication et le droit à un procès équitable au Cameroun

This paper deals with the incidence of communication channels treatment during court proceedings in a multilingual context like Cameroon. On the one hand, I will defend on the one hand the idea according to which the unbalanced treatment enshrined in the constitution, which confers preferential treatment to the so-called official, but imported languages and a marginal role to other local languages termed as national as well as other means of expression, affects the communication before courtrooms. The use of the former is reserved for an elitist minority group while that of the latter for a majority illiterate group. On the other hand, there has been an effort on the part of the state to curb this discrimination through the linguistic assistance. But still, there are challenges that confirm the legitimate fears of litigants, better lay-litigants of violation of their rights of access to justice and fair trial at large. The paper then suggests to the State to enhance the promotion of national languages, to emphasize on the training of judicial personnel and public awareness.Cet article analyse l’enjeu du traitement réservé aux canaux de communication utilisés devant les tribunaux dans un pays multilingue comme le Cameroun. D’une part, je défendrai l’idée selon laquelle le traitement déséquilibré consacré par la constitution, qui confère un régime de faveur aux langues importées, dites officielles, et un rôle marginal aux autres langues locales, dites nationales ainsi qu’aux autres moyens d’expression, crée un problème de communication devant les tribunaux. L’usage des premières est réservé à une classe élitiste minoritaire tandis que celui des secondes à une classe analphabète majoritaire. D’autre part et partant de cette « discrimination », je présenterai des éléments d’analyse confirmant les craintes légitimes que les justiciables, mieux les justiciables profanes, peuvent avoir du fait de l’utilisation d’une langue marginale ou de la non maitrise d’une langue ou d’autres moyens, de la violation de leurs droits d’accès à la justice et à un procès équitable en général.Cet article analyse l’enjeu du traitement réservé aux canaux de communication utilisés devant les tribunaux dans un pays multilingue comme le Cameroun. D’une part, je défendrai l’idée selon laquelle le traitement déséquilibré consacré par la constitution, qui confère un régime de faveur aux langues importées, dites officielles, et un rôle marginal aux autres langues locales, dites nationales ainsi qu’aux autres moyens d’expression, crée un problème de communication devant les tribunaux. L’usage des premières est réservé à une classe élitiste minoritaire tandis que celui des secondes à une classe analphabète majoritaire. D’autre part, l’Etat a fait un effort considérable pour limiter cette « discrimination » en recourant à la technique d’assistance juridique. Mais il demeure qu’il subsiste des barrières légitimant les craintes des justiciables, mieux les justiciables profanes de la violation de leurs droits d’accès à la justice et à un procès équitable en général. L’article recommande à l’Etat de promouvoir les langues nationales, de généraliser la formation et le recyclage du personnel judiciaire et de sensibiliser le public

AI and the BoLC: Streamlining legal translation

Artificial Intelligence (AI) applied in the legal field has gained considerable ground in the recent years and is used in many fields, amongst which the legal one is of no exception. This paper wishes to explore the quality of the translation (from English into Italian) of an arbitration clause performed by the ChatGPT chatbot. To do so, the automatically generated target text is post-edited by consulting the BoLC (Bononia Legal Corpus) and the web as corpus in the gov.it Italian governmental domain. General and legal dictionaries are also used. The paper findings report some inaccuracies at word level which are easily tackled by corpus consultation. In view of the results obtained, however, complete reliance upon AI-driven solutions is not recommendable at the time being. Conversely, the use of ad hoc corpora and of targeted web searches are the most feasible and reliable solutions, although time-consuming. L’Intelligenza Artificiale applicata in ambito giuridico ha guadagnato notevole terreno negli ultimi anni e viene utilizzata in molteplici ambiti, tra cui quello legale. Questo articolo intende esplorare la qualità della traduzione (dall'inglese all'italiano) di una clausola compromissoria eseguita dalla chatbot ChatGPT. A tale scopo, il testo tradotto automaticamente è post-editato consultando il BoLC (Bononia Legal Corpus) e il web come corpus nel dominio gov.it. Sono inoltre impiegati dizionari generali e giuridici. I risultati dell'analisi evidenziano alcune inesattezze a livello lessicale che sono facilmente corrette attraverso la consultazione del corpus. Alla luce dei risultati ottenuti, tuttavia, al momento non è consigliabile affidarsi completamente a soluzioni basate sull’intelligenza artificiale. Al contrario, l’uso di corpora ad hoc e di ricerche web mirate rappresentano le soluzioni più fattibili e affidabili, anche se richiedono tempo. &nbsp

Simultaneous interpretation in interpreter-mediated remote legal proceedings: some observations from a forum theatre study

This article concerns the findings of a study into participant responses to remote interpreter-mediated court proceedings using Welsh-English simultaneous interpretation. The study employs the forum theatre techniques of Augusto Boal, to explore how counsel, witnesses, mock-jurors and interpreters participate in hearings conducted remotely. The study was conducted in 2022, when the early difficulties of conducting hearings remotely because of the Covid pandemic had been resolved, and legal systems were considering how remote hearings could operate in the future.  This article concerns the findings of a study into participant responses to remote interpreter-mediated court proceedings using Welsh-English simultaneous interpretation. The study employs the forum theatre techniques of Augusto Boal, to explore how counsel, witnesses, mock-jurors and interpreters participate in hearings conducted remotely. The study was conducted in 2022, when the early difficulties of conducting hearings remotely because of the Covid pandemic had been resolved, and legal systems were considering how remote hearings could operate in the future.

Court interpreters’ role in upholding the principle of language in legal proceedings: Kazakhstan case

The demographic shifts in Kazakhstan impact legal proceedings, with a growing number of participants who lack proficiency in the language of court proceedings. This highlights the importance of employing court interpreters. The purpose of the article was to reveal the importance of this specialist in the process of considering a case and providing citizens with the right to justice. The following methods were used in the study: analysis, synthesis, comparison, legal doctrinal, comparative, abstraction. As a result, a number of problems were revealed regarding the implementation of professional activities by a court translator in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The study conducted a comparative analysis of court interpreters in Kazakhstan and foreign jurisdictions, highlighting commonalities and differences in their legal status, authority, and qualifications. In addition, as a result of the study, statistical indicators were presented describing the number of cases considered by the courts of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the participation of foreign citizens. The study yielded recommendations for establishing a centralized database of court interpreters in Kazakhstan and refining candidate requirements, especially concerning education levels. These insights can inform the development of training programs and certification processes for translators in the country

LA TRADUZIONE COME CATALIZZATORE DI CHIAREZZA NEI TESTI NORMATIVI A PARTIRE DA UN’ANALISI COMPARATIVA DELLA SINTASSI IN VARIETÀ DI ITALIANO LEGISLATIVO

Translation is often considered as an ally of plain legal language. This corpus-based study sets out to provide empirical support for this hypothesis by comparing different varieties of legislative Italian used in a monolingual context (Italy) and in two multilingual settings (Switzerland and the European Union). The investigation relies primarily on a quantitative analysis of syntax informed by natural language processing (NLP) methods. The results suggest that translated legislation features shorter sentences, fewer nominalizations, an underuse of the passive voice, fewer non-finite clauses, less deep syntactic trees, shorter dependency links, and a preference for the SVO order with an explicit subject. Among the two multilingual contexts, Swiss legislation shows a slightly higher level of accessibility compared to EU directives. A complementary analysis using readability metrics confirms these trends. Nevertheless, in addition to the translation process in multilingual contexts, other latent external variables may have a (hardly quantifiable) impact on the level of accessibility, such as institutional language policies, legal traditions, drafting guidelines, and training programs for translators and language experts.La traduzione è spesso considerata come un’alleata della chiarezza linguistica dei testi giuridici. Questo studio basato su corpora intende fornire una validazione empirica di questa ipotesi, comparando le varietà di italiano legislativo in uso in un contesto monolingue (Italia) e all’interno di due sistemi multilingui dove l’italiano è lingua ufficiale (Svizzera e Unione europea). La ricerca si basa primariamente su un’analisi quantitativa della sintassi condotta mediante strumenti di trattamento automatico del linguaggio (TAL). I risultati mostrano che la legislazione tradotta si caratterizza per frasi più brevi, un minor ricorso alla nominalizzazione, al passivo e alle subordinate implicite, alberi sintattici meno profondi, relazioni di dipendenza più brevi e una preferenza per l’ordine SVO con soggetto esplicito. Tra i due contesti multilingui, la legislazione svizzera presenta un livello di accessibilità leggermente superiore rispetto alle direttive UE. Un’analisi complementare condotta mediante metriche di leggibilità conferma queste tendenze. Tuttavia, oltre al processo di traduzione tipico dei contesti multilingui, altre variabili esterne latenti possono avere un influsso (difficilmente quantificabile) sul livello di accessibilità, quali politiche linguistiche in campo istituzionale, tradizioni giuridiche, linee guida redazionali, attività formative per traduttori ed esperti linguistici

Structural types of sentences in Kosovo police communication centers

In this paper it will be analyzed grammatical and dialectal aspect of structural sentences of Albanian language used in six Kosovo Police Communication Centers. This paper includes: types of sentences used in Communication Centers separately; enhancing sentences, declarative sentences, declarative-exclamatory sentences and declarative-imperative; imperative sentences; - affirmative and negative sentences. All sections of this paper are illustrated with tables and charts, including number of used sentences and percentage of usage, to present the current situation of use of structural types of sentences in the Kosovo Police Communication Centers. Based on the results from six Communication Centers, which we have analyzed and treated separately, we have come to conclusions of the analysis of the grammatical and dialectal aspects. In Kosovo Police Communication Centers, within the category of declarative sentences, we find positive and negative sentences, which are formed by positive and negative particles, as: Poziiv (Positive), Negativ (Negative), Negativ niher (Negative for now), Po (Yes), Jo (No), veç çka po vrehet n’pamje t’jashtme (only what can be seen from outside), etc. In six Kosovo Police Communication Centers, the affirmative sentences are mainly formed through affirmative particles, as: pozitiv (positive), pranim (copy), po, po – po (yes, yeas – yes), u ba (done), ani faleminderit (OK thank you), n’rregull (alright), e kjart osht n’rregull (it’s clear alright), u kry (done), etc

De la protection de l’environnement dans les Constitutions Algeriennes [Ochrona środowiska w algierskich Konstytucjach]

Since its independence in 1962, Algeria has undergone significant political and environmental transformations. Despite the challenges of post-independence reconstruction, environmental concerns have gradually found their place within the foundational documents of the nation, including charters and constitutions. Although the constitution of 1963 remained silent on environmental matters, indicative of a historical lack of emphasis, pivotal shifts occurred from 1976 onward, marked by the introduction of environmental policies geared toward nature preservation. National charters of 1976 and 1986, as well as the constitutions of 1976, 1989, 1996, 2008, 2016, and notably that of 2020, have all propelled measures for environmental protection. These foundational texts unequivocally underscore the urgency of safeguarding nature in the face of climate disruption and the imperative of immediate action. These legislative developments, substantial and transformative, have elevated the status of the environment within the Algerian legislative and legal framework, signifying a reconciliation between Algeria, its cultural values, history, and international commitments. In this context, a critical inquiry has meticulously examined the integration of environmental and climatic concerns within various Algerian constitutions and legal texts. Findings underscore the significance attributed to nature protection within these documents, while underscoring the necessity for more effective on-ground implementation. Despite notable advancements since independence, characterized by the emergence of environmental policies and the integration of environmental discourse into foundational texts, Algeria must still exert considerable efforts to materialize these laws and genuinely preserve its natural landscape.Depuis son indépendance en 1962, l’Algérie a subi des transformations politiques et environnementales. Malgré les obstacles de la reconstruction, la préoccupation environnementale s’est graduellement inscrite dans les textes fondamentaux du pays, notamment les chartes et les constitutions. Même si la constitution de 1963 était muette sur l’environnement, révélant un manque d’attention à l’époque ; mais depuis 1976, des évolutions significatives ont surgi, avec l’implémentation de politiques environnementales axées sur la préservation de la nature. Les chartes nationales de 1976 et 1986, ainsi que les constitutions de 1976, 1989, 1996, 2008, 2016 et particulièrement celle de 2020, ont toutes impulsé des mesures pour la protection de l’environnement. Ces textes fondamentaux sont sans équivoque quant à l’urgence de préserver la nature face au dérèglement climatique et à la nécessité d’une action immédiate. Ces évolutions législatives, notables et révolutionnaires, ont élevé le statut de l’environnement dans le cadre législatif et juridique algérien, témoignant d’une harmonie retrouvée entre l’Algérie, ses valeurs culturelles, son histoire et ses engagements internationaux. Dans ce contexte, une lecture critique a scruté la prise en charge de l’environnement et du climat dans les diverses constitutions et textes juridiques algériens. Les résultats mettent en avant l’importance attribuée à la protection de la nature dans ces documents, tout en soulignant le besoin d’une mise en œuvre plus efficace sur le terrain. Malgré les progrès notables depuis l’indépendance, avec l’émergence de politiques environnementales et l’intégration de la question environnementale dans les textes fondamentaux, l’Algérie doit encore déployer d’importants efforts pour concrétiser ces lois et véritablement préserver la nature sur son territoire.Od momentu uzyskania niepodległości w 1962 roku Algieria przeszła znaczące przemiany polityczne i środowiskowe. Pomimo wyzwań związanych z odbudową po okresie niepodległości, troska o środowisko stopniowo znalazła swoje miejsce w ustawach tego kraju, w tym w statutach i  konstytucjach. Chociaż konstytucja z 1963 roku pozostała milcząca w  kwestiach środowiskowych, co wskazuje na historyczny brak uwagi, od  1976 roku zaczęły się istotne zmiany, związane z wprowadzeniem polityk środowiskowych mających na celu ochronę przyrody. Krajowe statuty z 1976 i 1986 roku, a także konstytucje z lat 1976, 1989, 1996, 2008, 2016, a  zwłaszcza z 2020 roku wprowadziły środki na rzecz ochrony środowiska. Owe ustawy zasadnicze jednoznacznie podkreślają pilną potrzebę ochrony przyrody w obliczu zmian klimatycznych i konieczność natychmiastowego działania. Te istotne i przełomowe zmiany w ustawodawstwie podniosły status środowiska w algierskim systemie ustawodawczym i prawodawczym, sygnalizując pojednanie Algierii z jej wartościami kulturowymi, historią i  międzynarodowymi zobowiązaniami. W tym kontekście przeprowadzono krytyczną analizę integracji kwestii środowiskowych i klimatycznych w różnych konstytucjach i aktach prawnych Algierii. Wyniki podkreślają istotność przypisaną ochronie przyrody w tych dokumentach, jednocześnie wskazując na konieczność bardziej skutecznej implementacji na miejscu. Pomimo znaczących postępów od uzyskania niepodległości, charakteryzujących się pojawieniem się polityk środowiskowych i włączeniem dyskursu ekologicznego do ustaw zasadniczych, Algieria nadal musi włożyć znaczne wysiłki w celu zrealizowania tych praw i rzeczywistej ochrony swojego krajobrazu naturalnego

The Treuhand and the Treuhanderschaft from the perspective of the specialised combined parallel-comparable corpus

Corpora-based analysis has become one of the major methodologies used in linguistics. However, it has not been widely applied in legalese studies. The paper makes an attempt to discuss the usefulness of the specialized combined parallel-comparable corpus while dealing with the legal language. The effectiveness is presented on the example of the Treuhand and the Treuhänderschaft. The research is based on the comparative analysis as well as the corpus-based analysis of the terms related to the Treuhand and the Treuhänderschaft presented in two varieties of German: Standard German spoken in Germany and Liechtenstein’s German. The corpus-based analysis reveals the juridical-semantic differences and the problematics of the verbal realization of the concepts. These hinder a proper interpretation and complicate the process of translation. The major solution is found through the specification of meaning by renaming. This solution may acquire the greatest importance in today’s world, because the process of globalization widens the area of utilization of the Treuhand and the Treuhänderschaft and any obscurity or incomprehensibility can cause problems during cross-national linguistic and juridical activities

Grammatische Merkmale der deutschen und arabischen Rechtssprache – eine kontrastive Studie am Beispiel der verwaltungsgerichtlichen Urteile in Deutschland und Ägypten [Grammatical characteristics of German and Arabic legal language – a contrastive study on the example of administrative court judgments in Germany and Egypt]

Die vorliegende kontrastive Arbeit befasst sich mit der Grammatik der Rechtssprache in deutschen und arabischen verwaltungsgerichtlichen Urteilen. Anhand einer Auswahl aktueller Urteile von mehreren Verwaltungsgerichten in Deutschland und Ägypten werden Satzarten, Gebrauch des Verbs sowie auch Kondensationsformen wie z.B. Nominalisierung und Attributivreihungen untersucht. Aus der Untersuchung ergibt sich eine Reihe von bemerkenswerten Paralleltendenzen in beiden Rechtssystemen. Es dominieren lange hypotaktische Satzkonstruktionen, die meist schwer überschaubar sind. Die Komplexität in der Satzstruktur ist jedoch nicht in allen Teilen der verwaltungsgerichtlichen Urteile in den beiden Sprachen gleich. Gemeinsam ist den beiden Rechtssprachen ebenso die Tendenz zum komprierten Stil. In den Satzkonstruktionen werden oft viele komplexe Nominalformen eingebettet, die zur Ersetzung von Nebensätzen dienen. Die beiden Rechtssprachen unterscheiden sich aber im Hinblick auf den Gebrauch der Konnektoren, der Aktiv-/Passivformen und Modalitätsausdrücke sowie auch der Zeitformen.This contrastive study deals with the legal grammar of German and Arabic administrative court judgments. On the basis of a selection of recent judgments of several administrative courts in Germany and Egypt, sentence types, use of the verb as well as condensation forms such as nominalization and attribute series are examined. The study reveals a number of notable parallel trends in both legal systems. Long hypotactic sentence constructions dominate, which are usually difficult to understand. However, the complexity of the sentence structure is not the same in all parts of the administrative court judgments of the two languages. The two legal languages also have in common the tendency towards a compact style. Many complex nominal forms are often embedded in sentence constructions, which serve to replace subordinate clauses. However, the two legal languages differ with regard to the use of connectors, active/passive forms and modality expressions as well as tense forms

The right to the environment? Article 4(1) of the Polish Environmental Protection Law Act from a combined comparative law and Polish-English legal translation perspective

A human right to the environment is increasingly recognised in both domestic and international law. Also in Polish legal scholarship, there is a discussion over the possibility of deriving a right to the environment from the Constitution or ordinary statutes, including Article 4(1) of the Environmental Protection Law Act. The existing English translations of its opening words, and specifically the term powszechne korzystanie ze środowiska, appear to mirror the legal controversy. Compared to Poland, the major common law jurisdictions, i.e. England and the USA, show multiple differences in respect of the public’s enjoyment of the environment. In addition to a distinct legal mentalité, grounded on a case-by-case approach, negative freedoms and remedies thinking, both jurisdictions are characterised by considerable private ownership of natural resources like rivers and forests. In view of this legal and translation problem, the present paper seeks to employ comparative law methodology to establish an acceptable English translation equivalent of the term powszechne korzystanie ze środowiska. The analysis is also an attempt to go beyond the ways in which the use of comparative law in legal translation is typically perceived, i.e., beyond functionalism, beyond micorcomparison and beyond conceptual analysis.Prawo człowieka do środowiska znajduje coraz szersze uznanie w krajowych i międzynarodowych systemach prawnych. Również w polskiej nauce prawa toczy się dyskusja na temat możliwości wyprowadzenia prawa do środowiska z Konstytucji lub ustaw zwykłych, w tym z art. 4 ust. 1 Ustawy – Prawo ochrony środowiska. Istniejące angielskie przekłady początkowych słów tego przepisu, a ściślej terminu „powszechne korzystanie ze środowiska”, wydają się odzwierciedlać wspomniane kontrowersje prawne. Jeśli chodzi o kwestię korzystania ze środowiska przez obywateli, najważniejsze obszary prawne tradycji common law, czyli Anglia i Stany Zjednoczone, wykazują w porównaniu z Polską wiele różnic. Oprócz odmiennej mentalności prawnej, zorientowanej na fakty konkretnych spraw, wolności negatywne i dostępne środki ochrony prawnej, obszary te cechuje wysoki udział własności prywatnej zasobów naturalnych takich, jak rzeki i lasy. W świetle powyższego problemu prawno-tłumaczeniowego celem niniejszego artykułu jest wykorzystanie metod prawa porównawczego do ustalenia akceptowalnego angielskiego ekwiwalentu tłumaczeniowego terminu „powszechne korzystanie ze środowiska”. Przeprowadzona analiza jest również próbą wyjścia poza typowe sposoby wykorzystania prawa porównawczego w tłumaczeniu prawniczym, tj. poza metodę funkcjonalną, mikrokomparatystykę i analizę pojęciową