The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

Teaching specialised translation through official documents

Edyta Źrałka, Unesco Chair for Translation Studies and Intercultural
Communication, and Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Faculty of Philology

ABSTRACT

The main concern of the article is to present ideas about how to teach translation of
specialised texts. Such a topic was dictated by the need to educate students in that
particular kind of translation, as they are going to deal with a growing number of
specialised texts to translate in their future work as translators. Such translations need to
be carried out according to a scheduled process. The article, presenting its stages, may
be a source of reference to teachers of specialised translation, and also to students. The
proposed model of translation is based on analysing parallel texts. The texts are birth
certificates in English and Polish, as they represent a concise form of specialised legal
texts, on the basis of which the particular stages of translation seem easy to
demonstrate. The analyses are performed according to criteria determined to be
indispensable for carrying out a translation of specialised texts, among which are
reference to layout, vocabulary, grammatical constructions and style of language.

KEYWORDS

specialised texts, codified texts, parallel texts, standardised form, formula, terminology,
nominalisation, polysemy, internationalisms.

1. Introduction

Official documents, such as certificates of birth or marriage, are among

the most often translated specialised texts because of their extensive
public usefulness. They are classified as legal texts (Olpińska 2003:166;
Pieńkos 2003:124) for at least two reasons. First of all, they are used for
matters connected with law, like proving a subject’s identity or marital
status, and are prepared most often in the form of sworn translations.
Secondly, they share many typical formal characteristics of other legal
documents and, at the same time, specialised texts.

The concise construction of a birth certificate gives a teacher an

opportunity to show many typical features of legal texts to future
translators in a clear way. That is why it was chosen as a sample to be
analysed for this article. The aim of the article is not only to show the
characteristics of birth certificates in Polish and English, but also to use
this comparison to present consecutive steps in the translation process.
The primary concern of the article is to provide guidance for teachers and
students on how to use parallel texts and produce a good translation.

2. Criteria for pre-translation text

The very first piece of advice the teacher should give the students ahead
of any translation process, is to identify elements of a particular source

74
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

text, which seem of fundamental significance for translation. Such

identification, through the process of source text analysis, gives the
translator an opportunity to produce the best possible translation, as most
pitfalls to avoid can be highlighted in that way. In the case of a non-
literary text, the translation of which requires strict precision to keep the
one and only proper meaning of the original message, this search for best
translation patterns would be particularly important, but how to find best
solutions for identified translation problems is a different matter. This time
the role of the teacher would be to show the students that one of the most
commonly used and effective methods to find such right patterns of
translation is through the comparison of parallel texts.

To give the students an idea of what a specialised text is, the first step the
teacher should take is to have the students search for elements that are
characteristic of the specialised text and thus would be particularly
important for translation. This is possible through extensive practical
study, but where the students are concerned, the teacher may help them
find needed clues for constructive analyses in definitions and
characteristics of specialised texts, given by different authors. On the
basis of the definitions presented in the literature that the students have
at their disposal, they can build up their knowledge on the issue and try to
find the important features in a given text.

Through the literature study the students will learn that specialised texts
use a special kind of language. Such a language of specialised knowledge
(in English often referred to as LSP – language for special purposes) has
its own technical lexicon, the fundamentals of which are a particular
system of terminology, and specific rules of introducing terminological
units into a text, namely its own cognitive syntax. The syntax of
specialised texts should serve as a means to obtain clarity, univocal
character and precision of thought.

As for the terminology, it is always based on specific terms, relevant to a

particular field of science or technology. In general, a term is one word or
a few words taken together, an abbreviation, or combination of (a)
word(s) and symbol(s) that express different notions. Sufficient frequency
of using a lexical unit in relation to a given notion has a decisive role in
constituting a term. Terms are not charged emotionally. That is why
diminutive or augmentative suffixes are not typical of specialised
vocabulary in languages in which they are generally accepted. Multi-word
and international terms (often with Greek or Latin roots), the same as
neologisms, are also used.

As for the importance of terms in specialised texts, opinions are divided.

Newmark states (2004: 5) that “terms usually consist of not more than
5% of the text’s vocabulary”. But, according to Arsentyeva (2003: 170-
171):

75
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

Terms constitute 20-30% of the whole vocabulary of such texts […]. Terms always
tend to be used in their primary logical meaning, as they indicate with precision a
particular scientific concept and particular objects. Hence no problem of polysemy
arises (with only some exceptions).
Neutral words constitute the majority of the vocabulary of scientific style (60-70%)
with some proportion of common literary vocabulary, including such learned words
as: approximately, respectively, indicate, in consequences of, etc. (about 10%).
Academic science and technology are also characterized by a high degree of
nominalization, which finds its expression in the abundant use of nominal groups.

Nominalisation of scientific texts may be explained as the predominance of

nouns and adjectives over verbs and adverbs and prepositions over
conjunctions (Górnicz 2003:115).

As can be learnt from the above quotation from Arsentyeva, an important

feature of specialised texts is creating overt meanings of text units
without undertones (lack of polysemy), realised through consistent
repetitions of once used terms, which always refer to the same notions.
Where syntax is concerned, the teacher should draw the students’
attention to its conciseness, often resulting in the introduction into a text
of a symbol rather than terms repeated in extenso.

A typical feature of specialised texts is the extensive use of some

grammatical structures, such as the passive voice with the verbs:
suppose, assume, conclude, infer etc. (Arsentyeva 2003:171). In English
it is much more frequent than in Slavic languages. It reflects the
impersonal style of specialised texts. Participle structures, the use of the
third person singular or plural, frequent performatives, such as: declare,
confirm, commit, or consent verbs, like: permit and authorise are typical
of legal texts especially. The same is true of the extensive use of modal
verbs characteristic of contracts, as they regulate obligations, rights and
prohibitions. On the other hand, some grammatical constructions, like
imperatives, are not typical of specialised texts.

Clear division of the text into units is typical of the layout. Such text
division is most characteristic of the so-called codified texts (e.g. a
contract of employment, business contract, medical diagnosis, petition
etc.), among which a birth certificate should also be placed. Codified texts
are characterised by an officially stated and organised structure of their
components. (See Zmarzer 2003:28). Each component is obligatory. Such
components give the text the status of an official document and, at the
same time, introduce the contents through the accepted vocabulary.

A specialised language will be realised in the scientific-technological style,

mainly because of its professionally restricted range of vocabulary. But the
language will be specialised not only because of the lexical layer, but also
because of syntactic elements and grammatical constructions mentioned,
characteristic of scientific style.

76
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

On the basis of the enumerated characteristics, elicited from the students

in the didactic process, they should come to the conclusion that the
parallel text analyses should be performed according to the following
criteria:

• layout (text division, content of information, formulas),

• vocabulary (terminology, morphological features of typical
vocabulary),
• grammar (typical grammatical structures, syntax),
• register (vocabulary and grammatical constructions used,
communication strategies, overall – the stylistic features).

3. Analysis of parallel texts as a source of information on their

patterns and common features

Having realised what criteria are relevant for analyses of specialised texts,
the next step to take with the students should be carrying out the best
possible analyses of both – a source text and a parallel text in a language
into which we want to translate. The effect of those analyses will be
discovering a set of features common for both texts, which can be used as
the model for an adequate translation.

Comparing a Polish birth certificate, a standardised document entitled

Odpis Zupełny Aktu Urodzenia (see Fig.1 in the Appendix), and different
versions of British and American birth certificates (e.g. those from the
State of Massachusetts, Suffolk County, Boston; Wandsworth District in
the United Kingdom, pursuant to the Births and Deaths Registration Act,
1947, and Cambridgeshire District, County of Cambridgeshire and the Isle
of Ely, pursuant to the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1953 (see the
Appendix, Fig.2, 3 and 4; Kierzkowska 1998:33, 36, 37), the students
should easily notice that, as far as the layout is concerned, they are quite
similar. The clear division of the texts into units is reached by the
numbering of passages and the data within them, using tables, bold font,
or capital letters. Analysing the contents it appears that a translator will
come across such data as:

• country or district emblems,

• the name of the country, registration district or province,
• names and dates of acts according to which registration is
performed,
• the seat of a registrar’s office,
• the number of the certificate,
• the place and the date of birth registration,
• the title of the document,
• information concerning the child: surname, first name, middle
name, sex, date of birth, place of birth, birth specification (single,
twin etc., order of births if twin),

77
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

• information concerning parents (usually clearly divided into two

parts: for father and mother): surname, first name, middle name and
maiden name for the mother, place of birth, residence at the child’s
birth, parents’ occupation, age at the child’s birth,
• information concerning the person reporting the birth (name,
address, relationship, signature and function of an informant or a
certifier),
• additional remarks,
• signatures (of the registrar or another certifier and an informant)
with the official phraseology used in certification,
• the place and date of document issue,
• stamps.

Having found the common elements, within the areas specified above, in
both texts, a source text and a text in a target language into which the
translator is going to translate, it is reasonable to imitate whatever can be
imitated in the translation, using the patterns of the target language,
matching the information from the source text. But to do it, the translator
has to be precise and, apart from observing the presence of similar
information, analyse the specifics of vocabulary used, grammar structures
and stylistic features of a target text in order to create a good translation.
From the analyses of vocabulary in the certificates formerly mentioned,
students will see that some of it will be obvious, like the vocabulary used
for personal data or details concerning the place of birth registration
(where proper names appear, such as for official names of countries or
institutions, they should be checked against reference sources –
encyclopedias, dictionaries, glossaries and other patterns gathered from
comparable corpora etc.). But there will also be some vocabulary of a
more terminological character. The teacher should alert the students to
such terminology, so that it can be properly chosen. This time having
parallel texts at one’s disposal is really invaluable. The teacher’s task in
this respect is to find the terms that can prove troublesome for the
students and to show them equivalent solutions in the text written in the
target language. When translating a birth certificate from Polish into
English such problematic terms could be: zupełny, in the expression odpis
zupełny (meaning ‘complete’), zakład, in the expression dane dotyczące
osoby (zakładu) zgłaszającej urodzenie (meaning ‘institution’), akt, in the
expression akt urodzenia (meaning ‘certificate’) and znak, in the
expression znak opłaty skarbowej (meaning ‘stamp duty’), as they have
more than one meaning, and the students must be careful and consult the
parallel texts and other sources to choose proper equivalents. On the
English part such problematic words could be: act, in the expression the
births and deaths registration act, (meaning ‘a decree of a legislative
body’), sex (meaning ‘group of males or females collectively belonging to
either group’), entry, in the expression the entry no. (meaning ‘item
entered’), entered, in the expression name entered after registration
(meaning ‘put into a list or record’) live, in the expression live birth
(meaning ‘living’, ‘alive’), return, in the expression city or town making

78
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

this return (meaning ‘formal statement or report’), order, in the

expression order of birth (meaning ‘specified sequence’) and zip, in the
expression zip code (meaning ’post code’). The teacher should also help
the students choose the vocabulary which is of terminological character,
according to how terms are understood in the literature on specialised
texts (see section 2.), and treat such words as an absolutely necessary
thing to bear in mind and incorporate into the translation. The terminology
should be established on the basis of the parallel texts as far as possible.
Terms in English, the meanings of which the students should memorise in
order to perform a good translation of a birth certificate into Polish, would
be: middle name (meaning ‘drugie imię’ and realised in Polish forms as
’imię (imiona)’), maiden surname (‘nazwisko panieńskie’), mailing address
(‘adres do korespondencji’), certifications (‘poświadczenia’), certifier
(‘osoba poświadczająca’), informant (‘osoba zgłaszająca urodzenie’), print
or type name (‘nazwisko drukiem’), supplement filed (‘załączniki’),
relationship (‘pokrewieństwo’), clerk or registrar (‘urzędnik lub urzędnik
stanu cywilnego’ – in Polish forms – ‘Kierownik Urzędu Stanu Cywilnego’)
and registration district (‘okręg zarejestrowania’, in the Polish
standardised form – ‘Urząd Stanu Cywilnego w…’).

The problematic English expressions worth memorising, which may appear

in birth certificates, would be: entry No. …in the Register of Births (‘treść
aktu w księdze urodzeń’), in my custody (‘pod moim zwierzchnictwem’),
the above particulars (‘powyższe szczegóły’), is liable to prosecution
(‘podlega postępowaniu sądowemu’), pursuant to (‘zgodny z’), witness my
hand (‘w mojej obecności’), residence of informant (‘miejsce zamieszkania
osoby zgłaszającej urodzenie’) and certified copy (‘odpis (kopia)
poświadczony’).

The equivalents of the following Polish terms from Odpis Zupełny Aktu
Urodzenia in English would be: odpis (‘copy’), zupełny (‘complete’) akt
urodzenia (‘birth certificate’), osoba zgłaszająca (‘informant’), Kierownik
Urzędu Stanu Cywilnego (‘Principal Registrar’), nazwisko rodowe (if both
parents are concerned – ‘patronymic name’, if just the mother – ‘maiden
name’), siedziba zakładu (‘the institution’s seat’, or ‘address’), wzmianki
dodatkowe (‘additional remarks’) and znaki opłaty skarbowej (‘stamp
duty’).

The last issue with regard to vocabulary, to which the teacher should draw
the students’ attention, is its character – official, formal, deprived of
diminutions and colloquialisms. The students should keep that in mind,
especially if they do not find a ready equivalent in a parallel text.

When it comes to grammar, one of the very first observations that will
probably be made by the students is the conciseness of the contents and
the rigid organisation of grammatical structures, mentioned among the
characteristics of specialised texts. It is achieved by the predominance of
noun structures or participles instead of full sentences. Most data is

79
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

introduced through noun structures (surname, first name, middle name,

maiden surname, occupation of father/mother, date of birth, sex, place of
birth, registration district, name of hospital, signature, residence of
informant, relationship, county, city or town, registered number, date
etc.). The remaining information is very often given through participial
structures. The examples in the Polish certificate are: Dane dotyczące
dziecka/rodziców/osoby (zakładu) zgłaszającej urodzenie – ‘Data
concerning the child/parents/a person (an institution) informing of a birth’
instead of Dane, które dotyczą – ‘Data which concern’. There are also
impersonal structures like: Poświadcza się (‘One certifies’, that would be
best translated as ‘This is to certify’) and Opłatę skarbową… pobrano (best
translated into English as a passive structure – ‘The stamp duty… was
charged’).

The English forms are on the one hand more concise than the Polish one.
Instead of Data concerning a child/parents/a person (an institution)
informing of a birth, in one of the forms (see Fig.2 in the Appendix;
Kierzkowska 1998:33), there are simply sections entitled child, father,
mother, certifier and informant, with appropriate particulars. The
information concerning parents and a child is sometimes less systematic,
put in table columns entitled: When and where born, Name, if any, Sex,
Name and surname of father, Name, surname and maiden name of
mother, Occupation of father and Signature, description and residence of
informant (see Fig.4 in the Appendix; Kierzkowska 1998:37). Inclusion of
data concerning parents may be completely ignored and the only
information about a child is Name and Surname, Sex, Date of Birth and
Place of Birth (see Fig.3 in the Appendix; Kierzkowska 1998:36). In these
expressions we can also observe avoidance of grammatical words, such as
articles (surname of father, maiden surname of mother, occupation of
father, residence of informant or Specify order of birth). Sometimes even
verb forms are omitted, as in If not in hospital, number & street, This
birth single, twin etc., or If not single, born first, second etc. It is also
typical to avoid finite verbs, like in City or town making this return, or in
passive forms, to omit personal pronouns and the auxiliary be, like in
When and where born, When registered, or Printed by authority of.

On the other hand though, instead of the Polish non-finite structure

Poświadcza się zgodność – ‘This is to certify…’, there are full sentences in
the English forms, like I certify that the information appearing above is
true and correct, with an informant’s signature (see Fig.2 in the Appendix;
Kierzkowska 1998:33), or I, …, Registrar of Births and Deaths for the Sub-
district of…do hereby certify that the above particulars have been
compiled from an entry in a Register in my custody. Witness my hand
this…day of…19…, with the registrar’s signature (Registrar of Births and
Deaths) (see Fig.3 in the Appendix; Kierzkowska 1998:36). The latter
formula has its variants, like I, …, Registrar of Births and Deaths for the
Sub-district of …, in the …, do hereby certify that this is a true copy of the
entry No. … in the Register of Births for the said Sub-district, and that

80
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

such Register is now legally in my custody. Witness my hand this … day of

…, 19…, with the signature of the Registrar of Births and Deaths (see Fig.4
in the Appendix; Kierzkowska 1998:37). Another such form is the one Any
person who (1) falsifies any of the particulars on this Certificate, or (2)
uses a falsified certificate as true, knowing it to be false, is liable to
Prosecution (see Fig.3 and 4 in the Appendix; Kierzkowska 1998:36, 37).

Among the most important features of grammar in the analysed

certificates there is the use of imperative structures, untypical of
specialised texts, but this time justifiable, or even normal, as the texts
analysed are forms, which often need instructions to be included. There
are such imperatives as Specify order of birth, Do not use mailing
address, Present mailing address.

The last remaining point to teach the students, is the necessity to

appraise the register of the text they are going to translate. The students
should be able to see that all the texts analysed are written in an official,
formal style. We can observe that the official style on the level of layout is
kept by putting the texts into a formalised structure of elements, having,
more or less, a comparable pattern in each variant (tables, similar
headings).

On the level of vocabulary we can find no words which would be

emotionally marked. There are no diminutive or augmentative suffixes. In
the Polish form, when information about stamp duty is added, we can find
the word znak (opłaty skarbowej). It sounds like an augmentative form of
a colloquially used term znaczek - at the same time a name for a postal
stamp, but those are two different words. There is no such situation that
two different notions are referred to by the same term, or vice versa,
which means that there is no polysemy. The terms are repeated
consistently in relation to one and the same notion. Some words are
internationalisms (of Latin origin) and are used in official or legal texts
frequently (Polish: cywilny, akt; English: public, vital, certificate,
residence, supplement, copy and informant). The next feature being
typical of official style is using multi-word terms, which are also present in
the texts analysed, e.g. Polish: nazwisko rodowe; English: maiden
surname/name, full name, type, print name, public health, vital records,
registered No., standard certificate, certified copy, falsified certificate,
mailing address and registration district. There are also some official
fossilised expressions used, like Witness my hand…, In my custody, I do
hereby certify… and in Polish Poświadcza się zgodność (‘This is to certify
the consistency…’). Even such typical information as the date is not
expressed straightforwardly, but formally (This 21st day of December).

On the level of grammar, the style is no less official. There are very
concise participle or noun structures instead of full sentences, which
makes the texts official and gives them the character of forms - evident
when imperative structures are incorporated. Communicative strategies

81
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

used are then informative and directive. Impersonality of the texts is their
common feature – as has already been pointed out, we can observe
constant avoidance of finite verb and few full sentences are used with
performatives, such as certify and falsify.

4. Methodological guidelines on translating official documents as a

kind of specialised text

After text analyses, teaching the students some methodology of

translation seems a necessary stage in the teacher’s instructions. Among
theories concerning the translation of specialised texts, put forward to
provide a methodical approach to that area of linguistic activity, there is
the theory formulated by E. A. Nida (Leung 2001:2; Pieńkos 2003:64-65).
Its most important element is the notion of 'equivalence'. There are two
kinds of equivalence:

• formal equivalence – consisting in an attempt to express the

content of a message and imitate its form, so that possibly exact
equivalents of each notion and sentence of the original text could
appear in the translation,
• dynamic equivalence – the idea of which is to express the
uniformity of sense.

Pieńkos (2003:64-65) claims that formal equivalence appears in the

translation of specialised texts more often than dynamic equivalence, as
the most important elements of them are notions, expressed by terms,
that constitute specific contents and must be incorporated into the
translation. Kielar (1991:103) understands formal equivalence as
following particular rules concerning the contents, form, style, function
etc. On the one hand it requires retaining the features of the source text,
but on the other hand – the translator should be aware of rules governing
a target language. This idea is also mentioned by Christiane Nord
(1995:264), who states that translation means not only changing the
elements of an original text into equivalent ones in a target language, but
much more – creating a target text minding its function. Also Kielar
(2003:133) claims that what the translator should do is to express a
sense of the text written in L1 through grammatical and lexical means of
L2. Pieńkos (2003:268-274) proposes a transpositional model of
translation, which retains the sense of a source text and, at the same
time, follows the conventions of a target language within grammar, idioms
and phrases.

When starting the process of translating a specialised text, students

should realise that the first important thing to deal with is terminology, as
it constitutes the crucial part of the text. But through the comparison of
different language, they may meet with the following terminological
variants (according to Dickel, 2003:143):

82
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

• terms fully correspond to each other (congruence),

• notion A or B does not have an equivalent in the target language,
• terms A and B are only partially equivalent.

According to Dickel, in the last two cases the translator has the possibility
of borrowing a term from a source language, coining a new one, or using
an equivalent which serves as an explanation of the source language
term. Stępnikowska (1998:53) mentions similar solutions in the case of
zero equivalence. The translator can:

• use an original term and give its literal translation in brackets,

• introduce a definition or description of an original term,
• use a neologism.

What is important for the text unity and logic is the fact, emphasised by
many theorists, that once used, the term should always denote the same
notion.

When it comes to structural features of a specialised text, Lukszyn

(2003:14-16) cites the following features of a good translation:

• retaining semantic unity of the source text in its translated version

– by taking care of the so-called semantic dominants (a network of
direct connections between central terminological units),
• keeping the normalised construction of a text (formally organised in
a particular way),
• using proper chains of connectors – sequences of particular
linguistic devices that keep the text unity, like as a result of, as the
consequence of which etc. (in the case of the certificates analysed
this is of little importance, as there are few full sentences in them),
• taking care of the unity by using typical sentences marking the
beginning and the end of a text, like: In this way…, That is all to say
about…etc. (of little use again in the case of the compared texts, as
they are forms, deprived of such binding structures),
• minding proper text division by using formal connectors like
separate paragraphs, or indexing following steps of argumentation.

Dickel (2003:146) claims that, when it is justified by the needs of a target

language, the translator may change the structure of the text. She also
gives some remarks concerning the style of language in specialised
translation. According to her, each specialised text is characterised by a
different level of technicality, and the translator’s task is to decide if the
translation style should be more scientific rather than typical of general
language. The translator must take care not to violate the conventions of
a chosen style by using vocabulary, or other elements, characteristic of a
different style.

5. Teacher’s guidance to students on best translation decisions

83
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

The final instructions the teacher may give the students, after the
analyses of the parallel texts have been performed and the theoretical
background for translating specialised texts presented, are prompts
regarding what solutions the students might choose as their translation
decisions.

Seeking possible translation solutions for a given specialised text would be

best realised, as has been stated, through the comparison of parallel
texts. The first thing students should know is that it is advisable to keep
not only the contents of the source text in their translations, but also the
pattern, and not to borrow more than necessary from the text in the
target language, just using it to consult problematic ideas. Even if there is
no obligation to follow the layout of the source text, it would be very
reasonable to do that, as a reader could see the text as it really is in the
original form, which is constructed in that way for good reason. It would
also be good to follow the formula of the source text because, in the case
of official documents, they may be presented as sworn translations and it
would be best not to change their visual form too much, so that their
character is retained.

When it comes to vocabulary, the suggestions shown in section 3 could be

used as the decisions corresponding to the sense of words and
expressions discovered through analysis. While translating sentence
equivalents from Polish, the translator may use full sentences as their
counterparts, just like it is in some English versions of the birth certificate,
to follow the convention. The same advice applies to translating English
sentences into Polish – they might be translated in the form of sentence
equivalents.

The students should be warned to retain the register of the source text
and to be sensitive to the reconstruction of all its measures, pointed out
above, in the process of translation. It is as much important as finding
proper equivalents of words and expressions, or using proper grammatical
structures. Otherwise the translation would be of poor quality.

6. Concluding remarks

The proposed model of dealing with the translation of a specialised text

was dictated by the need for a more didactic approach to the translation
of specialised texts.

The aim of the article was to draw the translation teacher’s attention to
the necessity of text analyses preceding the process of translation and
give some references, presented by different authors. The approaches
mentioned, together with the analyses, should prove the specificity of
specialised texts to the students and develop the practice of special,

84
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

reasonable treatment of such contents in the process of translation, with

reference to parallel texts.

Thus it would be advisable for the teacher to get into the habit of
performing specialised translations with the students according to the
steps presented in the article, which are as follows:

• source text analysis as a means of identifying its characteristics and

making the students aware of them,
• comparison of parallel texts to gain knowledge about the contents
and typical features common to both texts, so as to find best
translation solutions,
• consideration of terminology used in the translation,
• thoughts on treating grammar,
• control of the uniformity and suitability of style within the whole
text,
• some methodological feedback on the part of the teacher, to inform
the students how much their task accords with the features of good
translation with regard to the terminology, structure and style.

85
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

Appendix
APPENDIX

Figure1. Polish birth certificate – Odpis zupełny aktu urodzenia

86
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

Figure 2. Standard Certificate of Live Birth from the State of

Massachusetts

87
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

Figure 3. British Certificate of Birth pursuant to the Births and Deaths

Registration Act 1947

88
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

Figure 4. Certified copy of an Entry of Birth Pursuant to the Birth and

Death Registration Act, 1953 from the Great Britain

89
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

Bibliography

• Arsentyeva, Elena (2003). “Scientific and technical texts as an object of study and
analysis.” Barbara Zofia Kielar & Sambor Grucza (Eds) (2003). Języki
specjalistyczne 3. Lingwistyczna identyfikacja tekstów specjalistycznych. Warszawa:
Katedra Języków Specjalistycznych – Wydział Lingwistyki Stosowanej i Filologii
Wschodniosłowiańskich UW, 169-176.

• Dickel, Agnieszka (2003). „Rodzaje ekwiwalencji przekładowej tekstów

specjalistycznych.” Barbara Zofia Kielar & Sambor Grucza (Eds) (2003). Języki
specjalistyczne 3. Lingwistyczna identyfikacja tekstów specjalistycznych. Warszawa:
Katedra Języków Specjalistycznych – Wydział Lingwistyki Stosowanej i Filologii
Wschodniosłowiańskich UW, 134-146.

• Górnicz, Mariusz (2003). “Terminologizacja tekstów specjalistycznych. Struktura

podręcznika „Tłumaczenie pisemne tekstów specjalistycznych”.” Barbara Zofia
Kielar & Sambor Grucza (Eds) (2003). Języki specjalistyczne 3. Lingwistyczna
identyfikacja tekstów specjalistycznych. Warszawa: Katedra Języków
Specjalistycznych – Wydział Lingwistyki Stosowanej i Filologii
Wschodniosłowiańskich UW, 106-117.

• Kielar, Barbara Zofia (1991). “Problemy tłumaczenia tekstów specjalistycznych.”

Franciszek Grucza (Ed) (1991). Teoretyczne podstawy terminologii. Wrocław,
Warszawa, Kraków: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, 133-140.

• Kielar, Barbara Zofia (2003). “Teksty specjalistyczne w układzie międzynarodowej

komunikacji zawodowej (na przykładzie tłumaczenia tekstów prawnych).” Barbara
Zofia Kielar & Sambor Grucza (Eds) (2003). Języki specjalistyczne 3. Lingwistyczna
identyfikacja tekstów specjalistycznych. Warszawa: Katedra Języków
Specjalistycznych – Wydział Lingwistyki Stosowanej i Filologii
Wschodniosłowiańskich UW, 121-133.

• Kierzkowska, Danuta (ed.) (1998). Selection of English Documents. Warszawa:

TEPiS.

• Leung, Matthew (2004). “Assessing Parallel Texts in Legal Translation.” in Journal

of Specialised Translation, (Issue 1), 89-105. On line at:
http://www.jostrans.org/issue01/articles/leung.htm (consulted
16.11.2005)

• Newmark, Peter (2004). “Non-literary in the Light of Literary Translation.” in

Journal of Specialised Translation, (Issue 1), 8-13. On line at:
http://www.jostrans.org/issue01/articles/newmark.htm (consulted
16.11.2005)

• Nord, Christiane (1995). Textanalyse und Űbersetzen. Heidelberg: Julius Groos

Verlag.

• Olpińska, Magdalena (2003). „Struktura podręcznika „Tłumaczenie pisemne tekstów

specjalistycznych”.” Barbara Zofia Kielar & Sambor Grucza (Eds) (2003). Języki
specjalistyczne 3. Lingwistyczna identyfikacja tekstów specjalistycznych. Warszawa:
Katedra Języków Specjalistycznych – Wydział Lingwistyki Stosowanej i Filologii
Wschodniosłowiańskich UW, 159-168.

• Pieńkos, Jerzy (2003). Podstawy przekładoznawstwa. Od teorii do praktyki. Kraków:

Kantor Wydawniczy Zakamycze.

90
The Journal of Specialised Translation Issue 7 – January 2007

• Stępnikowska, Agnieszka (1998). Stand, Probleme und Perspektiven der

zweisprachigen juristischen Fachlexikographie. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
Verlag.

• Zmarzer, Wanda (2003). „Typologia tekstów specjalistycznych.” Barbara Zofia

Kielar & Sambor Grucza (Eds) (2003). Języki specjalistyczne 3. Lingwistyczna
identyfikacja tekstów specjalistycznych. Warszawa: Katedra Języków
Specjalistycznych – Wydział Lingwistyki Stosowanej i Filologii
Wschodniosłowiańskich UW, 24-34.

BIOGRAPHY

Edyta Źrałka – a PhD student at The Jagiellonian University in Cracow,

The Unesco Chair for Translation Studies and Intercultural
Communication, where she is working on her doctoral dissertation:
Localisation of legal texts in Polish-English and English-Polish translations
and its role in the translation didactics. Her research interests include:
translation of specialised – legal texts (theory and practice), localisation,
translation pedagogy. She has been a sworn translator at the District
Court in Cracow since 2003. E-mail: [email protected]

91