Japanese Legal Terms

From Peter Durfee via the CIR Homepage:

The Japanese government's official English translations of certain (about 230 pages worth) Japanese legal terms is available online. The following url links to a (3 MB) pdf on the Japanese Cabinet Secretariat's site that contains the dictionary (the 法令用語日英標準対訳辞書):
 
http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/hourei/dictionary.pdf

I took a quick squiz at the file and it looks like a major resource for anyone who translates in the legal field, whether for terms of art:

推定する　
shall be presumed

みなす　
shall be deemed

遅滞なく　
without delay

standard notations:

目次 Table of Contents
編    Part
章    Chapter
節    Section
款    Subsection
目    Division
条    Article (Art.)

 

or simply the official names of laws:

基本法　
Basic Act

【例】原子力基本法                 Atomic Energy Basic Act
　　　環境基本法                   Environment Basic Act
　　　男女共同参画社会基本法    Basic Act for Gender-Equal Society

Just because the translation is official doesn't mean it couldn't be improved - "Environment Basic Act" is nothing if not forced. Both ALC and Glova give "The Basic Environment Law" for 環境基本法 (かんきょうきほんほう）which does roll off the tongue a little better. Nevertheless, a handy document to have in one's (basic) possession.

Comments

[Durf]

There's been some discussion of this document (and the commission that produced it) on the JAT and Honyaku mailing lists. It's meant to be a guide to terms appearing in the official translations of Japan's laws, but a number of us in translation land are concerned that once the bureaucrats (and corporateions, for that matter) get their hands on this information these terms will be The Official Ones to be used at all times, anywhere.

Consistency is to be welcomed, but excessive reliance on consistency is a scary thing to this translator who's met a few overbearing clients in the past.

[Durf]

There's an updated verion (3/2007) available now:

http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/hourei/0703dictionary.pdf