JuriGenT, a different bilingual database of legal Dutch/Spanish

Abstract

JuriGenT is a bilingual database of legal Dutch/Spanish, which is being readied for publication in September 2017. As far as translation principles are concerned, JuriGenT relies on the Skopos translation theory of Nord (1997), which implies a «documentary» translation («translation as a purposeful activity»), and on the «receiver-oriented approach» promoted by Šar?evi? (2000). Both theories insist on the importance of defining the role of the translator, i.e. to «represent» the source text in the source context, but in another language, as the translation has to be interpreted by the legal expert in the target context. With respect to terminological principles, the approach relies on the communicative theory of Cabré (1999) and the sociocognitive approach of Temmerman (2000). Both authors insist on the need to define the user of the database: in our case the translator and not the lawyer. These theories have led to important decisions regarding the selection of the included terminology and the conceptualization of the terminological record. Finally, JuriGenT devotes attention to user-friendly consultation, allowing easy navigation to broader terms, narrower terms and related terms in both languages.