World Law Dictionary Project by TransLegal

1. Employment law
World Law Dictionary
A single database for the world’s legal languages

2. Aim of the project
To create the world’s best and largest
multilingual law dictionary, a central
database for the world’s legal languages
World Law Dictionary

3. • Founded in Stockholm, Sweden 1989
• Author of world’s bestselling course books for Legal English:
International Legal English and Introduction to International Legal
English
• Created International Legal English Certificate together with
Cambridge University
• Created PLEAD online Legal English course together with Cambridge
University Press and Boston University School of Law
• Publisher of only Learner’s Dictionary of Law
• Publisher of world’s most extensive learning materials for Legal English
• Opens office in Shanghai, China 2015
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4. University partners
• China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing, China
• Göttingen University, Germany
• Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan
• University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
• Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
• Corvinus University, Budapest, Hungary
• University of Innsbruck, Austria
• University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
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5. • No standard English
• No comparative law analysis and notes
• No help for non-native speakers
• Poor quality
• Not online
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Current status of
multi-lingual law dictionaries

6. • No standard English
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Current status of
multi-lingual law dictionaries

7. • Single online dictionary of legal language
• Quality assured
• International standard
• Extensive comparative law notes
• Online
• Learning materials
functionality
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What is the World Law Dictionary?

8. Common Law vs. Civil Law
English may be the common language of the world, but the Common Law is not the common law of the world.
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Explaining Civil Law concepts to foreign
clients and other parties in English using
Common Law terminology is a problem
experienced by lawyers the world over.

9. English content
TransLegal’s Learners’ Dictionary of Law
• 40,000+ lawyer-hours invested to date in the English content
• Over 10,000 legal terms
• Over 2,000 language exercises
• Already live online
• Continuing expansion of material
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10. TransLegal’s
Law Dictionary
• 10,000+ terms
• World’s only Learner’s Dictionary for Law
• Launched 2012
ENGLISH CONTENT
 B2 definitions
 sample sentences
 sound files
 collocations
 common mistakes
 language exercises
 related terms
 sample documents
 linked content
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11. written at Council of Europe
B2 level for non-native speakers
collocations
notes and common mistakes
links to learning materials
sound files
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12. Local language
content
1. translation from English
2. comparative law notes
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13. Functional Equivalency Analysis
• Full or near equivalence
• Partial equivalence
• No equivalence
World Law Dictionary

14. Functional equivalency analysis –
a suggested approach
Establish the properties of the source legal concept:
• Determine the FUNCTION of both legal terms (what is the purpose/task
of the concept?)
• Determine the SCOPE OF APPLICATION of both legal terms (to whom
or what object does the concept apply? Is one concept broader or
narrower than the other?)
• Determine the LEGAL EFFECT of both legal terms
World Law Dictionary

15. FUNCTION SCOPE OF APPLICATION LEGAL EFFECT
Security for payment
of a debt
Real property Personal property Conveyance of
title
HYPOTÈQUE
YES YES NO NO
MORTGAGE
YES YES YES YES
HYPOTÈQUE vs. MORTGAGE
World Law Dictionary

16. Using the
comparative law
notes
Legal practitioners can use the content
in the dictionary to explain local legal
concepts and can even cut-and-paste
the text into their work product.
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The
production
model

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23. Employment law
World Law Dictionary
A single database for the world’s legal languages