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MES - Journal of

tion in Business HERMO

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## HERMES

## Ondřej Klabal*

## Tricky Terms in Legal Translation from and to English: Stepping up to the Classroom Challenge

## Abstract

Legal translation competence includes a high number of sub-competences that legal translation trainees need to master. Therefore, trainers may have no time to tackle issues at the very micro level that are challenging not only for legal translation trainees, but sometimes even for professional translators. Although many such issues are identified in legal translation textbooks, the prevailing holistic approach to teaching legal translation may have led to such issues being sidelined in the legal translation classroom. Drawing on the author's experience as a legal translation trainer, this paper attempts to fill this vacuum and offer a systematic approach to addressing at least some of these phenomena. A selection of tricky terms will be presented, together with practical activities designed to raise trainees' awareness of such issues and teach them how to approach them confidently when translating from and to English. Four groups of terms are covered: false friends in general and legal language; vague terms such as good and reasonable ;  non-transparent terms where complex legal meaning is packed into a simple term ( constructive, in lieu of ), and enantiosemous terms ( apparent, qualified ). It is believed that when such phenomena are tackled in isolation, trainees may become better equipped to deal with them successfully the next time they encounter them in an English source text or to use them actively when translating into English.

## Keywords

legal language; tricky legal terms; legal translation training; vagueness; enantiosemy; false friends; non-transparent terms

## 1. Introduction

Legal translation is  generally  considered  a  tricky  field  with  numerous  pitfalls,  as  highlighted  by Newmark (1993, p. 16). Such pitfalls will be referred to as tricky terms, which is an umbrella term used in this paper to include synonyms, polysemous words, false friends, non-transparent words, vague words, or enantiosemous words. Since legal translation competence as defined by a number of models (e.g. Prieto Ramos 2011; Scarpa & Orlando 2017; Piecychna 2013) is highly complex and comprehensive, trainers often lack time to deal with issues at the very micro level such as those discussed in this paper, even though such issues may be challenging not only for legal translation trainees, but also for seasoned professional translators. While such issues are often identified as a challenge  in  legal  language  and  legal  translation  (see  Alcaráz  Varó  &  Hughes  2012;  Bázlik  & Böhmerová 2019), they are often left behind in the translation classroom because of the prevailing holistic approaches to legal translation training, which put the macro level in the forefront. However, it is believed that such tricky terms need to receive special attention in a legal translation classroom since  trainees,  and  possibly  even  novice  legal  translation  trainers,  may  often  fail  to  realise  their complexity and the challenges involved. Once trainees become aware of such pitfalls, it will be easier for them to deal with such tricky terms effectively and systematically in their future careers.

Against this background, this paper attempts to address such tricky terms not from a legal or linguistic perspective, but primarily as a teaching challenge, and presents ways to introduce students to such terms as well as exercises to practise their competent use. Some of the categories of tricky terms have been addressed from the classroom perspective elsewhere (see e.g. Klabal 2022), and some are rather complex and would merit a separate paper (e.g. polysemous words). Therefore, this paper takes the classroom perspective on four categories of tricky terms, namely false friends, nontransparent  words,  vague  words,  and  enantiosemous  terms.  It  is  hoped  that  the  paper  will  also partially fill the gap in teaching materials, since those available are rarely focused on translators or translation trainees and often lack a comparative perspective.

*  Ondřej Klabal Department of English and American Studies, Faculty of Arts Palacký University Olomouc ondrej.klabal@upol.cz

## 2. Teaching considerations

The exercises  presented  in  this  paper  are  anchored  in  the  constructivist  approaches  to  translator training  (see  Kiraly  2010),  which  emphasise  the  authenticity  of  the  material  used  and  the collaboration of the learners. Where appropriate, the exercises are conceived of as pair work or group work exercises, with the teacher only serving as a facilitator responsible for providing scaffolding (Kiraly 2010, p. 45).

In terms of sequencing, it is possible to apply the steps proposed by González-Davies (2004, p. 37),  starting  with  awareness-raising  activities,  moving  through  exposure  to  possible  translation problems, decision making, and justification of choices, and eventually resulting in a final product. Since the issues tackled in this paper do not qualify as translation proper, some of the steps are not relevant, and thus the emphasis is put on awareness raising and justification of choices. The exercises could be used as a stepping stone to develop activities around the same issue for the remaining steps. The exercise types are not innovative and are based on the author's experience as well as exercises proposed  by  González-Davies  (2004).  Since  authenticity  is  important  in  constructivist  translator training, the exercises are mostly based on real-life legal documents from the author's translation practice, which have been duly anonymised, or from relevant legal sources available online, such as legislation, the websites of law firms, contracts, and other legal documents 1 .

## 3. False friends

False friends are defined by Crystal (1987, p. 347) as 'words that look the same in two languages [but]  often  do  not  mean the  same  thing'.  Logically,  there  are  different  pairs  of  false  friends  for different language pairs, which makes the exercises in this section less generalisable. 2 In addition, some false friends may be only partial false friends 'that may actually be cognates when used in one branch of law, while perhaps qualifying as false friends in another legal practice area' (Jowers 2021). In other cases, there may also be jurisdiction-specific false friends. What applies quite universally, though, is the fact that there are two categories of false friends that need to be addressed in the classroom: general language false friends that (frequently) appear in legal texts, and special legal language false friends. The former may be addressed by presenting students with authentic sentences that include the false friends and asking them to contrast the meanings and translate them into the respective language, as shown for the Czech-English pair in Table 1.

1 Since single sentences have been extracted for the sake of variety, it is believed that specifying the source of every single sentence is not necessary. Care has been taken to use sources which may be presumed to have been drafted by native speakers.

2  See Bázlik & Böhmerová (2019) for a comprehensive list for the Czech-English pair, or Jowers (2021) for the SpanishEnglish pair.

Table 1. General language false friends

| CZECH                                                                                                | ENGLISH                                                                                                                                            |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Aktuální hodnota akcií společnosti je oproti minulému roku nižší.                                    | Depending on the company's performance, the actual value of shares may appreciate or depreciate.                                                   |
| Kupující má právo na výměnu zboží za nové stejného typu nebo za adekvátní náhradu jím odsouhlasenou. | A patent owner must receive adequate damages from the infringer to compensate for the infringement.                                                |
| Komplexní strategické plánování je tvořeno na úrovni vrcholového řízení firmy.                       | Liability for environmental damage is a complex legal issue that can indeed provide enough intellectual ʻfoodʼ to keep any group of legal experts. |

The category of legal false friends may be addressed in a number of different ways. The proposed exercise 1 aims to make students identify frequently misused terms in Czech-English translation.

Exercise 1: Identifying false friends

TASK: Identify the incorrectly used false friends (Czech-English pair):

- The autopsy protocol failed to specify the exact cause of death. ( report)
- Judicature of the Constitutional Court may be as binding as a law. ( case law )
- The Tenant shall pay a caution equalling two monthly rents. ( security deposit )
- Each country keeps evidence of its citizens. ( register )
- The existing law will be derogated once a new one is passed. ( repealed, abrogated )
- Only statutory bodies are authorised to bind legal entities. ( governing bodies ).
- All  the  companies  in  the  concern  are  subject  to  special  reporting  obligations. ( group ).

For the purposes of this paper, the false friends to be identified are underlined in the exercise, and the 'correct' terms are provided in brackets, both of which would be absent in a version presented to students. The list of examples could be much longer, but the essence of the exercise should be clear. Even though the exercise is  based  on the  Czech-English  pair, some  of the false  friends  may  be relevant for other language pairs (e.g. Konzern in Germany, caución in Spanish), and the exercise may thus be easily adaptable.

## 4. Vague terms

As argued by many (e.g. Tiersma 1999; Endicott 2011), vagueness is an inherent feature of legal language and has been widely addressed from both the legal and semantic perspectives. 3 It is usually defined as 'uncertain breadth of meaning' (Black 2009, p. 1689). Tiersma summarises the reasons for using vague language as follows: (i) it allows a legislature to use a general term without having to specify in advance what it includes, (ii) it permits the law to adapt to differing circumstances, and (iii) it enables the law to deal with novel situations that are certain to occur in the future, as well as changing norms and standards. With reference to contract language, Wiggers (2011, p. 20), on the one hand, suggests avoiding vague terms in contract drafting, but, on the other hand, admits that vague words may serve a useful purpose since clear obligations are not always agreeable and vague wording may allow for some gentleman's agreement, or many obligations cannot be defined in an all-embracing  manner,  and  precise criteria may  be  dependent  on  extraneous  uncertainties. Sometimes, it is even expressly admitted that vague words are used 'because of, and in spite of their flexibility'  (Triebel  2009,  p.  155)  Given  the  usefulness  of  vague  language,  it  is  unsurprisingly common in legal texts, and thus legal translators will encounter it in the source texts they are asked to  translate  and  thus  need  to  be  introduced  to  the  intricacies  thereof.  In  addition,  there  is  also  a comparative  element  present,  as  Wiggers  (2011,  p.  21)  observes  that  lawyers  from  civil  law jurisdictions may feel more comfortable with vagueness than those from common law jurisdictions.

3  See Endicott (2011) for a comprehensive overview. Often, vagueness is discussed together with ambiguity under the label of indeterminacy (see Anesa 2014; Chromá 2005).

An extract from the Irish Non-fatal Offences against the Person Act may be shown to trainees as an example of a legislative provision including a number of vague expressions:

No such offence is committed if the force or impact, not being intended or likely to  cause injury, is in the circumstances such as is generally acceptable in the ordinary conduct of daily life and the defendant does not know or believe that it is in fact unacceptable to  the  other person.

The italicised expressions are all instances of vague language. The adjective likely is related to the standard of what a reasonable person would expect; the degree of acceptability is intended to be made more objective by the modifiers generally and in fact.

To explain the phenomenon of vagueness to legal translation trainees, it is useful to introduce a distinction between transparently vague terms and extravagantly vague terms (cf. Endicott 2005; Marmor 2014) since each of these categories requires a different translation strategy. Transparently vague words make it possible to define  a single cut-off  point  which  would  clearly  establish  the borderline (even though arbitrary). For example, if a tax is imposed on rich people, rich is a vague term,  but  an  arbitrary  threshold  will  be  defined  by  the  applicable  income  tax  legislation,  e.g.  by reference to a multiple of the average salary. However, the fact that such a point may be (rather) arbitrarily defined by the law does not mean that there is agreement as to the borderline cases in two respects:  first,  as  to  the  resolution  of  borderline  cases,  and  second,  as  to  which  cases  constitute borderline cases (cf. Endicott 2011, pp. 176-177). When facing such vague terms in source texts, translation trainees should be instructed, if possible, to look up the rules defining the cut-off point and specify the cut-off point in the translation.

For example, Section 138 of the Czech Criminal Code defines categories of damage which are relevant for determining the severity of the crimes. Vague terms are used as labels for the categories and then used in the descriptions of individual crimes. Chromá (2005) suggests more or less literal translations for the categories of damage used in the translation below, which I find inconvenient for two reasons. In addition to being vague, they are also culturally bound, depending on the economic situation  in  the  respective  jurisdiction.  In  other  words,  while  damage  from  CZK  50,001  to  CZK 100,000 is not small under Czech legislation, small claims under UK legislation are defined as claims up to GBP 10,000. 4

Zákonné  ustanovení  §  138  trestního  zákoníku  České  republiky  určující  charakter  vzniklé škody zní:

(1) Škodou nikoli nepatrnou ( damage not insignificant) se rozumí škoda dosahující částky nejméně 10 000 Kč , škodou nikoli malou ( damage not small) se rozumí škoda dosahující částky nejméně 50 000 Kč , větší škodou ( larger damage) se rozumí škoda dosahující částky nejméně 100 000 Kč , značnou škodou (substantial damage) se  rozumí  škoda  dosahující částky nejméně 1 000 000 Kč a škodou velkého rozsahu ( extensive damage ) se rozumí škoda dosahující nejméně částky 10 000 000 Kč .

Therefore, it will be more useful for the recipient if the translator abandons the vague labels and introduces a scaling system (Class 1, Class 2 damage, and/or specifies the actual extent). A proposed translation may then read as follows:

4  Depending on the applicable exchange rate, this equals approximately CZK 300,000.

The limits for damage, benefit, costs of remedying environmental damage and property value

## (1) For the purposes of the Criminal Code:

- a) Class 1 damage means damage greater than or equal to CZK 10,000,
- b) Class 2 damage means damage greater than or equal to CZK 50,000,
- c) Class 3 damage means damage greater than or equal to CZK 100,000,
- d) Class 4 damage means damage greater than or equal to CZK 1,000,000,
- e) Class 5 damage means damage greater than or equal to CZK 10,000,000.

Then students may be presented with other examples that can be solved in a similar way. 5

Extravagantly vague terms are words which are deliberately vague to leave room for (judicial) interpretation and include words such as reasonable, fair, unnecessary, properly, or undue .  This category essentially corresponds to what Melinkoff (1963, p. 21) calls 'weasel words', defined as 'words  and  expressions  with  a very  flexible meaning,  strictly  dependent  on  context  and interpretation'. Soames (2012, p. 103) argues against the term 'extravagantly vague', calling it a misnomer, and claims that the exceptional utility of such expressions comes from the fact that apart from being vague they are 'highly general, multidimensional and resistant to specific codification'. This category of vague terms is intended to be interpreted by courts and competent administrative agencies. The first step is introducing trainees to the purposes for which such weasel words are used (exercise 2). Once trainees are aware of their functions, they are asked to actively employ the words in context in Exercise 3.

Exercise 2: Usage of weasel terms

| TASK: Match the weasel words with their functions (based on Wiggers 2011):   | TASK: Match the weasel words with their functions (based on Wiggers 2011):                                              |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Material                                                                     | To introduce an objective standard in a contract and place a limit on discretionary power or overly strict obligations. |
| Reasonable                                                                   | To qualify phrases that would otherwise be too strict.                                                                  |
| Substantially                                                                | To allow for some minimum deviations after entering into an agreement.                                                  |

Is it part of a

term?

## Exercise 3: Weasel terms gap-fill

Yes

Reasonable

man/without

TASK: Complete the sentences with material , reasonable , or substantial or their adverbial forms and think about the reason for using the term:

- This late fee sets forth \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ liquidated damages from the delay of Services by  the  Service  Partner,  in  which  case  ADVA's  losses  and  damages  would  be difficult or impossible to ascertain.
- The  Landlord  confirms  that  it  \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_  completed  or  shall  complete,  at  its expense, the Landlord's Works on or before the Commencement Date.
- The Company knows that an Integrator has breached a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ provision of a Sublicence.
- The Consultant does not complete or deliver the Services to a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ standard or in accordance with the Company's reasonable requirements.
- There  are  no  current  actions,  disputes,  or  claims  which  would  result  in  a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ limitation of the use of any of the Real Properties.
- XY and/or YT shall also have the right, but not the obligation, to manufacture, distribute, and sell, in any retail or other sales channel, products which are identical or \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ similar to the Licensed Products.
- The merger affects the supply of goods and services in a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ part of the country.

To complicate the issue further, it is not sufficient to differentiate between the meanings of different weasel words, but also between different meanings of a single weasel word, e.g. reasonable or good . In addition to determining the meaning, it must also be established whether the word is a part of a term of art. To make the decision-making process as straightforward as possible for the trainees, a matrix featuring reasonable is used, based on Cuñado and Gomez (2023), as shown in Figure 1. To put the decision-making process into practice, a series of exercises featuring different weasel words follows (Exercises 4 and 6).

Figure 1. Matrix to determine the meaning of reasonable

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## Exercise 4. Determining translation strategies for reasonable

TASK: Work in pairs or groups and decide, using the matrix, how to deal with reasonable in the following sentences:

- The Seller shall have forty-five (45) days from the date of notice to implement actions reasonably requested by Purchaser.
- Each  Manager  has  the  right  to  examine  the  above  documents  for  any  purpose reasonably related to their position as Manager of the Company.
- The Service Partner shall provide reasonable access to  the  relevant records and facilities.
- If MS discovers unauthorised distribution by the Company or its Channel, it will make commercially reasonable efforts to notify the Company.
- The Landlord does not guarantee that the Services will be free from interruption caused by events or circumstances beyond the Landlord's reasonable control.
- Any such non-structural repairs and maintenance made by the Tenant shall be at least equal in quality and usefulness to the Premises, except for reasonable wear and tear.

It  is  also  important  to  realise  that  the  terms  may  also  appear  in  their  negative  forms,  such  as unreasonable or immaterial , and as other parts of speech, i.e. not only adjectives. While the adjectival forms often form part of terms of arts, the adverbial forms reasonably and unreasonably often form part of specific collocations, such as as may be reasonably + adjective/past participle , or may not be unreasonably + adjective/past participle. Since such collocational patterns may be useful and add to legal idiomaticity when translating into English, an exercise to practise such collocations is proposed (Exercise 5).

Exercise 5. Collocations with reasonably and unreasonably

TASK: Think about the best verb used as a past participle that may be used to complete the gap:

- Each Party shall execute such documents and take such further steps as may be reasonably  \_\_\_\_\_\_\_ to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  this  Agreement  and  the transactions contemplated herein.
- The Supplier shall  cooperate  and  provide  such  information and/or  certifications regarding its compliance with this sub-section (a) as may be reasonably \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ by the Customer.
- As a director you must carry out your duties with such skill and care as may be reasonably \_\_\_\_\_ from a person in that position or from a person with specific knowledge and experience.
- The authorisation may not be unreasonably \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.
- Generally, activities  during  non-working time, such as breaks or mealtimes, are permissible and may not be unreasonably \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ by the employer.
- While disclosure of records may not be unreasonably \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, requestors should understand that the ten days specified in the law is only a limit as to when a response to a request must be given, not a deadline for producing the records.
- Where the consent of the other party is required, contracts often provide that consent may not be unreasonably \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.

To  make  Exercise  5  easier,  the  words  to  be  completed  may  be  supplied  ( required,  requested, expected, refused, limited, delayed, withheld ). Exercises similar to those suggested for reasonable may also be designed for other weasel words, such as good as shown in Exercise 6 .

## 6. Determining translation strategies for good

TASK: Work in pairs or groups and decide, using an analogue matrix, how to deal with good in the following sentences:

- The contract may be extraordinarily terminated by either party at any time where good grounds exist.
- This information derives from filings accepted in good faith without verification.
- Any packages not returned in good order and condition within a reasonable period specified by XXX will be paid for by the Customer at XXX'S standard replacement costs.
- It confirms that, as at that date, all filings were up to date and the Company was in good standing.
- NOW,  THEREFORE,  for good  and  valuable  consideration the receipt  and sufficiency of which hereby are acknowledged by each of the parties, the parties hereto agree as follows:
- In the letter the Defendant is trying to manipulate facts and circumstances against good manners , settled terms, and the law.

The final step of these exercises should logically be a translation of the sentences into the target language and discussion of the available vague words used in such a  language. In doing so, the comparative perspective must not be ignored.

## 5. Non-transparent terms

This section will introduce a couple of terms that may be described as non-transparent (see also Böhmerová 2010). In my experience, many such terms are underused by legal translators, possibly because of their perceived lack of transparency, despite the fact that they may express a complex idea very concisely.

The first term to be tackled will be the term constructive .  For Czech translators, the term is a partial  false  friend  and  the  meaning  that  is  usually  associated  with  the  term  is  that  found  in collocations such as constructive criticism or constructive meaning . Therefore, the meaning derived from construction (of a contractual provision) often remains hidden to legal translators, even though it  is  used  quite  productively  in  a  number  of  legal  terms,  and  conversely  may  be  used  quite productively to express what Czech legal theory calls legal fiction. Legal fiction can be expressed through verbs, where equivalent English phrases have been discussed (see Chromá 2014; Klabal 2020), or as a nominal term e.g. fikce doručení (literally translated as fiction of service/delivery ), which is a legal theory introducing a rule that an official notice/letter is taken as having been delivered after some time even though we do not know whether the addressee actually got it. Even though the literal translation is not used in English-speaking contexts, it is often used by translators, which shows they do not know the equivalent English legal theory, which uses the adjective constructive to express the meaning of fiction. The English theory is expressed as constructive notice , which is defined as a legal fiction that someone actually received the notice regardless of whether or not they truly did receive it. The adjective is used to mean that the notice is construed as having been delivered. In class, the discussion of this example is followed by an exercise to practise the use of constructive in other contexts. In addition to the reformulation, the meaning and legal use of each of the terms is also discussed, as well as other grammatical structures used to express the meaning, such be construed as or is constructively (dismissed/received/possessed ).

6  See Triebel (2009) or Mellinkoff (1963) for lists of vague terms frequently used in contract and legal language respectively.

## Exercise 7. Constructive terms

TASK: Work in pairs to express the meaning of the following phrases using as if :

Constructive dismissal

Constructive approval

Constructive homicide

Constructive knowledge

Constructive abandonment

Constructive possession (of a firearm/drugs)

The second term to be presented is the phrase in lieu of , sometimes quoted as an example of French in Legal English and often appearing on lists of words to be replaced with simple words, specifically instead (Federal Plain Language Guidelines). The aim of Exercise 8 is to make students discover that in addition to the meaning of replacement , the examples with lieu of also carry an additional meaning of having the same legal effect , as shown in Table 2. The phrase is also often used as part of legal terms of art. For example, payment in lieu of notice does not only mean that the employee will receive a payment instead of working during the notice period, but also that the employer's obligations to the employee are settled by the payment as if the employee had kept working.

## Exercise 8. Comparing in lieu of and instead

TASK: Work in groups or pairs and study the dictionary examples with in lieu of and instead, reflecting upon whether in lieu of really carries only the meaning of instead.

- They gave us an IOU in lieu of cash.
- Our old car is being given to our mechanic in lieu of some money we owe him for repairs.
- He claimed that 85 per cent of Lords claimed the maximum possible expenses in lieu of a salary.
- Her plea impressed the presiding judge, who offered to send her to Soviet Russia in lieu of jail time, which Flynn turned down.
- You can take a lump sum in lieu of any unused vacation entitlement.
- He was offered a cash bonus, or stock options in lieu.

Table 2. Examples of terms with in lieu of

| A            | has the same legal effect   | as B    |
|--------------|-----------------------------|---------|
| payment      | IN LIEU OF                  | notice  |
| resolution   |                             | meeting |
| settlement   |                             | penalty |
| profit share |                             | salary  |

The introduction to the meaning of in lieu of is followed by a gap-filling exercise to learn and practise more collocations. Exercise 9 also makes trainees think about the order of the nouns, i.e. what it makes legal logic replace.

- I wish youʼd spend more time at home instead of going out drinking with your friends every night.
- You can make shortbread with margarine instead of butter, but it isnʼt the same.
- You waste a lot of water by having a bath instead of a shower.

## Exercise 9: In lieu of : gap-filling exercise

TASK: What replaces what in legal terms?

Board meeting, agreement, holiday, payment (2x), resolution, settlement dividend, plan, penalty

- The …………. in  lieu  of ………… can  be  made  in  cash,  or  in  shares  of  the company's stock.
- …………….. in lieu of ………….. means a contract between the plan-approving authority  and  the  owner  that  specifies  conservation  measures  that  must  be implemented in the construction of a single-family residence.
- A unanimous written  …………… in  lieu  of a  ……………….. is allowed if its articles of incorporation permit.
- You  cannot  decide  to  take ……………….. in  lieu  of ……………. unless  your employment  has  terminated,  in  which  case  you  are  entitled  to  any  accrued  but untaken holiday.
- Consideration shall be given to the following factors in deciding the amount of any penalty or any ……………. in lieu of …………….

## 6. Enantiosemy

The last category of tricky terms addressed in this paper is enantiosemous terms, which are also considered to be non-transparent by Böhmerová (2010). Enantiosemy is a case of polysemy, though perhaps not a widely-known one, in which one sense is in some respect the opposite of another (Matthews, 2017), which may be especially tricky in legal translation, where translators must be careful when interpreting such English terms, but also when using such terms when translating into English. For example, renter is defined by the Cambridge Business Dictionary as 'someone who pays money to use something, or to live in a house, apartment, etc. that someone else owns' but also as 'a person or company that charges money for the use of something that they own'. In other words, it  basically  denotes  both  parties  to  a  lease  or  rental  agreement,  and  the  term  is  best  avoided  in translation into English. This also applies to the related verbs lease, rent , or hire . While the meaning of  these  terms  may  usually  be  derived  from  the  context,  there  are  others,  such  as apparent or qualified , where the interpretation may be more challenging, especially when these are used in multiword terms. Thus, a qualified answer may be an answer provided by a qualified professional, but also an answer with some qualifications.

Table 3. Meanings of apparent

| APPARENT                                                                                                                                                                                   | APPARENT                                                                                                                                          |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Meaning 1: able to be seen or understood                                                                                                                                                   | Meaning 2: seeming to exist or be true                                                                                                            |
| • It was becoming increasingly apparent that he could no longer look after himself. • I was on the metro this morning when, for no apparent reason, the man opposite me suddenly screamed. | • There are one or two apparent discrepancies between the two reports. • The apparent cause of death was drowning, but further tests were needed. |

Table 3 is used to show the two opposing meanings of apparent to trainees, and Exercise 10 invites them  to  discuss  the  difference  in  meaning,  which  is  of  crucial  importance  and  carries  legal consequences.  For  a  change  of  topic,  the  examples  in  Exercise  10  have  been  extracted  from homicide/suicide  documents.  The  exercise  may  be  complemented  with  an  in-class  discussion  of

'pure'  legal  terms  including apparent ,  such  as apparent authority , apparent crime ,  or apparent violation .

## Exercise 10: Meanings of apparent

TASK: Choose, if possible, which meaning of apparent is implied. Discuss in pairs.

- This case report demonstrates that at times, when no anatomical cause of death is apparent after a postmortem examination, ancillary testing can lead to diagnosis.
- Vincent van Gogh died on July 29, 1890, from an apparent gunshot wound to the belly sustained approximately 30 hours earlier.
- Suicides without apparent antecedent causes present great difficulties for medical examiners and families alike.
- The authors report an unusual case of an apparent homicide/suicide involving two individuals and a canine that went undetected for almost four years.
- Attending police may suspect robbery as a result of the disarray of the house and homicide  caused  by apparent 'bleeding'  around  the  body  from  purging  of putrefactive fluids, injuries from  falls, or postmortem  animal  activity and 'bloodstains' throughout the house.

## 7. Conclusion

The paper has attempted to present a number of phenomena in legal language that appear in legal texts and will be encountered by legal translators in their professional practice, but sometimes are not explicitly addressed in legal translation training because they do not appear in the texts assigned as  translation  assignments  or  they  are  considered  too  specific  to  deserve  classroom  attention. However, it is believed that if trainees are made aware of such issues in isolation, they are more likely to tackle them (more effectively and correctly) in their future practice, as argued by Klabal (2020) for a host of other legal language phenomena.

Even though the exercises were originally designed for the Czech-English language pair, they can be  used,  sometimes  without  adaptation  or  with  slight  adaptation  only,  for  other  language  pairs involving  English  as  a  source  or  target  language.  Some  of  them  aim  to  raise  awareness  of  the phenomena, while others aim to build trainees' confidence. The exercises are versatile in that they can be used in-class or assigned as homework, or within in a specific module, e.g. on vagueness in legal translation, or as a quick warm-up exercise. It is hoped that they will find their way into legal translation classrooms and thus contribute to enhancing legal translation training, and consequently help legal translators become better at 'walking on thin ice of translation of terminology in legal settings' (Matulewska, 2016).

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