Does the Plain Spanish exist? The Modernization of Legal and Administrative Discourse and its Impact on Legal Translation
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Abstract
The paper examines the recent transformation and evolution of the administrative and legal language. After pointing out the main terminological, morphological and syntactical features of legal English, we analyse the impact that a movement called "Plain English" has had, above all, in the UK and the USA. This movement demands the use of a clear and comprehensible language when the government or the administration communicates with the general public. We explore how this movement has also entered Spain by focusing on the initiatives taken by the Spanish government in order to achieve a plain, straightforward language in all legal and bureaucratic documents. We analyze the impact that this plain language is having on legal translation by comparing a British judicial sentence with a Spanish one. The possibility of having a "Plain Spanish" is then considered as well as its potential impact.
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TOLEDO BÁEZ, C. (2011). Does the Plain Spanish exist? The Modernization of Legal and Administrative Discourse and its Impact on Legal Translation. Hikma, 10, 175–194. https://doi.org/10.21071/hikma.v10i.5259
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