"Official" English translation of Spanish laws
Thread poster: Wendy Cummings
Wendy Cummings
Wendy Cummings  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:40
Spanish to English
+ ...
May 19, 2010

I have just discovered an English translation of the full text of various Spanish laws, including the Civil Code:

http://www.mjusticia.es/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1161679927071&lang=es_es&menu_activo=1057821035222&pagename=Portal_del_ciudadano/Page/Conferencias

I have
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I have just discovered an English translation of the full text of various Spanish laws, including the Civil Code:

http://www.mjusticia.es/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1161679927071&lang=es_es&menu_activo=1057821035222&pagename=Portal_del_ciudadano/Page/Conferencias

I have of course not read the whole thing, but the few articles I picked out certainly seem of good quality.
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gonzalezgarc
 
jacana54 (X)
jacana54 (X)  Identity Verified
Uruguay
English to Spanish
+ ...
Thanks! May 19, 2010



 
John Rawlins
John Rawlins  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 23:40
Spanish to English
+ ...
Thanks Wendy May 19, 2010

A surprising and useful discovery. It's going to help me with a very long translation I am working on at the moment.

Thanks Wendy!


 
Tatty
Tatty  Identity Verified
Local time: 23:40
Spanish to English
+ ...
Pretty good May 19, 2010

I know the agency responsible for the translations and you're right that they are pretty good.

But we would tend to say commercial code instead of code of commerce, and fundamental law instead of organic act, so I wouldn't be afraid to improve them either; they have been done by linguists as opposed to people with a background in law.

Now the English translation of Legifrance can absolutely not be messed with, having been translated by a British QC.


 
Noni Gilbert Riley
Noni Gilbert Riley
Spain
Local time: 23:40
Spanish to English
+ ...
Golly May 19, 2010

That's an interesting find Wendy. And the fact that the translations are there on the ministry web site is kind of definitive. I've only had time to click on the Civil Code, and note that the sworn translator is named.

Looks like you don't need to fork out for the volume after all, although you might think of printing up and binding if you prefer to use book format.


 
M Elena
M Elena
Belgium
Local time: 23:40
English to Spanish
+ ...
Well............ May 19, 2010

Thanks Wendy!!.
I agree with Tatty in part. I do not know the agency that did the translation but I have taken only a first look to article 1 of the Spanish civil code and the translation is incorrect. I have not taken any further look so I do not know about the rest.

They have used "statutes" instead of "Law" (big mistake) the reason is that they had used before the word Law to translate the Spanish word "Derecho"....our language is richer than the English one in this point.
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Thanks Wendy!!.
I agree with Tatty in part. I do not know the agency that did the translation but I have taken only a first look to article 1 of the Spanish civil code and the translation is incorrect. I have not taken any further look so I do not know about the rest.

They have used "statutes" instead of "Law" (big mistake) the reason is that they had used before the word Law to translate the Spanish word "Derecho"....our language is richer than the English one in this point.

concerning the translation of "la costumbre" (no plural) in my opinión should estate "The custom" (although it is not really exact tranlation and should include another term..) and for the same reasons explained - The original text does not refer to general customs but to the "one" "second source" recognized "a value" of Law in the Spanish system;....the same will apply for " los principios generales del Derecho" -

It is a good try...... if it is intended only to let people know what is written in the Spanish legal texts, which I think is the only purpose of the translation ...but we have to bear in mind (in any country and not only is valid for Spain) that a translation intended for the general public - does not imply the "exact match", from a legal point of view.

--------------------
CAPÍTULO I.
FUENTES DEL DERECHO
Artículo 1.
1. Las fuentes del ordenamiento jurídico español son la Ley, la costumbre y los principios generales del derecho.

CHAPTER ONE
Sources of law
Article 1.
1. The sources of the Spanish legal system are statutes, customs and general legal principles.
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Jessica Noyes
Jessica Noyes  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 18:40
Member
Spanish to English
+ ...
Commerce May 19, 2010

Tatty wrote:


But we would tend to say commercial code instead of code of commerce,


And definitely not "code of comerce" as they spell it on the cover page.


 
Tatty
Tatty  Identity Verified
Local time: 23:40
Spanish to English
+ ...
Opinions, opinions May 19, 2010

Actually this is why everyone's translation would be slightly different, and I'm sure that we'd all be able to put forth some argument to defend our corner.

However I do think that the translation of Article 1 is correct.

"The sources of the Spanish legal system are statutes, customs and general legal principles".

I'd tweak it a little to read "The sources of law of the Spanish legal system are statute, custom and the general legal principles".

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Actually this is why everyone's translation would be slightly different, and I'm sure that we'd all be able to put forth some argument to defend our corner.

However I do think that the translation of Article 1 is correct.

"The sources of the Spanish legal system are statutes, customs and general legal principles".

I'd tweak it a little to read "The sources of law of the Spanish legal system are statute, custom and the general legal principles".

Article is Eurospeak, codes usually have sections and subsections, but once someone has used Article in one of the translations then everyone afterwards has to follow suit.

But as said above, it is difficult to translate civilian legal concepts into English and there will always be room for manoevure.
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Wendy Cummings
Wendy Cummings  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:40
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Updated link Nov 21, 2013

These translations are now available at

http://www.mjusticia.gob.es/cs/Satellite/es/1288774502225/TextoPublicaciones.html


 
aleksandrake
aleksandrake
Bulgaria
Update Aug 28, 2019

Hello everybody,

Are these translations still available somewhere on the internet? If they are not, do you have downloaded files of the laws?

Thank you


 
Helena Chavarria
Helena Chavarria  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 23:40
Member (2011)
Spanish to English
+ ...
They're no longer free Aug 29, 2019

aleksandrake wrote:

Hello everybody,

Are these translations still available somewhere on the internet? If they are not, do you have downloaded files of the laws?

Thank you


I've recently done a series of translations that continuously referred to Spanish Acts and even included extracts of the texts. I decided that I would do a better job, as well as make my life much easier, if I had the translations. I've used them in the past but I think they were free; now each one costs €3.00, which I think is quite reasonable.

https://www.mjusticia.gob.es/cs/Satellite/Portal/es/servicios-ciudadano/documentacion-publicaciones/publicaciones/traducciones-derecho-espanol


 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 23:40
Spanish to English
+ ...
Interesting Aug 30, 2019

Although I don't do a lot of legal translations nowadays, this could be interesting for future use. After a brief look at the link, I'm puzzled by the translators' insistence on the term "organic act" as opposed to "organic law" to translate the Spanish term "ley orgánica", when I would prefer the latter.

However, I'm not interested in entering a debate about it, as I don't have a leg to stand on other than my personal preference, but I do find it puzzling.


 


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"Official" English translation of Spanish laws







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