Comparació dels contractes en anglès i en espanyol com a ajuda al traductor [The comparison of legal agreements in English and Spanish as an aid to the translator]

This paper aims to facilitate the task of official and legal translators working in English and Spanish translating agreements and contracts of numerous kinds. It provides comparative elements at the macrotextual level—and occasionally at the microtextual level—that can contribute to enhancing the understanding of the original text, the crafting of the translated text, and sometimes insight into the translation process. We begin with a brief review of contributions toward the translation of agreements that the author considers may be of most interest to the translator (Borja, 2000; Nú ez, 2001 and Bestué, 2007). The paper then gives a description of those features of macrostructure which are more characteristic of the sales agreement in both languages, with the proviso that agreements are not subject to established or compulsory forms in either of the two languages. The paper then goes on to compare the features of macrostructure in both languages, highlighting the main differences. Alternative forms are given for standard usages, usually written in upper-case characters, designed to mark the beginning of various sections of information within the document. Asymmetries between the two languages related to the presence or absence of various clauses are described. As to problems at the microtextual level, description of the parties, names of the parties and the documents, signatures, deceptive cognates, multiple particles (reference system) and multiple expressions (doublets and triplets) are all mentioned. Finally, this papers underscores how current patterns in Spanish are being subject to continuous and rapid shifts due to the influence of the corresponding Anglo-Saxon patterns.