Translation

Halifax performs translations for all purposes between major EU languages and the languages of the Balkan region. These range in scope from simple business communications to major legislation, one of the most demanding translation tasks.

One of our most important current activities is an EU-funded project to translate the highest-priority elements of the EU acquis. This is carried out in close collaboration with the beneficiary institution, the Serbian European Integration Office (SEIO).

Legislative approximation and the Acquis Communautaire

 

In implementing this project, we have engaged over 40  translators, led by an experienced lawyer.

The project Team Leader, Aleksandra Čavoški, has a Ph.D. in the conditions and procedure for accession to the EU, and many years experience with legal translation as an inseparable element of work with comparative law. Much of this work has specifically targeted translation, comparison and transposition of legal texts, most often concerning the EU acquis. She has a detailed expert knowledge of the acquis, of EU institutions, EU Policy-Making and the SAA process.

As Aleksandra says: “Legal translation represents the key aspect of the process of approximation, which entails the harmonisation of national legislation with the acquis. This is one of the most important of the Copenhagen criteria, and the process can be jeopardised without accurate legal translation.

“This translation process is a challenging one. It is not a mechanical process of substitution, but entails knowledge of EU legislation and familiarity with the structure of EU texts and their application. A high-quality translation is of great importance for lawmakers and judges who will bear the responsibility for drafting and applying the harmonised national provisions. An accurate translation also enables the implementation of the ‘direct effect’, allowing citizens to monitor the extent of the state’s transposition and harmonisation of national provisions with the EU legal corpus.
“Translating the acquis is a fascinating task, since many concepts are new and currently have no precise translation. New terms and phrases must often be coined, and it is the task of SEIO to standardize new expressions that have not until now had a place in Serbian law.

Computer aided translation tools are employed to ensure compliance with standards, and all translators working on the project are required to use a compatible application.

This project is carried out in partnership with Ciklopea, a company that has translated large parts of the acquis into Croatian. www.ciklopea.com

“A country that submits a request for membership of the European Union must be ready to accept the acquis communautaire, the entire body of agreed EU legislation, and it must be prepared to implement it. This is a non-negotiable condition for accession.
“The acquis defines rights and obligations not only for states, but also directly for their citizens and legal entities. Familiarity with EU regulations is therefore essential, and application of the law can only be assured if regulations are accessible in the official language of each member state.
“Preparation of a national version of the acquis constitutes the greatest translation effort for a new member state. The volume of the acquis published in the EU Official Gazette amounts to some 115,000 pages, the equivalent of 150,000 standard format pages. The average annual increase is from 3,000 to 5,000 pages.
“The challenge is not just one of translating and editing so many pages, but concerns the complexity of the entire procedure: identifying and engaging experts of many profiles, establishing the level of professional knowledge and interdisciplinary cooperation. This is important because each country must have a sufficient number of professional translators and interpreters, lawyers, linguists, terminology  and proof-reading experts for later employment in the EU’s institutions.
“One of the most important results of the process of preparation of national versions of the acquis communautaire lies in establishing an electronic terminology database. This will grow with the process, and be available to the public in Serbia and in other countries of the region with a similar linguistic heritage.”
Mila Ćipović-Gligorić, Assistant to the Director, Head of the Translation Coordination Unit, SEIO