ERIC Number: EJ989692
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0143-4632
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Available Date: N/A
The Concordance of Multilingual Legal Texts at the WTO
Condon, Bradly J.
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, v33 n6 p525-538 2012
Multilingualism is a sensitive and complex subject in a global organisation such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). In the WTO legal texts, there is a need for full concordance, not simply translation. This article begins with an overview of the issues raised by multilingual processes at the WTO in the negotiation, drafting, translation, interpretation and litigation phases. It then compares concordance procedures in the WTO, European Union and United Nations and proposes new procedures to prevent and correct linguistic discrepancies in the WTO legal texts. It then categorises linguistic differences among the WTO legal texts and considers the suitability of proposed solutions for each category. The conclusion proposes an agenda for further work at the WTO to improve best practices based on the experience of the WTO and other international organisations and multilingual governments.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Best Practices, Multilingualism, Translation, International Trade, Court Litigation, International Organizations, Indexes, Comparative Analysis, Classification, Laws, Second Languages, Ambiguity (Semantics), English, French, Spanish, Difficulty Level
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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