Transfer of meaning specific to Employment

Transkrypt

Transfer of meaning specific to Employment Contracts in
legal translation between two different legal systems.
Joanna J. Rek - Harrop, MA University of Birmingham (UK), DPSI (Law)
Chartered Institute of Linguists (UK)
Contact: www.harroptranslations.com
ABSTRACT:
There are no two identical legal cultures that would have
the same values, history, systems, social norms and
terminology and therefore it might
prove difficult for the meaning of the translated Employment
Contract
originating from the Common Law tradition and the target text
immersed
in the Civil Law culture to be the same. The paper is a practical
case study
and consists of two main elements. The first element is a
Polish
translation of an English Employment Contract. The second
element is
a critical analysis of the aforementioned translation that
discusses the
translating process highlighting main problem areas, presents
relevant
linguistic theory and trends of thought within Translation
Studies and their
relevance to the legal translation practice.
The case study is of particular relevance now, since socioeconomical
reasons force thousands of Poles to emigrate in search of
employment to
Anglo lingual countries.
KEY WORDS: jurilinguistics, legal translation, meaning, terminology,
legal conventionalities,
cultural implications, lexis, syntax, context.
1. INTRODUCTION
The paper approaches legal translation and consists of two main elements.
The first element is my annoted translation into Polish language of an
English Employment Contract. The second element is my critical
commentary of the aforementioned translation that aims at introducing
the ST and my own agenda as a translator, discusses and explains the
translating process highlighting main problem areas, presents relevant
linguistic theory and trends of thought within Translation Studies and their
Joanna J. Rek – Harrop
www.harroptranslations.com
relevance to my translation practice. These points are presented in
sections two, three, four, five and six underneath. Section 7 provides
conclusions.
Appendices 1 to 4 present: the Employment Contract and its annoted
translation and legal terminology of the contract. The referencing used
throughout my paper is as follows: ST - the Employment Contract, § 1:
paragraph one, § 2: paragraph two etc., TT – target text, TL – target
language and BT – back translation. My personal comments next to
citations are added in brackets ([]) and in italics.
2. SOURCE TEXT and TRANSLATOR’S AGENDA
The Employment Contract (EC) macrostructure is just one of many formats
available in the United Kingdom. The document uses complex but specific
for the type English legal terminology and is governed by the laws of
England and Wales. The document is authoritative in its nature since it
had been authenticated by the act of signature. As Treitel believes “A
contract may be defined as an agreement which is either enforced by law
or recognised by law as affecting the legal rights or duties of the parties”
(2004: 1).
2.1. The Translator
The translator’s agenda is to be most of all a professional and thus
personally detached from the translated text.
...the translator or interpreter, when he or she is translating and interpreting, is in
the same position as an advocate. An advocate, during the course of his career,
may occasionally appear on behalf of an unfortunate victim, but it is more than
likely that his client will be a double-dyed villain who would make him shudder
with disgust if he had not learnt to take an attitude of professional detachment
(Kingscott, 1990: 48).
There are laws and codes of ethics written for the control of translation as
a profession, regulating the translator's relations with other translators and
with clients that are imposed by government (Poland) or by professional
translating associations (Poland and England).
There is also a debate on whether a legal translator should be required to
have a legal training since in order to produce a legal translation of the
same legal effect as the ST, the translator must be able to understand
what legal effect the text is supposed to have and how to duplicate the
effect in the target language. Since legal translation is a specialised type
of translation, in this paper it is understood that the translator has a legal
understanding in both Polish and English legal nomenclature.
3. LINGUISTIC THEORY
Different languages divide semantic space into different ways that
theoretically denies the possibility of finding equivalence between many
elements of dissimilar tongues. Additionally, the analysed here legal
translation cannot be performed in isolation from the legal cultural
concepts and differences in legal systems. Therefore, the theory helps to
open up a series of possibilities and alternatives to make legal translation
practically possible.
The proposed translation has been produced in the spirit of the TL. The TT
having the same effect as the original in legal practice rather than
reproducing the ST word for word produces fidelity to the ST: “legal
translators should strive to produce a text that respects the genius of the
target language” (Herbots in Šarčević, 2000: 50). Nonetheless, in the
translating process, I found the following linguistic theories very useful.
Vermeer proposes that translation is a form of action. He understands
transcoding as way of translating that is retrospectively orientated towards
the ST and not prospectively towards the TT:
Translation is not the transcoding of words or sentences from one language to
another, but a complex form of action, whereby someone provides information on
a text (source language material) in a new situation and under changed functional,
cultural and linguistic conditions, preserving formal aspects as closely as possible
(Vermeer, 1989: 221).
The Schleiermacher’s view of translating the ST meaning refers to
foreignisation and domestication of the TT:
The translator can either leave the writer in peace as much as possible and bring
the reader to him, or he can leave the reader in peace as much as possible and
bring the writer to him (Friedrich von Schleiermacher, 1838: 47, as translated in
Wilss, 1982: 33).
“Bringing the reader” to the ST would require the TT reader to process the
translation in its original foreign context, which might serve to promote the
ST culture: ‘contracting out certificate’ (ST, §14) → zaświadczenie o
odłączeniu się drogą umowy (TT, §14) → (BT) ‘contracting out certificate’
(this concept is unknown to Polish reader, see annotations. While
“bringing the writer to the reader” would mean domesticating the ST to
the context familiar to the TT readers and thus making it easy to
assimilate by them: ‘laptop’ (ST, §6) → komputer przenośny (TT, §6) → (BT)
‘portable computer’.
Many scholars insist that full adaptation is not an accepted method of
translation (Koller, 1979: 89) as it results in semantic distortion. Nord
further maintains that a TT cannot be regarded as translation if it is not
“bound” to the ST (1988: 31).
Eugene Nida proposes theory of “formal equivalence” that focuses on
“gloss translation” and resolving all lexical and grammatical differences
between ST and TT remaining as close as possible to the ST:
it is essential that functional equivalence be stated primarily in terms of a
comparison of the way in which the original receptors understood and appreciated
the text and the way in which receptors of the translated text understand and
appreciate the translated text (Nida, 1993: 116).
Formal equivalence also known as “formal correspondence” is advocated
by Weisflog (1987: 194) in translating the analysed text type. The other
Nida’s theory proposes method of “Dynamic equivalence” that is the
aforementioned domestication of the ST (Hatim and Mason, 1990: 7).
Some scholars propose the use of neologisms and loan words calque to
render a new legal concept “… it is fidelity to the original which counts,
not the beauty or elegance of the target language” (Cesana in Šarčević,
2000: 37).
In legal translation, many scholars associate legal equivalence with the
extent to which the same legal effect can be produced in the TT while
maintaining the fidelity to the ST. This technique is often referred to as a
functional equivalence:
Legal translators have traditionally been bound by the principle of fidelity.
Convinced that the main goal of legal translation is to reproduce the content of the
source text as accurately as possible, both lawyers and linguists agreed that legal
text had to be translated literally. For the sake of preserving the letter of the law,
the main guideline for legal translation was fidelity to the source text. Even after
legal translators won the right to produce texts in the spirit of the target language,
the general guideline remained fidelity to the source text.
(Šarčević, 2000:16)
Staying close to the ST, Jean-Claude Gémar proposes literal translation for
laws, regulations, judgements and international treaties; functional
equivalence for contracts, administrative and commercial forms, wills, etc.
and interpretative translation for scholarly works (1995-II: 163 – 166). He
does not however explain the difference between functional equivalence
and interpretative translation rendering both to be very similar: ‘Regular
payroll’ (ST, §5) → ‘Wypłaty wynagrodzenia zasadniczego’ (TT, §5) → (BT)
‘Base salary pay’.
Functional equivalence is described by Newmark as a procedure that
occupies the universal area between the SL and the TL (2005: 83): ‘Fringe
Benefits Tax’ (ST, §6) → ‘Podatek od świadczeń niepieniężnych’ (TT, §6) →
(BT) ‘Non cash benefits tax’. In his other analysis Newmark (1982: 47)
emphasises the purpose of legal translation when selecting an appropriate
translating method. He suggests that literal translation is advisable when
legal text is created for information purposes such as foreign laws. When
dealing with legal documents concurrently valid in the TL the translator
should focus on communicative approach that is TT orientated.
Vermeer, on the other hand suggests taking into account legal criteria
when selecting the most appropriate translation strategy since the
meaning of legal texts is determined by legal context:
For instance, in regard to contracts, the decision whether and to what extend
target-language formulae should be used is determined primarily by the law
governing the contract. This fact is essential because it determines whether the
contract will be interpreted according to the source or the target legal system.
(Vermeer in Šarčević, 2000: 19)
Beaupré agrees with the statement and proposes that legal translation
should formulate two ‘equal’ versions of the same instrument, which strive
not so much for ‘verbal and grammatical’ parallelism but “for linguistic
purity within the confines of legal equivalence… Hence the decision making process of the legal translator is based primarily on legal
considerations” (Beaupré in Šarčević, 2000: 47).
The aforementioned theories have been taken into consideration in the
proposed translation of the Employment Contract. However, as de
Beaugrande warns:
…it is inappropriate to expect that a theoretical model of translation should solve
all the problems a translator encounters. Instead, it should formulate a set of
strategies for approaching problems and for coordinating the different aspects
entailed (in Bell, 1991: 23).
4. CONVENTIONALITIES IN LEGAL TEXTS
There are certain conventionalities in a way English and Polish legal texts
are written which are different to general texts and legal translator as
lawyer must be aware of these in order to easily recognize and read them
in both languages. The translation of the ST encountered the following
problem areas in the aforementioned department:
4.1. The macrostructure of legal texts
The macrostructure of legal texts is directly linked to legal thought
process.
Employment Contract
In England are two ways of preparing Employment Contracts: the
traditional contract and much shorter - letter of agreement. The latter
form is unknown to Polish legal system and it is presented in the
translation.
4.2. Spelling conventionalities
Capital letters
The use of capital letters is quite misleading to Polish
translator since it does not follow the rules of a traditional
English spelling. In the ST words Agreement, Employer or
Employee always start from a capital letter because they
have been defined at the beginning of the text. If in the
body of the text either of these words would appear
starting from a small letter that would indicate that it
refers to another agreement, employee or employer.
Quotation marks and
parenthesis
English lawyers use quotation marks and parenthesis in
order to define a term that will appear again in the legal
text i.e. in ST (the “Employer”). This spelling
conventionality should be translated into Polish as
‘zwanym dalej Pracodawcą’ (further referred to as
Employer).
The English way that helps to avoid continuous
repetitions appears to be more practical than the Polish
approach.
Table 1. Legal spelling.
4.3. Divisions and arrangement of English legal texts
The are considerable differences in the way legal documents are edited in
Poland and in the United Kingdom. Additionally, there are several editing
systems operating in English contracts and official documents depending
on the length of the relevant text. Thus, word ‘section’ could be a
problematic term here. First of all, it has Polish ‘false friend’ in word
‘sekcja’ that indeed when BT means ‘section’ but in Polish it relates to ‘a
part of something’, which is relevant to the context and thus it could be
very misleading. The correct legal translation into Polish in this case is
‘paragraf’. It could also have been translated as ‘rozdział’ BT ‘division’ if
the contract was very lengthy or ‘artykuł’ BT ‘clause’ or ‘article’, if it was
used in other legal documents or statutes. Polish word ‘paragraf’ could be
confused with English ‘false friend’ ‘paragraph’ that in turn is other
division of Anglo-Saxon legal texts that is of lesser importance than
‘section’. Symbolic marking in Polish and English texts could also be very
disingenuous. Sign ‘§’ in English refers to ‘section’ while in Polish to
‘paragraf’ that as aforementioned could be confused with English
‘paragraph’ signed ¶.
ST:
‘…section 1 Employment Rights Act 1996.’ (§4)
TT:
‘…paragrafu 1 Ustawy o Prawach Pracowniczych 1996.’ (§4)
As proven in table 2 below, the term ‘section’ can be translated correctly
into many divisions of the English legal texts nomenclature depending of
the type. It also has other meanings in general language that could be
easily confused. Since dictionaries are unable to indicate how use the
word in different context, the translator must be familiar with the
structure and relevant signing of the Polish and English official documents
and legal texts.
Dictionary
Ożga, E. (2006) The
Great English and
Polish Dictionary of
Law and Economics.
Warsaw: Beck
Polish translation of
‘section’
Cześć / Fragment / Sekcja
Paragraf
Rozdział / Dział
Odcinek
Dzielnica
Back translated into
English
Part / Fragment / Section
Paragraph / Clause / Section
Chapter / Section
Section
A town district
Myrczek, E. (2006)
Dictionary of Law
TermsEnglish – Polish
and Polish – English
(2nd eds.). Warsaw:
Beck.
Jaślan, J. and Jaślan,
H. (2004) English Polish Dictionary of
Legal and Economic
Terms. Warsaw:
Wiedza Powszechna.
Ożga, E. (2004)
Dictionary of Legal
Terms Englih – Polish
(Part 2). Bydgoszcz:
Oficyna Wydawnicza
Branta.
Stanisławski, J.,
Szercha, M., Billip, K.
and Chociłowska, Z.
(2003) New Polish –
English and English –
Polish Dictionary.
Warsaw: Philips
Wilson.
Stanisławski, J. (1995)
The Great Polish –
English and English –
Polish Dictionary.
Warsaw: Philips
Wilson.
-
-
Sekcja (zwłok)
Odcinek/Dział/Część
Rozdział/Paragraf
Przekrój
Dzielnica miasta
Przedział (w wagonie
sypialnym)
Cut (authopsy / postmortem
examination)
Section/Department/Part
Chapter/Paragraph/Clause/Sect
ion
Section / Profile
A town district
Kompartment
Paragraph
Department / Section
Paragraf
Dział / Oddział
Sekcja (zwłok)
Sekcja (Część)
Paragraf
Akapit
Przekrój
Grupa / Drużyna
examination)
Part
Paragraph/Clause/Section
Paragraph / Section
Section / Profile
Team
Rozcięcie / Sekcja (zwłok)
Sekcja / Odcinek / Paragraf
Akapit / Dział
Segment / Część / Etap
Przekrój / Profil / Przecięcie
Oddział / Drużyna
Dzielnica
Przedział (w wagonie
sypialnym)
examination)
Section / Paragraph
Paragraph / Section
Segment / Part / Stage
Section / Profile / Cut
Section / Team
A town district
Kompartment
Table 2. Ambiguities of legal language e.g. word ‘section’.
5. TRANSLATION PRACTICE
The code of practice for legal translation techniques is slightly different in
Poland and in England. This is because the responsibilities of legal
translator are in Poland defined by law i.e. Polish Ministry of Justice. Polish
legal / court translator must hold a status of ‘sworn translator’ in order to
prove that s/he knows her/his legal obligations on how to perform the job
competently.
In any case, however, the translator must have adequate linguistic
competence, must have knowledge of the pertinent subject matter, must
respect professional secrets and must translate personally and ensure that
their name appears on TT.
5.1. Professional Association Requirements
So far, there is no one set rule for translating legal documents that would
bind translators around the world. It is likely that each culture might have
its own way of translating legal texts according to its own criteria.
5.1.1. Legal Translation in Poland – Polish Society of Economic,
Legal and Court Translators (TEPIS)
In Poland, there is a requirement for legal translators to be professionally
trained. The better the qualification the better the employment
opportunities. The Polish Court Translator Code and Translating Rules for
Translating Legal Documents are quite strict and must always be obeyed.
5.1.2. United Kingdom: Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) and
Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI)
CIOL and ITI are perhaps the most important linguistic Institutes in the
United Kingdom. Although both of the bodies have their Code of
Professional Conduct: http://www.iol.org.uk/Charter/cls.asp (CIOL) and
http://www.iti.org.uk/indexMain.html (ITI) neither refers to legal translation
in particular.
5.2. Client Requirements
“Our clients rely on us to put their case, in the foreign language, as they
would like to see it put, not as we would like to see it put” (Kingscott,
1990: 48). In the case of proposed translations there were no client
requirements. Nonetheless, I feel that they have to be mentioned since
they do occur in normal circumstances. First loyalty of legal translators in
such situation should be to their ethics of professional conduct, otherwise
there is a risk of what Teun van Dijk describes as ‘social power abuse’. I
therefore disagree with the Kingscott’s statement in legal context.
6. THE TRANSLATING PROCESS
The perfect equivalent, which remains in the hart of legal translation, will
have no value change in both: the semantic interpretation of the source
legal text and legal interpretation of the source information. In search for
‘perfection’ that often does not exist, legal translators are usually left to
their own devises in making their translating decisions. I based my
decisions mainly on comparative analysis of parallel texts, good legal
understanding supported by professional legal literature, newest editions
(2006) of The Great Dictionary of Law and Economics, Dictionary of Law
and Lexicon of Law Terms.
Following Newmark suggestion:
When extralinguistic reality is wrong in the source text, the translator must say so.
Misstatements must be either corrected or glossed. This responsibility is more
important than monitoring the quality of the writing in the source-language text.
(1982: 128-129)
on one occasion I have amended with annotation a source of potential
misunderstanding in the TT with full realisation that any ‘correction’ in
legal text is very unwelcome i.e. ‘the Contractor’ (ST, §3) → ‘Pracownik’
(TT, §3) → (BT) ‘the Employee’. This is further analysed in subsection 6.2.2
referring to terminological errors.
Besides consideration given to points provided in previous sections, my
translating process and strategy was based on several principles: to
preserve the information content i.e. the TT had the same legal effect, the
communicative function of the translations - ‘why’ the text was to be
translated which determined to whom the text was addressed in the target
context i.e. the expectations and conventions of the TT receivers,
situational factors of the particular communication process and the legal
considerations and context i.e. the law governing the document.
6.1. Register
The translated document has very formal style that although
grammatically correct sounds very unnatural. This is due to many archaic
stylistic forms and archaic terminology that is nowadays only used in legal
discourse. There have been attempts to simplify the legal language by
‘the plain language movement’. So far, however, the language is far from
plain and thus section 6.2.2 underneath highlights the main problems that
have been encountered in the translations. The characteristic feature of
the translated legal document is also its impersonal style.
Additional problem for translation of the ST are stylistic differences that
relate to different conventions in writing contracts in Polish and English
cultures. For instance expression: ‘employee shall be expected’ (ST, §10)
does not seem to be a strong requirement defined by the contract. This is
because in this type of contract i.e. the letter agreement, which is
unknown in Poland, very important is an appreciation of the intellectual
abilities of the addressee and thus the use of many indirect references.
The characteristic to this text genre tone: polite, tactful and diplomatic
rules out the use of any imperatives. However, it has to be remembered
that the document is a binding contract therefore observance of all points
it contains is demanded and not requested upon all parties involved.
Contracts written in Poland under Polish law tend to be very precise and
openly demand observance of regulations and agreements they contain
from all parties involved. Their tone could perhaps sound quite blunt and
very direct to an English reader.
ST:
‘…Employee shall be expected to…’ (ST, §10)
TT:
‘…pracownik jest zobowiązany…’ (TT, §10)
BT:
‘…Employee is obliged to…’
The tone of English contracts is also ‘softened’ by the use of modal verb
‘shall’ that is described in more detail in subsection 6.2.1.
6.1.1. Translation function
The function of the translated text is the same as the one of the source
text – formal ‘instruction without option’ (Bell, 1991: 205) influencing
future behaviour. It is a legally binding agreement that will serve as a
normative instrument containing rules of conduct that are concurrently
valid in the TL. Breach of contract is likely to be remedied in the County
Court, the High Court or by an employment tribunal. The text function is
therefore regulatory or prescriptive.
6.1.2. The ST Author
A Human Resources employee or a layer might have written the contract.
In any case, it represents the law.
6.1.3. ST Reader, TT Reader and Ideal TT Reader
The linguistic principle maintains that communication is effective only if
the text author achieve interaction with the text reader. According to
Sager (1980: 210) legal translation aims at conveying communication
between the subject specialists. Thus, the translated texts retained their
professional terminology and legal syntax.
However, it has to be highlighted that the ST reader and the Ideal TT
reader are very likely to be different to the actual TT reader. This is
because they are from different legal systems and thus their system of
reference varies. There also could be certain social meaning differences
particularly in the interpretation of the contract with regard to what one
can or cannot do. This also was taken into consideration in the translated
text.
6.2. Linguistic Implications
6.2.1. Lexis and Syntax
The pronouns, modal verbs and adverbs provided below are not only
characteristic to the documents analysed in this paper but are the integral
part of the entire English legal language and due to their unique and
archaic form they are very problematic to a Polish translator as much as
they can be to a native English speakers. Equally difficult is the ‘syntactic
ambiguity’ (Holland & Webb, 2003: 115) of the complex and long legal
sentence structure. The ‘Plain English Campaign’ tries to simplify the legal
language to consistent resistance of lawyers who justly maintain:
…technical accuracy is an essential prerequisite of good justice and that if
linguistic precision is watered down to suit the demands of an uncomprehending
majority, legal certainty will all but disappear. (Alcaraz and Hughes, 2002: 5)
Thus, correct understanding of the words presented below is essential to
the right interpretation of the entire legal document.
Pronouns and Adverbs:
a)
‘hereof’
The above is an archaic English legal term that in the context of the
example presented underneath means: ‘of this agreement’ and as such it
has to be translated into legal Polish language in order to keep its
transparency of meaning. It is worth to notice here that this pronoun is
often wrongly encoded by Polish translators as ‘stąd’, in English ‘here of’
or ‘of here’. It is because ‘stąd’ is often used in Polish legal discourse and
on a surface both terms might look grammatically similar and the context
given might even reinforce this similarity.
ST:
‘This document sets out the terms and conditions of employment
which are required to be given to the Employee under section 1
Employment Rights Act 1996 and which apply at the date hereof.’
(§4)
TT:
‘Niniejszy dokument przedstawia stosunki i warunki zatrudnienia
należne pracownikowi z tytułu Artykułu 1 Ustawy o Prawach
Pracowniczych z 1996 roku, które wchodzą w życie w dniu zawarcia
niniejszej umowy.’ (§4)
BT:
‘This document sets out the terms and conditions of employment
which are required to be given to the Employee under section 1
Employment Rights Act 1996 and which apply at the date of this
Agreement.’
The above example also highlights another problem. The target legal
language is similarly to English very conservative in its discourse and thus
many English terms have to be translated into archaic Polish language
such as:
‘This agreement’ means ‘niniejsza umowa’. Archaic word ‘niniejsza’ in
modern Polish language is ‘ta’ and both mean in English ‘this’.
b)
‘hereto’
‘Hereto’ is an archaic English legal term that in the context of the example
presented underneath means: ‘to this agreement’ and in this form must be
translated into an archaic legal Polish term:
ST:
This Agreement contains the entire Agreement between the Parties
and supersedes all prior arrangements and understandings whether
written or oral with respect to the subject matter hereof and may not
be varied except in writing signed by both parties hereto.’ (§21)
TT:
Niniejsza umowa obejmuje całość umowy zawartej pomiędzy jej
stronami i zastępuje wszelkie wcześniejsze uzgodnienia i
porozumienia, czy to pisemne czy ustne, nawiązujące do istoty
tematu tej umowy i może ona jedynie być zmieniona pisemnie z
podpisami obu stron niniejszej umowy.’ (§21)
BT:
This Agreement contains the entire Agreement between the Parties
and supersedes all prior arrangements and understandings whether
written or oral with respect to the subject matter of this Agreement
and can not be varied except in writing signed by both parties to
this Agreement.’
c)
‘hereunder’
‘Hereunder’ is an archaic English legal word that in the context of the
example given underneath means: ‘under this agreement’ and in this form
must be translated into an archaic legal Polish terminology. In this case
additional complication is part ‘under’ that might mislead inexperienced
Polish translator into a conclusion that the pronoun refers to a provisions of
the agreement that are provided underneath in the document. ‘Hereunder’
and discussed already words ‘hereof’ and ‘hereto’ when used in an
agreement refer to this agreement as a whole and not to any particular
provisions of this agreement like it would be a case with equally exotic to a
laic English speakers words: ‘hereinbelow’, ‘hereinabove’ or ‘hereinafter’
etc.
ST:
‘All communications including notices required to be given
hereunder…’ (§19)
TT:
‘Wszelka komunikacja, włączając powiadomienia, wymagana na
mocy niniejszej umowy…’ (§19)
BT:
‘All communications including notices required to be given under
this agreement…’
d)
‘thereof’ and ‘therewith’
The types of pronouns, similarly to the type with ‘here’ above, are unique
to the archaic English language. Part ‘there’ of the word refers to
identities, phenomena, people or things outside the document i.e.
agreement and thus based on the context of the examples given
underneath have been translated as ‘of the Employer’ and ‘with whom’
respectively.
ST:
‘For period of two years after the termination of this Agreement the
Employee shall not solicit or seek business from any customers or
clients of the Employer who were customers or clients thereof at
any time during the six months immediately preceding the
termination hereof and therewith the Employee had material
dealings.’ (§17)
TT:
‘Przez okres dwóch lat po wypowiedzeniu niniejszej umowy,
pracownik nie będzie zabiegać o, lub nakłaniać do działalności
handlowej, jakichkolwiek klientów pracodawcy, którzy byli w okresie
sześciu miesięcy bezpośrednio poprzedzającym wypowiedzenie
niniejszej umowy klientami pracodawcy oraz z którymi niniejszy
pracownik prowadził transakcje materialne.’ (§17)
BT:
‘For period of two years after the termination of this Agreement the
Employee shall not solicit or seek business from any customers or
clients of the Employer who were customers or clients of the
Employer at any time during the six months immediately preceding
the termination hereof and with whom the Employee had material
dealings.’
e)
‘hereby’
The above is another archaic English legal term that can be misleading. It
can be often correctly understood as a pronoun. However, in the
particular legal context it is an archaic form of ‘therefore’ and as such
should be translated into an archaic Polish legal equivalent ‘niniejszym’.
Modern and not legal Polish term meaning ‘niniejszym’ is ‘dlatego’ or
‘dlatego też’.
ST:
‘The Employer hereby shall be entitled to apply for an injunction…’
(§16)
TT:
‘Pracodawca niniejszym upoważniony jest do ubiegania się o nakaz
sądowy…’ (§16)
BT:
‘The Employer therefore is entitled to apply for an injunction…’
(§16)
b)
‘the said’
This standard legal archaic term is translated into its Polish archaic
functional equivalent ‘rzeczone’:
ST:
‘In addition to the said Base Salary…’ (§7)
TT:
‘Dodatkowo do rzeczonego wynagrodzenia zasadniczego…’ (§7)
The Modal Verbs:
a)
‘Shall’
It is not used here to express the future tense of the associated verb but
the undisputed authority and power of the speaker. The modal verb
should be understood and translated as a statement that indicates the
present tense:
(1).
ST:
‘No employment with a previous employer shall be counted as
part of the Employee’s period of continuous employment.’ (§6)
TT:
‘Nie wlicza się okresu przepracowanego dla poprzedniego
pracodawcy do bieżącego okresu zatrudnienia pracownika.’ (§6)
BT:
‘No employment with a previous employer is counted as part of the
Employee’s period of continuous employment.’ [because the
Employer decided so]
(2).
ST:
‘The Employee shall be entitled to twenty five days holiday’ (§11)
TT:
‘Pracownikowi nalezą się dwadzieścia pięć dni urlopu’ (§11)
BT:
the
‘The Employee is entitled to twenty five days holiday’ [because
Employer decided so]
b)
‘May’
It is not used in the legal translation into Polish to express permission but
in the meaning of another modal verb i.e. ‘can’:
(1)
ST:
‘…no more than two weeks’ holiday may be taken at any one time.’
(§11)
TT:
‘…jednorazowo nie można pobrać urlopu dłuższego niż dwa
tygodnie.’ (§11)
BT:
‘…no more than two weeks’ holiday can be taken at any one time.’
(2)
ST:
‘The Employee may terminate this Agreement by one week’s written
notice to the Employer.’ (§15)
TT:
‘Pracownik może wypowiedzieć niniejszą umowę z tygodniowym
pisemnym powiadomieniem pracodawcy.’ (§15)
BT:
‘The Employee can terminate this Agreement by one week’s written
notice to the Employer.’
Archaisms:
Each case of the word ‘whereof’ has to be analyzed on individual basis as
there is no general rule that would help encoding its meanings. When the
term is used in testimonium ‘IN WITNESS WHEREOF’ it forms a very
conservative legal formula that should be translated unconventionally as
follows:
ST:
‘IN WITNESS WHEREOF the parties hereto have signed this
Agreement the day and year first above written.’ (§23)
TT:
‘NA DOWÓD POWYŻSZEGO strony niniejszej umowy podpisały ją
w dniu wskazanym w postanowieniach wstępnych. (§23)
BT:
‘AS PROOF FOR [AGREEING] THE ABOVE the parties to this
Agreement have signed it the day and year first above written.’
In other circumstances, the pronoun can imply that it refers to a place due
to its component ‘where’. However, it actually refers to word ‘whose’ that
reflects an archaic linguistic practice. It also can in certain contexts, albeit
extremely rarely, refer to ‘of which’. Grammatically the pronoun often
plays the role of noun declination which is present in Polish language and
absent in English.
6.2.2. Terminology
As discussed in section 6.3. below, each legal system has its own legal
language and legal translators must be able to use language effectively to
express legal actions that achieve the desired legal effects despite the
many terminological incogruencies in the legal context. Legal translation
aims at conveying communication between the subject specialists. Thus,
the terminology must not only be rightly encoded but also rightly decoded.
Full list of legal terminology from the proposed translation is provided in
appendix 4.
Type
Terminological
errors
Another problem was a
terminological error in the
Employment Contract resulting in
lack of terminological coherence
of the ST. The problem refers to
the word ‘contractor’. Following
Šarčević:
it has become a golden
rule of legal translation
that translators must
refrain from correcting
errors or improving the
language of authenticated
translations having the
force of law. (2000: 118)
Since the entire ST clearly refers
to ‘employee’ employed on a
Example
The word ‘contractor’
Translated into Polish is
‘kontrahent’ or ‘wykonawca’.
‘Kontrahent’ or ‘wykonawca’ is
‘one of the parties who
undertakes a contact’ (The
New Dictionary of the Polish
Language, 2003: 353) but of
A different kind than
the permanent employment
contract described in the ST.
‘Kontrahent often relates to
‘one – off’ contracts with a set
deadline and clearly defined
purpose i.e. construction of a
building, professional advice
etc. According to the
Dictionary of Law (2003: 38)
word ‘wykonawca’ means in
Terminological
incongruency
permanent contract in a
professional capacity and also
repetitively uses the term
‘employee’ when referring
to Dr. John Smith, I have
broken the aforementioned
‘golden rule’ and replaced
‘kontrahent’ (contractor) with
‘pracownik’(employee)
providing appropriate
annotation. This way the entire
document becomes coherent in
terms of position offered.
This approach is supported by
Newmark already mentioned in
section 6.
English ‘executor’. Following
Polish legal language in the set
context the word should be
replaced by another word
‘pracownik’ (Encyclopaedia of
[Polish] Law, 2004: 757)
which in English means
‘employee’. Word ‘contractor’
has also similar connotations
in English language:
‘a person who undertakes a
contract especially to provide
materials, conduct building
operations, etc.’ (Concise
Oxford English Dictionary,
2002: 312) as opposed to an
employee ‘a person who works
under the direction and control
of another (the employer) in
return for a wage or salary’
(Dictionary of Law, 2003:170).
In resolving the problem
of terminological
incogruencies in the
proposed translation, I
focused on TT having the
same results in practice
as the ST. This was
obtained by using
predominantly functional
equivalents ‘term
designating a concept or
institution of the target
legal system having the
same function as a
particular concept of the
source legal system’
(Šarčević, 2000: 236),
natural equivalents ‘terms
that actually exist in the
target legal system’ (ibid,
2000: 234) and neutral
equivalents that are
universal to all legal
systems.
(1)
ST: ‘…Fringe Benefits Tax…’
(§6)
TT: ‘…Podatek od świadczeń
niepieniężnych…’ (§6)
BT: ‘Non cash benefits tax’
(2)
ST: ‘…Cafeteria benefits…’ (§6)
TT: ‘…Świadczenia nie
pieniężne…’


Another problem was
etymological equivalents
such as ‘contract’
(kontrakt) which are not
identical at the
conceptual level. The
English concept of
‘contract’ is much broader
than its Polish equivalent
(§6)
BT: ‘Non cash benefits’
(3)
ST: ‘…Regular payroll…’ ( §8)
TT: ‘…Wypłaty wynagrodzenia
zasadniczego…’ (§8)
BT: ‘Base salary pay’
(4)
ST: ‘…an Annual Bonus in
cash…’
(§7)
TT: ‘…premia roczna w
środkach pieniężnych…’
(§7)
BT: ‘an Annual Bonus paid by
financial means’
as it also incorporates the
concept of agreement.
Annotation 1 explains the
matter further.
Table 3. Terminological problems in the ST.
6.2.3. Sentence Construction
Specific feature of the English legal language is extremely long and thus
often confusing sentences that perhaps could cause the most significant
difficulty in translating:
‘TERMINATION. The Employer may terminate this Agreement by giving
written notice to the Employee as follows:
(a) with not less than one week’s notice during the first two years
of continuous employment;
(b) with not less than one week’s notice for each full year of continuous
employment after the first two years until the twelfth year of continuous
employment; and
(c) with not less than twelve weeks’ notice after twelve years of
continuous employment.
(d) with immediate effect but payment in lieu of notice, if the Employee
become of unsound mind.’ (ST, §15)
The above sentence consists of 91 words. The unwritten legal rule
maintains that one thought should be contained in one sentence. In order
to encode such a sentence it is necessary to locate its main subject and
predicate. Based on assessing these first it is then possible to start
analyzing the meaning of the entire sentence. The rules of Functional
Grammar come very useful here since locating the Participant (head)
allows distinguishing the nominal group with all its pre and post modifies,
pointing out Process highlights the verbal group and the Circumstances
that provide context for the Process. Thus in the above example the focus
is on the Employer and not on the agreement.
6.3. Polish and English Law – Contextual Differences
…law remains first and foremost a national phenomenon. Each national or
municipal law… constitutes an independent legal system with its own
terminological apparatus and underlying conceptual structure, its own rules of
classifications, sources of law, methodological approaches, and socio-economic
principles. (Šarčević, 2000: 13)
In order to understand contracts that are written in different cultures it is
necessary to be familiar with their ambiguities not only from the linguistic
perspective. Thus, the Polish legal system is based on Roman law that is
based on civil law as opposed to common law. The UK does not have a
‘written' constitution and is made up of four main parts: statute law,
common law, conventions and works of authority.
It is not within the scope of this paper to explain in detail the significant
differences in English and Polish legal systems. It is however important to
highlight that a professional legal translator should be aware of them. One
significant difference relevant to the study is that English contracts have a
long chain of final provisions that in the main are unknown in Polish
contracts. These provisions often use unique Anglo-Saxon legal
terminology that might appear ambiguous at first but it is highly
standardised and thus manageable for an experienced translator. Each
legal system has its own language of law and ‘the main challenge of the
legal translator is the incongruency of legal systems’ (Šarčević, 2000: 13).
The terminological incogruencies have already been presented in more
detail in section 6.2.2.
6.4. Cultural Differences
Legal translation, like every translation, concerns exchange between
dissimilar cultures. The proposed translation does not impose a great deal
of differences of social contexts. There is however difference in
understanding responsibilities of ‘director’ in Polish and English contexts.
The difference is explained in the annotation 4.
7. CONCLUSIONS
The proposed translation of English Employment Contract into Polish
language demonstrates that ideal equivalence in legal texts does not
exists even with good background knowledge, cultural knowledge and
intuitive competence of the translator, simple because the two legal
systems, semantic space, legal concepts and terminology and cultural
perspectives are incompatible.
Legal translation will hardly ever be equal in meaning but it must be equal
in legal effect. Thus, the goal of the proposed legal translation was to
produce legal text that had the same application as the original. The most
successful way to achieve this appeared to be translation based on
functional equivalents.
My translating process and strategy was based on several principles:
preserving the information content, preserving the communicative
function of the translations, which determined to whom the text was
addressed in the target context, situational factors of the particular
communication process, the legal considerations and the legal context.
Especially important was also my personal detachment from the translated
texts since interpretation of the documents should always be left to the
lawyer.
The texts had to respect the rules of the TL since it is the sense that
counts and not the words in isolation. Summarising, in theory the best
legal translation would be the one in which nothing is hidden from the
receiver, all problems are elaborated and all original defects are noted.
In practice however, thoroughly annoted legal translation like the one
analysed here is rarely requested by clients and almost never, based on
my personal experience, offered by translators. Generally, it is required
from a translator to make a decision and spare copious amounts of
explanatory notes since clients value their time.
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APPENDIX 1
[All personal information provided in the document called ‘Employment
Contract’ is fictional].
EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT
1.
THIS AGREEMENT IS MADE the 15th day of August 2007
2.
BETWEEN
GlobalMedia Limited with registered office at 234 Regent
Street, London WL13 5MD (the “Employer”);
and
3.
Dr John Smith of 19 Dixon Road, London SL13 9JN (the
“Contractor”)
4.
This document sets out the terms and conditions of employment which are
required to be given to the Employee under section 1 Employment Rights Act 1996
and which apply at the date hereof.
5.
COMMENCEMENT AND JOB TITLE. The Employer agrees to employ the Employee
from the 20th of August year 2007 in the capacity of Financial Director at
GlobalMedia Ltd. No employment with a previous employer shall be counted as
part of the Employee’s period of continous employment. The Employee’s duties
may from time to time be reasonably modified as necessary to meet the needs of
the Employer’s business.
6.
BASE SALARY AND BENEFITS. The Employer shall pay the Employee a base salary
of £185,000 per year by equal monthly instalments in arrears. The Emploee’s
Base Salary shall be reviewed on an annual basis by the Compensation
Committee in the discretion of the Board of Directors. The base salary will be
subject to statutory deductions and will comprise a number of elements which
may include:
(A) voluntary pension contribution
(B) cafeteria benefits which the Employee elected to receive as a component of his
base salary that include:
(a) provision of car;
(b) provision of mobile phone;
(c) provision of laptop;
(d) provision of private medical insurance for the Employee and his family
members; and
(e) seasonal football ticket every year.
(C) Fringe Benefits Tax which is payable on the non-cash benefits.
7.
ANNUAL BONUS. In addition to the said Base Salary, the Financial Director shall be
awarded, for each fiscal year ending during the Employment Period, an Annual
Bonus in cash, determined as a percentage of annual Base Salary.
8.
SPECIAL BONUS. In recognition and appreciation of Employee’s performance, the
company may pay the Employee a special discretionary bonus in the amount of up
to £30,000 in one instalment to be included with the first regular payroll in August
during the Employment Period. The payment shall be subject to standard payroll
practices and be subject to applicable withholding taxes.
9.
HOURS OF EMPLOYMENT. The Employee’s normal hours of employment shall be
9am to 6pm on Mondays to Fridays during which the Employee may take up to one
hour for lunch between the hours of 12pm to 2pm, and the Employee may from
time to time be required to work such additional hours as
is reasonable to meet the requirements of the Employer’s business at no
additional payment. During
the term of the employment, the Employee shall be expected to devote his full
working time and attention to the business of GlobalMedia Ltd, and he shall not
render services to any other business without the prior approval of the Board of
Directors or, directly or indirectly, engage or participate in any business outside
the operations of GlobalMedia Ltd.
10.
11.
HOLIDAYS. The Employee shall be entitled to twenty five days holiday per
calendar year at full pay in addition to the normal public holidays. Holidays must
be taken at a time that is convenient to the Employer and no more than two
weeks’ holiday may be taken at any one time.
12.
SICKNESS. The Employee shall be paid normal remuneration during sickness
absence for a maximum of 26 weeks in any period of twelve months provided that
the Employee provides the Employer with a medical certificate in the case of
absence of more that seven consecutive days. Such remuneration shall be less
the amount of any Statutory Sick Pay or Social Security sickness benefits to which
the Employee may be entitled.
13.
COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS. There are no collective agreements in force directly
relating to the terms of the Employee employment.
14.
PENSION. The Employee shall be entitled to join the Employer’s pension scheme
the details of which are set out in the Employer’s booklet entitled ‘GlobalMedia
Pension Scheme’ which is available on request. A contracting-out certificate under
the Pension Schemes Act 1993 is in force in respect of this employment.
15.
TERMINATION. The Employer may terminate this Agreement by giving written
notice to the Employee as follows:
(a) with not less than one week’s notice during the first two years of continuous
employment;
(b) with not less than one week’s notice for each full year of continuous
employment after the first two years until the twelfth year of continuous
employment; and
(c) with not less than twelve weeks’ notice after twelve years of continuous
employment.
(d) with immediate effect but payment in lieu of notice, if the Employee become of
unsound mind.
The Employer may terminate this Agreement without notice or payment in lieu of
notice in case of serious or persistent misconduct such as to cause a major breach
of the Employer’s disciplinary rules.
The Employee may terminate this Agreement by one week’s written notice to the
Employer.
16.
CONFIDENTIALITY. The Employee is aware that during his employment he may be
party to confidential information concerning the Employer and the Employer’s
business. The Employee shall not during the term of this employment disclose or
allow the disclosure of any confidential information (except in the proper course of
his employment). After the termination of this Agreement the Employee shall not
disclose or use any of the Employer’s trade secrets or any other information which
is of sufficiently high degree of confidentiality to amount to a trade secret. The
Employer hereby shall be entitled to apply for an injunction to prevent such
disclosure or use and to seek any other remedy including without limitation the
recovery of damages in the case of such disclosure or use.
17.
NON-COMPETITION. For period of two years after the termination of this
Agreement the Employee shall not solicit or seek business from any customers or
clients of the Employer who were customers or clients thereof at any time during
the six months immediately preceding the termination hereof and therewith the
Employee had material dealings.
18.
DISCIPLINE AND GRIEVANCE. The Employer’s disciplinary rules and the grievance
and appeal procedure in connection with these rules are set out in the Employer’s
booklet entitled ‘The Guidelines’ which is attached hereto.
19.
NOTICES. All communications including notices required to be given hereunder
shall be in writing and shall be sent either by personal service or first class post to
the Parties’ respected addresses.
20.
SEVERABILITY. If any provision of this Agreement should be held to be invalid it
shall to that extent be severed and the remaining shall continue to have full force
and effect.
21.
ENTIRE AGREEMENT. This Agreement contains the entire Agreement between the
Parties and supersedes all prior arrangements and understandings whether written
or oral with respect to the subject matter hereof and may not be varied except in
writing signed by both parties hereto.
22.
GOVERNING LAW. This Agreement shall be construed in accordance with the laws
of England and Wales and shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the
English courts.
23.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the parties hereto have signed this Agreement the day and
year first above written.
24.
SIGNED: _________________________
Signed by or on behalf of the Employer
in the presence of (witness)
Name____________________
Address__________________
________________________
DATED_____________________
Occupation_______________
________________________________
Signed by or on behalf of the Employee
________________________
in the presence of (witness)
Name____________________
Address__________________
________________________
DATED_____________________
Occupation_______________
APPENDIX 2
The text below is my translation of the Employment Contract.
UMOWA O PRACĘ
1.
NINIEJSZĄ UMOWĘ (1) zawarto w dniu 15 sierpnia 2007 roku
2.
POMIĘDZY
Londyn
GlobalMedia Limited z główną siedzibą przy 234 Regent Street,
WL13 5MD (zwaną dalej „Pracodawcą”)
oraz
3.
Doktorem (2) Johnem Smithem zamieszkałym przy 19 Dixon Road,
Londyn SL13 9JN (zwanym dalej „Pracownikiem”) (3)
4.
Niniejszy dokument przedstawia stosunki i warunki zatrudnienia pracownika na
podstawie paragrafu 1 Ustawy o Prawach Pracowniczych 1996, które wchodzą w
życie w dniu zawarcia niniejszej umowy.
5.
DATA ROZPOCZĘCIA ZATRUDNIENIA I TYTUŁ SŁUŻBOWY. Pracodawca wyraża
zgodę na zatrudnienie Dr. Johna Smitha od 20 sierpnia 2007 roku na pozycji
dyrektora finansów (oraz członka rady dyrektorów) (4) w GlobalMedia Limited (5).
Do bieżącego (6) okresu zatrudnienia pracownika nie wlicza się okresu
przepracowanego dla poprzedniego pracodawcy. Obowiązki pracownika mogą być
od czasu do czasu, z wymogu potrzeb przedsiębiorstwa pracodawcy, odpowiednio
zmienione.
6.
WYNAGRODZENIE ZASADNICZE (7) I ŚWIADCZENIA. Pracodawca zobowiązany
jest to płacenia pracownikowi wynagrodzenia zasadniczego w wysokości 185000
(8) GBP na rok w równych, zaległych ratach w odstępach miesięcznych.
Wynagrodzenie zasadnicze pracownika jest w odstępach rocznych przedmiotem
analizy komisji do spraw wynagrodzeń według uznania rady dyrektorów. Od
wynagrodzenia zasadniczego odjęte zostaną ustawowe potrącenia i obejmować
ono będzie części składowe (9) do których wliczać się mogą:
(A) nieobowiązkowe składki emerytalne;
(B) świadczenia niepieniężne (10), wybrane przez pracownika jako część składowa
jego wynagrodzenia zasadniczego, obejmujące:
(a) udostępnienie samochodu;
(b) udostępnienie telefonu komórkowego;
(c) udostępnienie komputera przenośnego (11);
(d) udostępnienie prywatnego ubezpieczenia zdrowotnego dla pracownika i
członków jego rodziny; oraz
(e) coroczny bilet sezonowy na mecze piłki nożnej.
(C) podatek od świadczeń niepieniężnych.
7.
PREMIA ROCZNA (12). Dodatkowo do rzeczonego wynagrodzenia zasadniczego
przyznana jest dyrektorowi finansowemu, pod koniec roku fiskalnego w czasie
okresu zatrudnienia, premia roczna w środkach pieniężnych wyznaczona przez
procent rocznego wynagrodzenia zasadniczego.
8.
PREMIA OKOLICZNOŚCIOWA. W uznaniu i w podziękowaniu za wyniki pracy
pracownika, przedsiębiorstwo zapłaci pracownikowi specjalną premię uznaniową w
wysokości do 30000 GBP płatną jednorazowo w sierpniu w czasie okresu
zatrudnienia, włączoną do najbliższej wypłaty wynagrodzenia zasadniczego.
Niniejsza płatność jest podporządkowana standardowej praktyce wypłaty
wynagrodzeń i podlega obowiązującemu podatkowi pobieranego zaliczkowo.
9.
GODZINY PRACY. Podstawowe (13) godziny pracy pracownika są pomiędzy
godziną 9 a 18 (14) od poniedziałku do piątku w czasie których pracownik może
wziąć aż do godziny przerwę na popołudniowy posiłek (15) pomiędzy godziną 12 a
14 oraz od czasu do czsu może być wymagana od pracownika praca w
dodatkowych godzinach, bez dodatkowego wynagrodzenia, z wymogu potrzeb
przedsiębiorstwa pracodawcy.
10.
W czasie trwania zatrudnienia pracownik jest zobowiązany poświęcić cały czas i
uwagę działalności gospodarczej GlobalMedia Limited i nie może świadczyć usług
na rzecz jakiegokolwiek innego przedsiębiorstwa bez uprzedniej zgody rady
dyrektorów oraz bezpośrednio lub pośrednio angażować się lub uczestniczyć w
jakimkolwiek przedsiębiorstwie poza działalnością GlobalMedia Limited.
11.
URLOP. Pracownikowi należą się dwadzieścia pięć dni pełnopłatnego urlopu na rok
kalendarzowy w dodatku do zwykłych świąt państwowych. Urlop musi być
pobrany w czasie dogodnym dla pracodawcy i jednorazowo nie można
wykorzystać urlopu dłuższego niż dwa tygodnie.
12.
NIEOBECNOŚĆ W PRACY Z POWODU CHOROBY (16). Pracownik otrzyma
podstawową płacę za czas nieobecności w pracy z powodu choroby aż do 26
tygodni w każdym dwunastomiesięcznym okresie pod warunkiem przedstawienia
pracodawcy zaświadczenia lekarskiego w wypadku nieobecności dłuższej niż
siedem kolejnych dni. Od niniejszego wynagrodzenia odjęta zostanie suma
jakiegokolwiek ustawowego zasiłku chorobowego lub zasiłku chorobowego z tytułu
ubezpieczenia społecznego, które mogą należeć się pracownikowi.
13.
UZGODNIENIA ZBIOROWE. Nie ma obowiązujących uzgodnień zbiorowych
bezpośrednio nawiązujących do warunków zatrudnienia pracownika.
14.
ŚWIADCZENIE EMERYTALNE (17). Pracownik jest upoważniony do przyłączania
się do systemu emerytalnego pracodawcy, którego szczegóły są przedłożone w
broszurze pracodawcy zatytułowanej „System Emerytalny GlobalMedia” dostępnej
na życzenie. W niniejszym zatrudnieniu obowiązuje zaświadczenie o odłączeniu
się drogą umowy (18) zgodnie z Ustawą o Systemach Emerytalnych 1993.
15.
WYPOWIEDZENIE.
Pracodawca może wypowiedzieć niniejszą umowę poprzez
pisemne powiadomienie pracownika w następujący sposób:
(a) z co najmniej tygodniowym powiadomieniem w czasie pierwszych w pełni
przepracowanych dwóch lat;
(b) z co najmniej tygodniowym powiadomieniem za każdy w pełni przepracowany
rok, po upływie pierwszych dwóch lat, aż do w pełni przepracowanego
dwunastego roku; oraz
(c) z co najmniej dwunasto tygodniowym powiadomieniem, po upływie w pełni
przepracowanych dwunastu lat.
(d) z natychmiastowym skutkiem z zapłatą w miejsce powiadomienia jeżeli
pracownik
zachoruje na schorzenie umysłowe (19).
Pracodawca może wypowiedzieć niniejszą umowę bez powiadomienia oraz zapłaty
w miejsce powiadomienia w wypadku poważnych i stałych wykroczeń służbowych
takich jak spowodowanie istotnych naruszeń zasad dyscypliny pracodawcy.
Pracownik może wypowiedzieć niniejszą umowę z tygodniowym powiadomieniem
pracodawcy na piśmie.
16.
ZACHOWANIE POUFNOŚCI (20).
Pracownikowi wiadomo jest, że w czasie
zatrudnienia może mieć dostęp do poufnych informacji dotyczących pracodawcy i
jego przedsiębiorstwa. Pracownik w okresie zatrudnienia nie ujawni lub nie
dopuści do ujawnienia wszelkiej poufnej informacji (z wyjątkiem, kiedy jest to tok
postępowania właściwy dla jego zatrudnienia). Po rozwiązaniu niniejszej umowy
pracownik nie ujawni lub nadużyje jakichkolwiek tajemnic działalności
gospodarczej pracodawcy lub wszelkiej innej informacji wystarczająco poufnej by
przyczynić się do ustanowienia tajemnicy działalności gospodarczej. Pracodawca
niniejszym upoważniony jest do ubiegania się o nakaz sądowy zabezpieczający
przed niniejszym ujawnianiem lub użycia bądź zabiegania o wszelki inny sposób
włączywszy otrzymanie nieograniczonego odszkodowania w wypadku niniejszego
ujawnienia lub nadużycia.
17.
ZAKAZ KONKURENCJI (21). Przez okres dwóch lat po wypowiedzeniu niniejszej
umowy, pracownik nie będzie starać się pozyskać, lub nakłaniać do działalności
handlowej, jakichkolwiek klientów pracodawcy, którzy byli w okresie sześciu
miesięcy bezpośrednio poprzedzającym wypowiedzenie niniejszej umowy,
klientami (22) pracodawcy oraz z którymi niniejszy pracownik prowadził
transakcje materialne.
18.
ZASADY DYSCYPLINY I SKARG (23).
Przepisy dyscyplinarne pracodawcy wraz z
nawiązującymi do nich procedurami rozpoznawania skarg i apelacji są przedłożone
w broszurze pracodawcy zatytułowanej „Wytyczne” dołączonej do niniejszej
umowy.
19.
POWIADOMIENIA. Wszelka korespondencja, włączając powiadomienia, wymagana
na mocy niniejszej umowy, powinna być prowadzona na piśmie i doręczona bądź
osobiście bądź za pomocą poczty priorytetowej (24) na podane adresy stron.
20.
ROZDZIELNA INTERPRETACJA POSTANOWIEŃ UMOWY (25). Jeżeli którekolwiek z
postanowień niniejszej umowy zostanie uznane za nieważne będzie ono w takim
zakresie oddzielone a pozostałość pozostawać będzie w pełnej mocy prawnej.
21.
CAŁOŚĆ UMOWY. Niniejsza umowa obejmuje całość umowy zawartej pomiędzy jej
stronami i zastępuje wszelkie wcześniejsze uzgodnienia i porozumienia, czy to
pisemne czy ustne, nawiązujące do istoty tematu tej umowy i może ona jedynie
być zmieniona pisemnie z podpisami obu stron niniejszej umowy.
22.
PRAWO WŁAŚCIWE. Niniejsza umowa przygotowana jest na podstawie prawa
Anglii i Wali i podlega wyłącznej jurysdykcji angielskich Sądów.
23.
NA DOWÓD POWYŻSZEGO strony niniejszej umowy podpisały ją w dniu
wskazanym w postanowieniach wstępnych.
24.
PODPISANE
_____________________
Podpisane przez lub z ramienia pracodawcy
w obecności (świadka)
Nazwisko i imię ___________
Adres__________________
________________________
Z DATĄ
_____________________
Zawód_______________
________________________________
________________________
Podpisane przez lub z ramienia pracownika
w obecności (świadka)
Nazwisko i imię__________
Adres__________________
_______________________
Z DATĄ_____________________
Zawód_______________
APPENDIX 3
The numbers in front of my annotations refer to numbers I have put in my
proposed translation into Polish provided in the Appendix 2.
Employment Contract Annotations (ST1)
(1)
In legal English terminology the word ‘agreement’ is a less formal name for the
word ‘contract’ and thus must be translated with this connotation in mind in the
context of the ST. It therefore has to be translated as ‘kontrakt’ (contract) even
though the word has already been used in translation of the word ‘contact’ in the
headline. It has to be mentioned that the most recognised legal translation of the
word ‘agreement’ into Polish is word ‘porozumienie’, which has different
connotation and often relates to agreement made between parties that aims at i.e.
finishing some conflict, making a business or political deal etc.
(2)
The title of doctor, abbreviated as Dr. in the Anglo-Saxon countries is not always
equivalent to the title of doctor in Poland due to differences in the educational
framework. Since it is not the main aspect of the translation and thus there is no
more contextual information available, the title has not been altered in the TT
(3)
The word ‘contractor’ translated into Polish is ‘kontrahent’ or ‘wykonawca’.
‘Kontrahent’ or ‘wykonawca’ is ‘one of the parties who undertakes a contact’ (The
New Dictionary of the Polish Language, 2003: 353) but of a different kind than the
permanent employment contract described in the ST. ‘Kontrahent’ often relates to
‘one – off’ contracts with a set deadline and clearly defined purpose i.e.
construction of a building, professional advice etc. According to the Dictionary of
Law (2003: 38) word ‘wykonawca’ means in English ‘executor’. Following Polish
legal language in the set context the word should be replaced by another word
‘pracownik’ (Encyclopaedia of [Polish]Law, 2004: 757) which in English means
‘employee’. Word ‘contractor’ has also similar connotations in English language:
‘a person who undertakes a contract especially to provide materials, conduct
building operations, etc.’ (Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 2002: 312) as
opposed to an employee ‘a person who works under the direction and control of
another (the employer) in return for a wage or salary’ (Dictionary of Law, 2003:
170). Since the entire ST clearly refers to ‘employee’ employed on a permanent
contract in a professional capacity and also repetitively uses the term ‘employee’
when referring to Dr. John Smith, I have replaced ‘kontrahent’ (contractor) with
‘pracownik’ (employee) providing appropriate annotation. This way the entire
document becomes coherent in terms of position offered.
(4)
In Poland a director does not have to be a member of the Board of Directors in
order to hold the title while in the United Kingdom it is a necessary requirement.
The role of Dr. Smith is thus the one of the Financial Director and of a member of
the Boards of Directors. To fully inform the reader of the differences in his
responsibilities or prompt him to seek further legal advice and to reassure that the
TT has the same legal effect I added information ‘oraz członka rady dyrektorów’
(and the member of the Board of Directors) in brackets to the TT.
(5)
‘Ltd’ is an abbreviation of Limited. It is a term that must be added to all registered
in the United Kingdom private limited companies. I opted to retain the original
‘Limited’ rather than replace it by Polish near functional equivalent ‘spółka z
ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością’ in turn abraviated to ‘s.o.o.’ (private limited
company) as the contract is subject to English jurisdiction. I would however point
it out to the TT reader in an annotation to seek, in his own interest, a legal advice
clarifying the matter.
(6)
ST word ‘continuous’ must have been replaced by word ‘bieżący’ (current) in order
to not jeopardise the coherence of the Polish translation of the sentence.
(7)
The use of word ‘salary’ in English indicates an employment of someone in
professional / intellectual capacity as opposed to word ‘wage’ that is paid to a blue
collar workers. In Polish there is one term for both ‘wynagrodzenie’
(compensation). This is quite confusing situation since English is more politically
correct than Polish. It does not appear to be in this case. Since the entire text
clearly indicates that Dr. Smith is employed in intellectual capacity I did not find it
necessary to add any information here in order to clarify the issue.
(8)
Translation dropped comma because in Poland it is equivalent of full stop and
indicates decimal places. Thus, the original figure £185,000 would be 185 GBP
and not £185000 as originally intended.
(9)
The ST1 ‘…will comprise a number of elements, which may include’ while it was
translated as ‘obejmować ono będzie części składowe do których wliczać się
mogą’ (…will comprise elements, which may include). The wording: ‘a number of’
has been missed out of the translation especially because it does not suit in this
case grammatically into the Polish sentence, does not contribute any additional
information and the plural ‘elements’ carries the meaning of ‘a number of’ rather
than ‘one’ element.
(10)
‘Cafeteria benefits’ is a Human Resources term for ‘non-cash benefits’ that form
the overall remuneration package of an Employee. Like in Cafeteria shop an
employee may choose what non-cash benefits the best suit his personal needs. It
is rather an informal term and thus can only appear in letter agreements. For
transparency of meaning of the TT I replaced the term ‘Cafeteria benefits’ with
’świadczenia niepieniężne’ (non-cash benefits).
(11)
Term ‘laptop’ is a relatively new English word for a portable personal computer. It
has been translated as ‘komputer przenośny’ (portable computer).
(12)
Term ‘annual bonus’ is translated literally into Polish as ‘premia roczna’. However,
it has to be highlighted that term ‘premia roczna’ is more often referred to in
Poland as ‘trzynastka’ (thirteen [pay]). Since term ‘trzynastaka’ is unknown in
English culture and ‘premia roczna’ meaning is equally transparent to a Polish
reader I have chosen the latter as a safer but equally adequate option.
(13)
Polish word for adjective ‘normal’ is ‘normalny’. However, in reference to working
hours adjective ‘podstawowe’ (basic) is more appropriate in the TT language.
(14)
9 am and 6 pm are terms originating from Latin meaning before and after noon
respectively. This terminology is not in use in Poland and in addition in the country
operates officially a 24 hour clock. Thus the above was translated as ’9 a 18’ (9
and 18).
(15)
Lunch is a type of meal that does not have its Polish equivalent. Traditionally, in
Poland there are: breakfast at approx 7 am, second breakfast at 11 am, dinner at
4:30 pm and supper at 7 pm. Even though the word ‘lunch’ is gradually becoming
recognisable in Polish everyday language, due to the nature of the text I replaced
it by a descriptive phrase ‘popołudniowy posiłek’ (an afternoon meal).
(16)
The translating problem relates to differences in style of writing contracts in
Poland and in England that I presented in point 6.2.2 of the critical commentary of
the translation. Term ‘sickness’ means ‘stan chorobowy’. Single term ‘stan
chorobowy’ as a contract headline would sound unbiguous to a Polish contract
reader, especially because there is are significant differences in regulations
relating to sickness and sickness absence in Poland and in the United Kingdom.
Since the paragraph refers to ‘sickness absence’ also known as a ‘sick leave’ I
have translated the heading as ‘nieobecność w pracy z powodu choroby’ (sick
leave).
(17)
In English there are two separate words for: retirement (stop working at elderly
age) and pension (income while retired). In Polish there is one word describing
both ‘emerytura’. The ST1 paragraph refers to pension thus I added word
świadczenie (compensation) at front of ‘emerytura’ so it retain the meaning of the
original word.
(18)
‘Contracting-out certificate’ has been translated literally into Polish even though it
is a legal term familiar only to certain English employees. It refers to an option
given to employees to contract out of State Earnings Related Pension Scheme by
joining an appropriate occupational or personal pension scheme. Since the Act it
refers to is provided next to it, it is the target reader’s responsibility to check
details referring to the certificate.
(19)
‘Unsound’ is an archaic adjective that in the context of ST means ‘unhealthy’.
Thus, the translation is ‘zachoruje na schorzenie umysłowe’ (will suffer from
mental illness).
(20)
The translating problem relates to differences in style of writing contracts in
Poland and England that I presented in point 6.2.2 of the critical commentary of
the translation. Word ‘poufność’ is a direct equivalent of ‘confidentiality’, yet
standing alone in TT1 it would sound somewhat incomplete. In this translation I
found it necessary to add word ‘zachowanie’ (preserve) in order to transfer the
original meaning albeit presented in more diplomatic manner in the source
culture.
(21)
Similarly to annotations 16 and 19, the problem here relates to differences in style
between the source and the target text cultures. Since Polish style is more direct
and aims at clearly stating what is required it was necessary to replace word ‘non’
with word ‘zakaz’ (prohibition). This stylistic improvement was necessary in order
to obtain the same legal effect.
(22)
Words ‘customer’ and ‘client’ have only one Polish equivalent ‘klient’. The
translation into Polish is thus easy. It would be more problematic if the translation
was into English since ‘clients’ are people and institutions that are bided for the
service they receive by contract/agreement letter, while customers are all other
cases.
(23)
Similarly to annotation 16, 19 and 20 and in accordance to the explanation
presented in point 6.2.2 of the critical commentary of the translation, it was
necessary to add word ‘zasady’ (rules) before ‘discipline and grievance’ since
Polish contracts are very explicit in their tone and vocabulary and thus to obtain
the same legal effect in the TT.
(24)
The closest equivalent of the first class post in the United Kingdom is ‘poczta
pioritetowa’ (priority post) in Poland. Even though it is not entirely the same as
via ‘poczta prioritetowa’ mail can also be sent overseas, the emphasis in the text
is on the urgency – next day delivery, thus ‘poczta prioritetowa’ the best fulfils the
requirement.
(25)
‘Severability’ which allows for some parts of contract only to by annulled does not
have a functional equivalent in Polish legal system. It was thus replaced by a
neutral paraphrase: ‘ROZDZIELNA INTERPRETACJA POSTANOWIEŃ UMOWY’
(separate Interpretation of the Contract Provisions [in case of annulment]) that
has the same legal effect as ‘severability’.
APPENDIX 4
Terminology – Employment Contract
The contract contains legal terminology as well as commercial, human resources
and standard language.
Source Text
Employment contract
Target Text
Umowa o pracę
Commencement
Data rozpoczęcia
Limited Company
Spółką z ograniczoną
odpowiedzialnością
Na podstawie paragrafu
Under section
Job title
Base salary
Tytuł służbowy
Wynagrodzenie
zasadnicze
Back Translation
Employment contract /
Agreement contract
The date of
commencement
[Private] limited liability
company
(in accordance to) under
section
Job title
Base salary
In the capacity of
Benefits
Compensation
Committee
Na pozycji
Świadczenia
Komisja do spraw
wynagrodzeń
Cafeteria benefits
Normal hours
Świadczenia nie
pieniężne
Podatek od świadczeń
niepieniężnych
Premia roczna w
środkach pieniężnych
Wypłaty wynagrodzenia
zasadniczego
Podatek pobierany
zaliczkowo
Podstawowe godziny
Holidays
Remuneration
Urlop
Wynagrodzenie
Sickness
Nieobecność [w pracy] z
powodu choroby
Emerytura
Nieobowiązkowe składki
emerytalne
Zaświadczenie o
odłączeniu się drogą
umowy
Fringe Benefits Tax
Annual Bonus in cash
Regular payroll
Witholding taxes
Pension
Voluntary pension
contribution
Contracting out
certificate
Employment Rights Act
1996
Under Pension Scheme
Act
Confidentiality
Zgodnie z Ustawą o
Systemach
Emerytalnych
Wypowiedzenie
Zapłata w miejsce
(zamiast)
Zachowanie poufności
Non-competition
Zakaz konkurencji
Customer / Client
Grievance procedure
Klient
Procedura
rozpoznawania skarg /
Postępowanie
załatwiania skarg
Procedura apelacyjna
Powiadomienie
Rozdzielna interpretacja
postanowień umowy
Termination
Payment in lieu
Appeal procedure
Notice
Severability
Governing law
Prawo właściwe
As / In the capacity of
Benefits
Compensation
Committee /
Remuneration
Committee
Non cash benefits
Non cash benefits tax
Annual Bonus paid by
the way of finance
Base salary pay
Tax taken in advance
Basic hours / Standard
hours
Leave [at work]
Compensation / Pay /
Remuneration
Sick leave / Sickness
absence [at work]
Retirement / Pension
Non mandatory pension
contributions
Contracting out
certificate
According to / Under
Pension Scheme Act
Termination
Payment instead of
To preserve / keep
confidentiality
Non-competition / Ban
on competition
Customer / Client
Grievance recognition
procedure / Grievance
resolution procedure
Appeal procedure
Notice
Separate interpretation
of agreement’s
(contract) decisions
The approved law /
Governing law
Jurisdiction
Full force and effect
In witness whereof
The term of
employment
Shall be reviewed
Recovery of damages
Injunction
Apply for an injunction
Held to be invalid
Jurysdykcja /
Prawodastwo
Pełna moc prawna
W dowód powyższego
Czas trwania
zatrudnienia
Będzie przedmiotem
analizy
Otrzymanie
odszkodowania
Nakaz sądowy
Ubieganie się o nakaz
sądowy
Uznane za nieważne
Jurisdiction
Full legal force
As a proof for the above
The employment period
It will be the subject of
analisis
Recovery of damages
Injunction
Apply for an injunction
Held to be invalid /
Assessed as invalid
Joanna Harrop MA, DPSI (Law) is a qualified English / Polish translator and
interpreter with over 13 years of work experience gained in FTSE 100
organisations in professional commercial and translating capacities. Her
non linguistic qualifications are in International Business Administration
and Human Resources.

Transfer of meaning specific to Employment

Transkrypt

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