Customer Reviews

McGraw-Hill's Spanish and English Legal Dictionary : Diccionario Juridico Ingles-Espanol

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

Of the numerous Spanish<>English legal dictionaries I use regularly, this is consistently the one least likely to include the terms I need. I suspect it's partly because this is an abridged edition, and partly because the sources that the author(s) cite include very few publications that are even remotely recent. Another problem: the entries generally provide narrative explanations rather than functionally equivalent terms. The explanations are cogent, clear, interesting, and often establish differences in meaning between different countries. However, this approach is not helpful if you're a translator trying to figure out the best English-language equivalent for a Spanish legal term or vice versa.

Este es un diccionario que se disfruta mucho leer o ojear, siempre hay algo nuevo por aprender o algo viejo que recordar, es fácil de usar por su índice temático y las abreviaciones al final de cada palabra, si tienes dudas por alguna definición del sistema jurídico Anglo-Sajón tal ves aquí lo puedas encontrar, al igual que si necesitas traducir algún documento legal el diccionario te puede ayudar y facilitar la definición.

Casi todos los países de América Latina esta incluidos con alguna sentencia o ley importante(Nicaragua, México, Guatemala), al igual que países como España y EU. Las definiciones están muy bien explicadas de forma clara y breve así que si necesitas profundizar mas tendrás que buscar en otro diccionario, pero lo mas importante lo puedes encontrar aquí y a un buen precio, este diccionario es una muy buena inversión, definitivamente una buena adquisición para todos los que nos movemos en el mundo Jurídico.

Los precios de otros diccionarios son muy altos y esto se debe a que profundizan mas en algunos temas(Derecho Procesal, Laboral, Inmigración etc), son en varios tomos, tienen una bibliografía mas extensa(notaran que este solo menciona lo esencial) y este para ser un diccionario ABREVIADO tiene muchas definiciones importantes de Derecho Internacional, Penal, Laboral, Civil, Filosofía, Familia, Obligaciones, Contratos y Ambiental.

Si eres estudiante de Derecho este diccionario te ayudara mucho, si deseas profundizar mas te recomiendo del mismo autor Dahl's Law Dictionary, otro diccionario muy útil es el del autor Español Enrique Alcaraz Varo. En ingles el libro de Jay M. Feinman "Law 101: Everything You Need to Know About the American Legal System" es una muy buena introduccion al sistema Legal de EU, ademas del diccionario "Black's Law Dictionary" y en Español los diccionarios de Guillermo Cabanellas de Torres.

I am a prosecutor, and I needed a dictionary to help translate the basic legal terms that are necessary to explain a guilty plea to criminal defendants. For my purposes the dictionary has been helpful. The dictionary enables me to find some word that will be close enough to my intended meaning to enable the defendant to follow. It is a handsome hard cover volume.

However, it doesn't have the kind of detail that you might want to explain to clients of different cultural backgrounds the more subtle differences between legal expressions. As one somewhat trivial example that comes to mind, we use the word audiencia for hearing. This dictionary also has the word vista for hearing, but it gives no insight into the difference between the two words -- when you would want to use one rather than the other. So, I just use audiencia because that's what our local translators use, and I trust them.

For simple translations, this dictionary is a great value, and I am very happy to have it. I am not skilled enough in spanish to be able to explain subtle differences in meaning -- or for that matter to write a review in spanish, so I don't find the lack of detail to be a problem. If you want detail, you won't find it here.

The dictionary help me somewhat. However, it only has, in my opinion, about 60% of the legal terms I sought. I hope there is a better dictionary out there!

Disappointing. I made the mistake of buying it. Don't make that mistake yourself. Some entries are flat out wrong. Coverage is uneven: important terms ignored or shortchanged, other obscure terms given much space, but only covering one jurisdiction. It's obvious that little work or thought went into the book. It's merely an attempt to profit on a hole in the market. Will someone please prepare a good one.

As a US immigration lawyer, I was pretty disappointed with this dictionary. It had few of the terms I looked for.

This is an extremely disappointing and highly frustrating product. First, this is NOT a dictionary at all and does not function like one. It is for English speakers attempting to understand unfamiliar terms in a Spanish legal document or for Spanish speakers attempting to understand unfamiliar terms in an English legal document. For that single limited purpose, it may be adequate. However, for lawyers who (in my case) are attempting to TRANSLATE a Spanish legal document into an English equivalent, or vice versa, it is a disaster. For example, there is no entry for "statute," but there are entries for "statute of frauds," "statute of limitations," and "statutory law." And these entries include long explanations that are in Spanish, not English. There is no separation between any "translation" of the term and the extraneous explanation.

When you need an explanation, though, it is lacking. So for "annul," the translation is "anular, abolir, abrogar, cancelar, dejar sin efecto, rescindir, revocar." You will have to guess for yourself which term in Spanish is correct in your case. At other times, the translation seems suspiciously wordy or out of date. For examp,e "contingency fee" is translated as "honorarios bajo pacto de cuoto litis." Give me a break. Same thing with "corporate tax," translated as "impuesto sobre las sociedades comerciales."

This is supposedly an "abridged" dictionary, but the authors inexplicably engage in lengthy and wasteful discussion of legal concepts that are unlikely to be of interest to anyone. For example, from page 115 to 133 (nearly 20 pages), the authors reprint page after page of case law on the subject of "forum non conveniens" with respect to various Latin American countries. Not only do these decisions take up the space of what could be hundreds of actual legal terms, but any legal practitioner will have access to CURRENT case law regarding "forum non conveniens." And who would think to look in a legal dictionary to read up on the "Official Opinion of the Attorney General's Office" dated May 24, 1995 in Nicaragua?

Bottom line is that this "dictionary" is not helpful. A waste of time and money. Better to stick with a general reference like the Concise Oxford Spanish Dictionary, which does a better job on the law than this, and a whole lot more.

I am studying to be court interperter & I need to learn as many legal words as possible. This has some words but it tells you the meaning in the oposite language & didn't have all the words I was learning in class.

This dictionary presents an interesting quandary for any serious English - Spanish legal translator (or interpreter) as it has one fairly strong aspect, and one conspicuously weak one.

For those looking to have a certain legal term in one language explained in "the other" language, this is probably a fairly good option, especially considering its reasonable price point. The entry texts are verbose and accessible enough to appeal to the non-legally initiated, and examples make sure that you "get it" what a term means.

However...

This is above all a bilingual dictionary which - if only held up to the standard set by its own title - falls terribly short as such. One of my personal acid tests is looking up "felony" and sure enough: quite unworthy of any serious lexicographic reference work, it offers the false cognate "felonía" as a "translation." This illustrative case lays bare two abominable weaknesses for a serious bilingual dictionary:

- A disconnect in register, and beyond that, a failure in linguistic rigor, which speaks directly to the question whether this dictionary is deserving of an authoritative status. The answer is sadly in the negative.
- A semantic disconnect which does a tremendous disservice to speakers of either language: offering a false cognate improperly as a suggested and hence valid translation is not only incorrect, it is disrespectful to both languages. "Close enough" doesn't cut it, less so "getting the gist" of what something means in another language, and how to properly use it.

For these aforementioned reasons, while acknowledging the enormous practical value it can have for use by casual non-translators (say, to quickly look something up and clarify it in a conversation setting) because of its strength in explaining the meaning, it falls in my opinion terribly short as a bilingual dictionary: something which should give a reliable and by all means correct translation in another language.

If you're in the translation business, or if you have to commit the result of a consultation to paper, my unsalted opinion is this: if at all you feel you must buy this, put it toward the end of your list of priorities. Lacking the thorough linguistic and lexicographic review and upgrade it direly needs, it is perhaps an interesting addition for the dictionary collector, but not much more than that. Only marginally valuable.

I am a translator and also and interpreter, and I have found that this is a great dictionary for my translations, althought I must say, that sometimes the explanations can be somewhat confusing, but I still think that is a very good dictionary in general. Just one thing.. I think the authors did miss a few words.