Spanish-English Dictionary Of Law And Business [Hardcover]

Thomas L. West (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1999

This new dictionary provides a ready reference to essential terms and phrases used in all areas of law and business, including accounting, banking, civil law, civil procedure, contracts, corporate law, criminal law, criminal procedure, economics, intellectual property, labor law, real property, secured transactions, securities law, and torts. Written by an American attorney who is also an accredited translator, it provides complete coverage of terminology used in all Spanish-speaking countries, not just those countries where the other bilingual dictionaries on the market were written (i.e., Spain and Argentina). Accordingly, it is the only source for translations of terms that are unique to countries such as Colombia, Peru and Venezuela. The dictionary was thoroughly researched using original documents and monolingual dictionaries from the Spanish-speaking various countries and is thus authoritative and up-to-date. No lawyer or translator who works with Spanish legal and business documents can afford to be without it.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A welcome addition ...emphasizes the legal Spanish of countries ignored by other dictionaries." -- International Journal of Legal Information

"Provides translation for many current terms not found in similar dictionaries available on the market. A welcome resource." -- Modern Language Journal

About the Author

Thomas L. West III is an attorney and translator in Atlanta, Georgia. After practicing corporate and international law for five years, he founded Intermark Language Services Corporation, a translation company specializing in legal translation. Mr. West holds a bachelor's degree in French, a master's degree in German, and a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. He has taught courses on French Legal Translation at Georgia State University, on German Legal Translation for the German Translators Forum in Chicago, and on Spanish Legal Translation at the Centro de Estudios de Lingstica AplicadaBr in Mexico City and the Colegio de Traductores Pblicos in Buenos Aires. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Translators Association and holds ATA accreditation for translation from French, Spanish, and German into English.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 319 pages
• Publisher: Protea Publishing Company (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883707374
• ISBN-13: 978-1883707378
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,563,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A very limited Spanish / English Dictionary, April 14, 2000

By 

R. M. Hutchins (St. George, Utah USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Spanish-English Dictionary Of Law And Business (Hardcover)

As you will note from the reviews that follow, this is a good Spanish - English Dictionary IF YOU ARE TRANSLATING FROM SPANISH INTO ENGLISH; it is not so good if you are translating from English to Spanish. Being a lawyer who speaks Spanish, I occasionaly have Spanish clients, and I need to come up with a Spanish word for a legal term I am aware of in English. I read the other reviews before purchasing this Spanish-English dictionary. I, finally, put forth the $75 to purchase it. When I received it, I decided to look up the Spanish word for "Judge" - to see if I was using the right term (is it "Juez" or "Juzgado"). I turned to the page for "J" and, low and behold, THERE WAS NO WORD FOR "JUDGE"! IT WASN'T EVEN LISTED! I turned to the Spanish section and found "Juez" - which was listed as "Judge"; also, I found "Juzgador" - which was listed as "Judge." (I discovered that "Jugado" is "Court" - rather than "Judge" as I had presumed.) I realized that this book wasn't going to work for me - having to translate FROM English INTO Spanish. On the other hand, I recently had to translate a Spanish Adoption record into English. There were Spanish legal phrases which, after several hours of using my regular (Non-legal) Spanish/English dictionary, I was able to deduce the equivilant legal phrases in English. Well, this dictionary probably would have been useful. As the author notes in his preface: "Because my research focused on Spanish-language materials, my original intent had been not to include an English-to-Spanish section at all." He, then, notes that he decided to include a (VERY LIMITED and relatively small) English-to-Spanish section. So, if you are translating FROM Spanish INTO English, this dictionary will probably be useful; however, if you are trying to translate FROM English INTO Spanish, I suggest you try another Spanish/English Dictionary. (I'll probably return this one and get my $75 back.)

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A dictionary like none other, November 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Spanish-English Dictionary Of Law And Business (Hardcover)

I have used many Spanish-English legal dictionaries, but never have I found a book as useful as this one. Unlike the others, this dictionary includes explanations of many of the terms. If you're trying to figure what the difference is between an "embargo" and "secuestro," this book will explain it to you. If you're translating a "sentencia," you can look up that word in this dictionary, and it tells you about the four parts of a "sentencia" in a Spanish-speaking country. The other thing that is completely different about this book is that it contains terms from Guatemala, Peru, El Salvador, Bolivia, Chile, etc.--in other words, terms from all the countries that a dictionary from Argentina is not going to include (because they don't turn up in Argentine documents). In short, if I could only have ONE Spanish-English legal dictionary, this would be it!

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A waste of your money, January 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Spanish-English Dictionary Of Law And Business (Hardcover)

This book is most useful if you are only looking to translate Spanish to English (about 225 pages). But do not get this book if you need English to Spanish translations (about 70 pages). This section is very limited. And I mean VERY limited. Most of the legal terms, even the most basic ones, weren't there, and I did find them in my regular English/Spanish dictionary.

I wish I had read the review from St. George before purchasing it. But I got this book a while ago, and after repeated, frustraing times looking up words I decided to go ahead and write a review.