The paper discusses the terminology used in an EU document. It is part of a recently started research project on labour law terminology and terminography. Directive 2002/15/EC, the document selected for analysis, is an example of EU text dealing with two subject fields: labour law and road transport. Apart from that, it presents specialised vocabulary typical of EU documents. Analysing this directive enabled the author to compile a record of terms in the three fields: labour law, road transport law, and EU legislation, and then analyse them according to several classifications: the field of study, the type of concepts represented, and the length of terms (the number of words, a formal criterion). The proportions calculated made it possible to draw some conclusions as to the specialised vocabulary found in EU legal texts from the viewpoint of a translator and a terminologist, who need to be familiar with all the topics discussed in texts they are dealing with in a given job.
Legal resources
Consolidated version of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the Harmonization of Certain Social Legislation Relating to Road Transport and Amending Council Regulations (EEC) No 3821/85 and (EC) No 2135/98 and Repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85.
Consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union – Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union – Protocols – Annexes – Declarations annexed to the Final Act of the Intergovernmental Conference which adopted the Treaty of Lisbon, signed on 13 December 2007 – Tables of equivalences (Official Journal C 326, 26/10/2012 P. 0001 – 0390).
Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993 Concerning Certain Aspects of the Organisation of Working Time (Official Journal L 307, 13/12/1993 P. 0018 – 0024).
Council Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 of 20 December 1985 on Recording Equipment in Road Transport – Tachograph.
Directive 2000/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 2000 Amending Council Directive 93/104/EC Concerning Certain Aspects of the Organisation of Working Time to Cover Sectors and Activities Excluded from that Directive (Official Journal L 195, 01/08/2000 P. 0041 – 0045).
Directive 2002/15/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2002 on the Organisation of the Working Time of Persons Performing Mobile Road Transport Activities (Official Journal L 080, 23/03/2002 P. 0035 – 0039).
Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 Concerning Certain Aspects of the Organisation of Working Time (Official Journal L 299, 18/11/2003 P. 0009 – 0019).
Directive 2006/22/EC on Minimum Conditions for the Implementation of Council Regulations (EEC) No 3820/85 and (EEC) No 3821/85 Concerning Social Legislation Relating to Road Transport Activities and Repealing Council Directive 88/599/EEC.
Dyrektywa 2002/15/WE Parlamentu Europejskiego i Rady z dnia 11 marca 2002 r. w sprawie organizacji czasu pracy osób wykonujących czynności w trasie w zakresie transportu drogowego (Dziennik Urzędowy L 080, 23/03/2002 P. 0035 – 0039).
Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the Harmonization of Certain Social Legislation Relating to Road Transport and Amending Council Regulations (EEC) No 3821/85 and (EC) No 2135/98 and Repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85.
Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 February 2014 on Tachographs in Road Transport, Repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 on Recording Equipment in Road Transport and Amending Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Harmonization of Certain Social Legislation Relating to Road Transport.
References
Bajčić, Martina (2018) “The Role of EU Legal English in Shaping EU Legal Culture.” International Journal of Language & Law vol. 7 (2018); 8–24. DOI: 10.14762/jll.2018.008
Bessé, Bruno de, Blaise Nkwenti-Azeh, Juan C. Sager (1997) “Glossary of terms used in terminology.” Terminology. Vol. 4 (1); 117–156.
Biel, Łucja (2014) Lost in the Eurofog: The Textual Fit of Translated Law. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Bogdanowska, Monika (2017) “Interdyscyplinarny Słownik Wielojęzyczny on-line – możliwości i ograniczenia.” [In:] J. Pizoń, B.A. Nowak (ed.), Aplikacyjne metody obliczeniowe oraz zarządzanie danymi. Lublin: Wydawnictwo naukowe Tygiel sp.z o.o.; 310–319.
Consolidated version of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport and amending Council Regulations (EEC) No 3821/85 and (EC) No 2135/98 and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85 (Text with EEA relevance);
Consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union – Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union – Protocols – Annexes – Declarations annexed to the Final Act of the Intergovernmental Conference which adopted the Treaty of Lisbon, signed on 13 December 2007 – Tables of equivalences (Official Journal C 326, 26/10/2012 P. 0001 – 0390)
Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time (Official Journal L 307, 13/12/1993 P. 0018 – 0024)
Council Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 of 20 December 1985 on recording equipment in road transport – Tachograph;
Directive 2000/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 2000 amending Council Directive 93/104/EC concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time to cover sectors and activities excluded from that Directive (Official Journal L 195, 01/08/2000 P. 0041 – 0045)
Directive 2002/15/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2002 on the organisation of the working time of persons performing mobile road transport activities (Official Journal L 080, 23/03/2002 P. 0035 – 0039)
Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time (Official Journal L 299, 18/11/2003 P. 0009 – 0019)
Directive 2006/22/EC on minimum conditions for the implementation of Council Regulations (EEC) No 3820/85 and (EEC) No 3821/85 concerning social legislation relating to road transport activities and repealing Council Directive 88/599/EEC
Doczekalska, Agnieszka (2009) “Drafting or translation: production of multilingual legal texts.” [In:] Francis Olsen, Alexander Lorz, Dieter Stein (ed.), Translation issues in language and law. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan; 116–135.
Dyrektywa 2002/15/WE Parlamentu Europejskiego i Rady z dnia 11 marca 2002 r. w sprawie organizacji czasu pracy osób wykonujących czynności w trasie w zakresie transportu drogowego (Dziennik Urzędowy L 080, 23/03/2002 P. 0035 – 0039)
Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. Labour Law. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=157&langId=hr
EU languages. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/eu-languages_en
Jacometti, Valentina (2012) “Literature Review on European Multilingualism.” 20 European Review of Private Law 5/6; 1383–1387.
Lukszyn, Jerzy, Wanda Zmarzer (2006) Teoretyczne podstawy terminologii. Warsaw: Zakład Graficzny UW.
Lukszyn. Jerzy (ed). (1998) Tezaurus terminologii translatorycznej, Warsaw: PWN.
Mattila, Heikki E.S. (2016) “Legal Vocabulary.” [In:] Tiersma & Solan (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Language and the Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 27–39
Michta, Tomasz (2018) A Model for an English-Polish Systematic Dictionary of Chemical Terminology. Siedlce: Scientific Publishing House of the Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities.
Mobility and Transport. Road. Social Provisions. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/road/social_provisions_en
Pozzo, Barbara (2006) “Multilingualism, legal terminology and the problems of harmonising European private law.” [In:] Barbara Pozzo, Valentina Jacometti (ed.), Multilingualism and the Harmonisation of European Law, 3–19. Dordrecht: Kluwer Law International.
Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport and amending Council Regulations (EEC) No 3821/85 and (EC) No 2135/98 and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85;
Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 February 2014 on tachographs in road transport, repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 on recording equipment in road transport and amending Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport;
Robertson, Colin (2012) “EU legal English: common law, civil law or a new genre?” European Review of Private Law, 20(5-6), 1215–1239.
Stefaniak, Karolina (2017) “Terminology work in the European Commission: Ensuring high-quality translation in a multi-lingual environment.” [In:] Tomáš Svoboda, Łucja Biel, Krzysztof Łoboda (ed.), Quality aspects in institutional translation. Berlin: Language Science Press; 109–121. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.1048192
Tokarski, Ryszard (1984) Struktura pola znaczeniowego (studium językoznawcze), Warsaw: PWN.
Wołowska, Katarzyna (2010) “Czy analiza składnikowa jest metodą przestarzałą? Rozwój badań nad strukturą semantyczną jednostek leksykalnych we współczesnym językoznawstwie francuskim.” Linguistica Copernicana, 1(3); 141–152.
Working Languages of the European Parliament. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://europarlamentti.info/en/European-parliament/working-languages/
