solicitor, lawyer, attorney, barrister or counsellor ?

LAWYER:  general term and can mean anyone who gives legal advice or believes himself learned in one or more areas of law.
There are no formal qualifications needed to be a lawyer. Working in a firm of solicitors and working on court files is often enough for the term to be used by employees


SOLICITORS: advise clients and represent them in civil and criminal courts and also deal with business advice wills conveyancing and every area of law. Some specialise in specific areas of law and others may be 'GENERAL PRACTIONERS'.
The term Solicitor is mainly used in UK, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and some parts of the US.

BARRISTER (often called counsel) may be junior counsel or Queens counsel (selected for special ability and experience). Their clients are the solicitors who "instruct" them. At one time barristers had sole rights to appear in the High Court and the court of appeal and the house of Lords.

Essentially barristers do three things:

• appear in court to represent others
• give specialised legal advice in person or in writing
• draft court documents

In the past, the solicitor appearing in open court wore a robe but the barrister wore a robe and a horsehair wig, but the wig is now being abolished.
   
ATTORNEY is American English word for a British English lawyer. The D.A. or District Attorney is a lawyer in the U.S. who works for the state and prosecutes people on behalf of it. There are also, of course, defense attorneys in America who act on behalf of their clients.

PROSECUTION COUNSEL or DEFENCE COUNSEL when referring to the team of lawyers who are operating on behalf of either the state or a client.


   

30 Sept. 2011 International Translation Day

International Translation Day is celebrated every year on 30 September on the feast of St. Jerome, the Bible translator who is considered as the patron saint of translators. Now it is an officially recognised International Translation Day by UNESCO to show solidarity of the worldwide translation community in an effort to promote the translation profession in different countries (not necessarily only in Christian ones). This is an opportunity to display pride in a profession that is becoming increasingly essential in the era of progressing globalisation.

El Parlamento luso aprueba el polémico acuerdo ortográfico del portugués

El pasado 9 de diciembre de 2010 el Consejo de Ministros de Portugal aprobó, entre otras normas, la aplicación del Acuerdo Ortográfico de la Lengua Portuguesa en el sistema educativo para el año lectivo 2011/2012.

A partir del 01/01/2012, también se aplicará gradualmente en la publicación del Diario de la República, así como en todas las actividades del gobierno y de los servicios, organismos y entidades a su dependencia. En Brasil, la norma entró en vigor el día 01/01/2009, aunque ya había sido ratificada en el año 2006.

El Acuerdo Ortográfico de la Lengua Portuguesa es un tratado internacional firmado por representantes oficiales de Angola, Brasil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal y Santo Tomé e Príncipe en Lisboa, el 16/12/1990. En 2004 se uniría Timor-Leste después de obtener su independencia. El objetivo es instituir una ortografía oficial unificada para la lengua portuguesa, con el objetivo explícito de poner fin a la existencia de dos normas ortográficas oficiales divergentes, una en Brasil y otra en los restantes países de lengua oficial portuguesa. Con este acuerdo se contribuye además a aumentar el prestigio internacional del idioma portugués.

La aplicación del acuerdo es de momento facultativa. Hay clientes que simplemente no quieren que los textos sean redactados con la nueva ortografía, y hay otros que sí lo solicitan. De la misma manera, hay portugueses que aplican la norma
y otros que no.

La aplicación del acuerdo es muy polémica en Portugal, pero a nosotros nos cabe defender los intereses de nuestros clientes y respectar su voluntad.

AN EXAMPLE OF MISTRANSLATION

Clinton Hits Wrong ‘Re-Set’ Button With Russia

ABC News’ Kirit Radia reports: The Obama administration has said it wants to "reset" relations with Russia, which have again become strained in recent years, but an attempt to illustrate this was sidetracked by a translation error. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented her Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, with a gift to mark their first meeting in Geneva today: an actual button that said "reset." Or so she thought… "I would like to present you with a little gift that represents what President Obama and Vice President Biden and I have been saying and that is: ‘We want to reset our relationship and so we will do it together,’" Clinton said, presenting Lavrov with the red button. What the foreign minister got, however, was a button that said "peregruzka," which translates into Russian as "overcharge" or "overload" (depending on the context). Oops… "You got it wrong," Lavrov teased Clinton, but said he would put it on his desk anyway. Nevertheless, the two pressed the button together, and only time will tell if the mistranslation is in fact a canary for future relations. Translation gaffes are nothing new. President Kennedy famously declared himself a jelly donut standing in Berlin. President Carter’s translator, wishing to express the commander in chief’s enthusiasm upon arriving in Warsaw, mistakenly told the stunned Poles that Carter would like to make love to them. Perhaps Secretary Clinton is looking for the Staples "Easy" button right now as she tries to fix this one.
By Lindsey Ellerson

Nel lontano 2009. Il simbolico omaggio della First Lady fu un clamoroso flop a causa dell'errata traduzione di una piccola ma importantissima parolina: «reset» (letteralmente,azzeramento e, in questo caso, usato per  esprimere la volontà della nuova amministrazione di ripartire da «zero» nei rapporti con la Russia).

La First Lady credeva di andare sul sicuro, azzardando una domanda retorica a Lavrov: «Abbiamo lavorato sodo per trovare la giusta parola in russo, abbiamo sbagliato?» La risposti di questi non lascia spazio a dubbi: «Avete sbagliato, vuol dire sovraccarica», scatenando la fragorosa risata del capo della diplomazia statunitense.

Ora, la mia domanda é...com'é potuto succedere?

Si accettano opinioni, commenti, etc. :) BBL