Translating from a Lingua Franca in the Setting of EU Translation

This conceptual paper explores English as a lingua franca of the supranational translational EU culture by determining translational specificities of EU institutional-legal texts. Set against a specific linguistic and translational background, the problems of equivalence, terminological (in-)congruence, nature of the source text and institutionalization of translation are discussed in order to draw attention to the particularities of the EU’s translational practice. Using a synoptic-interpretative approach, different ways of understanding EU discourse and translation are suggested in the paper.

English as a lingua franca, EU texts, EU translation, interpretation, equivalence, terminology, source text, institutionalization