Spanish-English Dictionary of Law and Business

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Summary: A necessary addition to the legal translator's desktop.
Review: As a translator who frequently works with legal texts from the Spanish-speaking world, I found this book to be a welcome-and necessary-addition to my collection of Spanish-English legal dictionaries. It contains many terms that you just cannot find in the other dictionaries on the market and thus fills a gap that has undoubtedly frustrated many legal translators for quite some time. Because of Mr. West's legal training and the fact that he has done his homework in compiling terms by comparing legal documents and codes from Spanish-speaking countries with their US counterparts, I feel confident relying on the translations he provides. I have two suggestions for future editions. Mr. West does a fine job of including translations of many stock legal phrases, such as "de acuerdo con lo aquí dispuesto." But whereas you might expect to find this phrase under "acuerdo" (as would be the case with most dictionaries), you'll have to look under "de" to find it. I suggest adding a reference to it under "acuerdo." Also, in future editions, I'd like to see a little more correspondence between the two halves of the dictionary. For example, on the English-Spanish side, Mr. West provides five translations for the stock English legal phrase "including but not limited to," but I could not find any of them on the Spanish-English side, which is the side I use most. Otherwise, I have been quite pleased with the dictionary and have found it most helpful on several occasions in the past few weeks since I acquired it. I definitely recommend it to any legal translator that works with Spanish and English, and I look forward to Mr. West's upcoming French-English legal dictionary.

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Summary: A very limited Spanish / English Dictionary
Review: 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.)

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Summary: THE CONTENTS JUSTIFIES THE SEEMINGLY HIGH PRICE
Review: GREAT BOOK. A MOST WELCOME ADDITION TO MY LYBRARY OF BILINGUAL BOOKS. AS AN INTERPRETER/TRANSLATOR, I'M ALWAYS ON THE LOOK FOR NEW AND HELPFUL TOOLS THAT WILL CONTRIBUTE TO MY QUEST FOR A NEVER ENDING EDUCATION ON THE MENTIONED FIELDS, AND THUS IMPROVE MY PROFESSINALISM. THE PRICE MAY APPEAR TO SOME TO BE SOMEWHAT ON THE "STEEP" SIDE, BUT, IN MY MODEST OPINION, IS WELL WORTH IT.

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Summary: West's new book makes life easier for translators.
Review: Hard-to-find Spanish legal and commercial terminology has become less so with the publication of Tom West's long-awaited dictionary. This small gem includes numerous stumpers, such as apelación subsidiaria, interés jurídico, and testigo de asistencia. West does a real service to translators by providing natural-sounding renderings of many titles of laws, government publications, and cabinet ministries. The country-specific entries (e.g., variations on boleta in Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Argentina, and Mexico; operating expenses in Mexico, Peru, Spain, and Argentina; kinds of taxes in different countries) are invaluable, as are his neat translations of difficult phrases (Proveer de conformidad será justicia; definitivamente firme como ha quedado la anterior sentencia). Explanations of local items (décimo tercer mes, Panama; resolución exenta, Chile) are real time-savers. I'm already looking forward to the next edition!

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Summary: A dictionary like none other
Review: 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!

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Summary: A desktop companion for transnational practice
Review: Mr. West's Spanish-English Dictionary of Law and Business lives up to the promise on the dust jacket. It IS a must for any lawyer or translator who works with legal and business documents in Spanish. In carefully chosen entries and bracketed explanatory notes Mr. West anticipates potential snares in usage and cultural anomalies-between civil and common law and among civil law jurisdictions. Having tested it in my transnational practice in Mexico, I found it a more current reference than my dog-eared Sell's COMPREHENSIVE SPECIALIST'S DICTIONARY (1957) and more thorough than any of my Spanish-English legal dictionaries that are still in print. It beat out Robb's DICCIONARIO DE TÉRMINOS LEGALES (1991) for the spot on my credenza between and the DICCIONARIO JURÍDICO MEXICANO (1992) and my Bryan A. Garner collection.

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Summary: A waste of your money
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Resource for Translating Spanish Legal Document
Review: Tom West brings his expertise as a translator and attorney together to produce this excellent resource. Focussing on difficult legal and commercial terminology, his translations are accurate and correspond to actual usage among the U.S. legal community. I have found this dictionary particularly useful for translating jurisprudence and court decisions from Spanish to English. Mr. West identifies several country-specific terms. In addition, he often includes information on the type of context in which a term is used and/or gives an explanation of the legal concept behind the term. For example, the dictionary explains the difference between "good offices" and "mediation." So if you're trying to understand what a "decreto exento" means in Chile or what the term "decretar pruebas" means in Colombia, or if you're looking for a way to say "casación" in English and make sense to an American lawyer, this is the book that has the answers. Mr. West's dictionary is designed as a supplementary reference work for high-level, experienced legal translators in the Spanish to English combination. If you fit that category, his book is a real treasure.