VIRGINIA PÉREZ ROMÁN BA GDL MCIL

What’s your preferred style of learning? Visual? Kinesthetic? Reading/writing? Or… aural? After a long day translating on the computer, sometimes we are too tired for heavy legal reading. On this post, I present some of the best legal podcasts for translators working from British and American English into European Spanish.

MY TOP 5 LEGAL PODCASTS FOR ENGLISH-SPANISH TRANSLATORS

• UNED Humanidades (in Spanish) – available on ivoox. Focusing on humanities (history, philosophy, law, etc.), this podcast from the Spanish Open University (UNED) delves into concepts of the Spanish legal system, explained in plain and accessible Spanish.

• Universidad Miguel Hernández channel (in Spanish) – available on ivoox. An educational channel from the UMH (Universidad Miguel Hernández) with podcasts covering several areas of the law (Derecho Civil, Derecho Procesal, Responsabilidad Civil Extracontractual, Filosofía del Derecho, Derecho Tributario). A comprehensive option for learning about the Spanish legal System in an easier way.

• Study Legal English (in English) – available on ivoox and Spotify. A podcast targeted at lawyers and law students, focusing not only on legalese, but also introducing you on basic concepts of the English legal system (including the origins of Common Law, legal professions, the Court system, equity, the doctrine of judicial precedent, etc.) and legal drafting (redacción jurídica).

• Tertulia Jurídica (in Spanish) – available on ivoox and Spotify. Recently launched, this podcast is specifically targeted at Spanish legal professionals. Whereas this podcast does not cover legal translation or legal language learning in particular, it provides an excellent way of familiarising with formulaic legal language and learning how to speak like a Spanish lawyer. Some of the topics covered include: interviews with legal professionals (el café jurídico), news in different areas of the law, legal aid, legal drafting.

• The Legaleasy Podcast (in English and Spanish). A podcast run by Spanish lawyer and legal English teacher Lola Gamboa. Lola helps lawyers and legal translators by explaining Legal English grammar points and concepts of the Spanish legal system in plain language, and offering legal drafting tips. A go-to channel if you want to excel in your legal translations.