ABSTRACT
The increasing internationalization of law makes the terminological needs of translators even greater. The author advocates the use of ISO standards and the TBX framework (for the exchange of terminological data) in the creation of a FR-DE termbase of the core legal vocabulary of French and German civil law. ,62GH¿QHVWHUPLQRORJ\DVDµVHWRIGHVLJQDWLRQVEHORQJLQJWRRQHVSHFLDO ODQJXDJH¶ DQG GHVLJQDWLRQV DV µUHSUHVHQWDWLRQV RI D FRQFHSW E\ WKH VLJQZKLFK denotes it’. The author shows how this can be applied to legal language. It is also shown how ISO 12620 (the international standard for the data categories used in termbases), ISO 12616 (terminology aimed at translation) and ISO 704 (which sets out the principles governing the formulation of designations and the formulation RIGH¿QLWLRQVFDQSURYLGHDVWUXFWXUHIRUHQWULHVWKHOH[LFDOOHYHOIROORZHGE\WKH translation level and concluding with the level of language. The merit of the ISO approach, it is argued here, is that it provides uniformity of form while preserving complete freedom as to the contents of the terminological record.
