Towards an Operational Didactic Model: From Teaching-Learning Legal French to Translating and Writing Specialized Texts

The aim of the present study is to discuss, both theoretically and practically, based on my experience as a professor at the MA in The Theory and Practice of Translation, the opportunity and the necessity of an operational model in the didactic approach to specialized translation, as part of the specialized language teaching framework in a multilingual environment. Such an approach has to be based on a complex and integrative pedagogy, which can accommodate the numerous challenges encountered in the training process of translators, who are increasingly expected to master knowledge and different means of expression related to the specialized knowledge of other areas of activity, particularly law. Taking this into consideration, I aim to demonstrate the advantages of such an integrative approach through a four-stage teaching-learning process on legal discourse, namely teaching-learning legal discourse and its characteristics, analyzing legal texts, translating and preparing professional legal texts. In order to illustrate this approach, I outline the most important aspects of these four didactic stages, while focusing on the strategies related to the specificity of legal discourse and the theoretical challenges arising from current research in the field. Moreover, my study brings to the fore the main challenges of teaching specialized languages and specialized discourse analysis, but also of writing legal texts and other specialized professional papers.