Legalese in Maritime English Curriculum

Legalese in Maritime English Curriculum

Culic, Adelija
Kalebota, Sara

Maritime English is an example of ESP crucial to its users on board ships as much as a lifejacket. Nevertheless, some of its aspects have so far been neglected, and legalese is definitely one of them. The opinion has been confirmed lately upon the implementation of 2006 Maritime Labour Convention and Manila Amendments to the STCW (Standards on Teaching, Certification and Watch-keeping) Convention for seafarers which came into force on January 1, 2012. Seafarers on foreign-going ships with international crews commonly get a copy of the legal document on board their ships, but the drawback is its being written in an English language different from the ESP they were trained to use once afloat. Since the document of the kind is vitally important for seafarers to get acquainted with their rights on board during their contracts, they should be taught basics of legal English in the course of their education. Students should be taught the most common characteristics of the legal language and trained in the understanding of the specific lexis and syntax. For this purpose appropriate language exercises should be devised and implemented by maritime English lecturers in higher education institutions.

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2012-05

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