How do you say JUICIO in English?

When we say JUDGMENT (also spelled JUDGEMENT) that does not imply a legal situation necessarily, probably we are talking about using our common sense. That is referred to as using “our good judgment”. When we make certain decisions with a moral or ethical connotation then we say “we are passing judgment”. Of course this is not right unless we have been conferred a certain degree of authority either by the society we live in or a superior authority. In legal cases the word JUDGMENT is not used and the term TRIAL is preferred instead. That does not occur in Spanish since for both situations we use the same word and only the context reveals the difference. To go to trial indicates that one individual is going to be accused of some specific charge and therefore will have to use his or her right to defend himself or herself. There will be then an attorney (a litigant lawyer) accusing, trying to prove that the accused is indeed guilty and the there will be another lawyer defending, trying to prove the same individual is not guilty. There is an entire paraphernalia of terms that surround legal trials and sometimes the litigation of some cases is so dramatic that movies or TV series are based on this events. 
Some trials do become sadly some sort of reality shows.
BTW, the image accompanying this article is from one of the best movies that the late Paul Newman ever starred in, The Verdict.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How do you say MIRADOR in English?

Image
"Hmm, why do I have this nagging feeling that someone is watching me watching?" In Spanish, a MIRADOR is any place that allows a privileged view of the surroundings. In English, a MIRADOR is a VIEWPOINT or a LOOKOUT. Another possible translation is VANTAGE POINT, though in a tourist context this term is a bit less common.
Read more

The Maps of Ship-Trap Island

Image
Once I had my high school students read The Most Dangerous Game, a short story by Richard Connell. Rainsford, the main character, is a professional hunter traveling by ship to his next hunting area, accidentally ends up in an island called Ship- Trap island. When he goes into the island he finds there are two men living in a palace in the island. One of them is a Cossack general and the other, his brutish servant.  The Cossack is called general Zaroff who is also  a game hunter but has become bored of hunting regular game and now uses the island's unique position to capture sailors from shipwrecks. He lets them go first and next after some time he hunts them down. Rainford's arrival who is worldwide famous presents Zaroff with a rare opportunity to find excitement in hunting again by hunting another hunter. Little does Zaroff know that Rainsford is The Most Dangerous Game in the World and hunting him will not be easy at all. My students enjoyed themselves at reading
Read more

How do you say EXAMEN SUPLETORIO in English?

Image
Darn! I wonder if there's a Make Up exam for this Make up exam! I remember that long ago I asked my distinguished and knowledgeable colleagues of that time to enlighten me and tell me the right English word for what we know in Ecuador as EXAMEN SUPLETORIO or EXAMEN DE RECUPERACION.  After hearing Recovery exam or Supplemenary test and even Supletory exam, I was not convinced so I decided to go to a higher authority and looked up one of those encyclopedic dictionaries from Oxford or Cambridge university (these were the pre-browser times) and found the right expression is MAKE UP EXAM which is taken when an exam has been missed or when a student needs to change one score with a more favorable one. The British say RECUPERATION EXAM which is perhaps more practical since to some people the term Make Up is confusing. Make-up is the word for the wearing of cosmetics. There are Make-up tests which are oriented to future Make-up artists.
Read more