LANGUAGES FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES AT THE FACULTY OF LAW, UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB

Abstract

The teaching of languages for specific purposes has been an increasingly appealing and relevant topic both in the academic and the professional sphere for decades. In today’s globalised world and, more specifically, in an increasingly united Europe, the importance of learning and using foreign languages need no longer be particularly emphasized. Using foreign languages in professional communication facilitates participation in political and economic exchange and arrangements. The field of law is a peculiar area in terms of its professional language. Law is firmly dependant on its national language, making it an even more closed system, creating its own unique concepts in the national language, often without obvious counterparts in other systems. However, communication between legal experts and the European integration of which Croatia is part make it necessary for legal professionals to master the foreign languages of the legal profession. This is particularly true of English, as it is still the dominant working language in EU institutions, but also of French, being the principal working language of the Court of Justice of the EU, and finally of German. The importance of German is twofold – not only is the Croatian legal system rooted in the traditions of German and Austrian law, but it is also those two countries that have a strong presence in economic transactions in Croatia. The importance of German in the legal professions seems sometimes to be recognized by students in their senior years or even after they graduate. This is evident from the fact that many students who enrol in the paying lifelong learning courses of German for law are in fact senior-year students or fresh graduates of Law. Hopefully, the interest in German in other study programmes will be rekindled in the coming years, despite the growing dominance of English as the language of international communication.