Peculiarities of Teaching Legal English in Multinational Groups

Abstract

Abstract The paper is devoted to the issues of teaching English to Bachelors and Masters studying at the Institute of Law, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, in interdisciplinary context, in particular, teaching languages for special purposes (LSP), professional communication, specialized translation and mediation to law-students studying in multinational groups (CIS, Cyprus, Nigeria, Somalia, Zambia). The States’ political and economic contacts have increased the importance of pragmatic competence in foreign languages and the need for fluent English-language experts, contributing to the countries’ cooperation in various legal activities. Intercultural education's objectives are to train law-students for professional communication and translation to play the roles of mediators in the process of social interaction of different cultures’ representatives. Teaching law-students make good use of adequate legal terminology when translating is crucial for a present-day LSP-teacher. Considering the European experience and Russia's integration into the global multicultural space, it is actual to discuss the linguistic and cultural aspects of professionally oriented communication and mediation from the standpoint of modern didactics. Knowledge of the English language in the professional sphere is considered as one of the common cultural competences; appropriate discipline's completion requires the ability to translate professionally oriented foreign-language texts, to communicate with transcultural contemporaries successfully.