Fernando PRIETO RAMOS is full professor and director of the Transius Centre at the University of Geneva's Faculty of Translation and Interpreting, where he held the deanship from 2014 to 2018 and is currently Vice-Dean. His work focuses on legal and institutional translation, in particular interdisciplinary approaches, specialized terminology and quality assurance. He studied Translation and Interpreting (with a national award for best graduate from the Spanish Department of Education) and Law, and completed a PhD in Applied Linguistics at Dublin City University, where he was a lecturer and a researcher at the Centre for Translation and Textual Studies for several years. He has published widely on legal and institutional translation and discourse analysis, and has received several research and teaching awards, including a European Label Award for Innovative Methods in Language Teaching (European Commission), a “Ramón y Cajal” research award (Spanish Department of Science and Technology), an International Geneva Award (Swiss Network for International Studies), and a Consolidator Grant (ERC-SNSF) for his project on "Legal Translation in International Institutional Settings" (LETRINT). He has also translated for several organizations since 1997, including five years as an in-house translator at the World Trade Organization (dispute settlement team).

Selected publications

(2023) With Guzmán, D. Translating Legal Terms at International Organisations: Do Institutional Term Banks Meet Translators’ Needs? In J. Zhao, D. Li, V. L. & Cheng Lei, New Advances in Legal Translation and Interpreting (pp. 243-264). Singapore: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-981-19-9422-7_13.

(2023) With Guzmán, D. Measuring the quality of legal terminological decisions in institutional translation. A comparative analysis of adequacy patterns in three settings. In Ł. Biel & H. J. Kockaert (Eds.), Handbook of Terminology. Volume 3: Legal Terminology (pp. 375-396). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. doi:10.1075/hot.3.mea1.

(2022) With Guzmán, D. Institutional translation profiles. A comparative analysis of descriptors and requirements. In T. Svoboda, Ł. Biel & V. Sosoni (Eds.), Institutional Translator Training (pp. 49-72). New York: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003225249-5.

(2022) With Cerutti, G. Terminological hybridity in institutional legal translation. A corpus-driven analysis of key genres of EU and international law. Terminology. International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Issues in Specialized Communication. doi:10.1075/term.21047.pri.

(2021) With Guzmán, D. Assessing legal terminological variation in institutional translation. The case of national court names in the human rights monitoring procedures of the United Nations. Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts, 7(2), 224-247. doi:10.1075/ttmc.00067.guz.

(2021) With Guzmán, D. Examining institutional translation through a legal lens: A comparative analysis of multilingual text production at international organizations. Target, 33(2), 254-281. doi:10.1075/target.21003.pri.

(2021) With Cerutti, C. Terminology as a source of difficulty in translating international legal discourses: an empirical cross-genre study. International Journal of Legal Discourse, 6(2), 155-179. doi:10.1515/ijld-2021-2052.

(2021) Translating legal terminology and phraseology: between inter-systemic incongruity and multilingual harmonization. Perspectives, 29(2), 175-183. doi:10.1080/0907676X.2021.1849940.

(2020) The use of resources for legal terminological decision-making: patterns and profile variations among institutional translators. Perspectives, 29(2), 278-310. doi:10.1080/0907676X.2020.1803376.

(2020) Translation at International Organizations: The Legal and Linguistic Hierarchies of Multilingualism. In M. Ji & S. Laviosa (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Translation and Social Practices (pp. 455–477). New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190067205.013.13.

(2020) Ensuring Consistency and Accuracy of Legal Terms in Institutional Translation: The Role of Terminological Resources in International Organizations. In F. Prieto Ramos (Ed.), Institutional Translation and Interpreting Assessing Practices and Managing for Quality (pp. 128-149). New York: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780429264894-10.

(2020) With Sperandio, M. The Impact of Translation Competence on Institutional Translation Management and Quality: The Evidence from Action Research. In F. Prieto Ramos (Ed.), Institutional Translation and Interpreting Assessing Practices and Managing for Quality (pp. 174-189). New York: Routledge.

(2020) Facing translation errors at international organisations: What corrigenda reveal about correction processes and their implications for translation quality. Comparative Legilinguistics — International Journal for Legal Communication, 41, 97-133. doi:10.14746/cl.2020.41.5.

(2019) With Cerutti Benítez, G. & Guzmán, D. Building representative multi-genre corpora for legal and institutional translation research: The LETRINT approach to text categorization and stratified sampling. Translation Spaces, 8(1), 93-116. doi:10.1075/ts.00014.pri.

(2019) The use of corpora in legal and institutional translation studies: Directions and applications. Translation Spaces, 8(1), 1-11. doi:10.1075/ts.00010.pri.

(2019) Implications of text categorisation for corpus-based legal translation research: The case of international institutional settings. In Ł. Biel, J. Engberg, R. Martín Ruano & V. Sosoni (Eds.), Research Methods in Legal Translation and Interpreting: Crossing Methodological Boundaries (pp. 29-47). London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781351031226-3.

(2019) With Morales, A. Terminological innovation and harmonization in international organizations: Can too many cooks spoil the broth? In I. Simonnæs & M. Kristiansen (Eds.), Legal Translation: Current Issues and Challenges in Research, Methods and Applications (pp. 87-110). Berlin: Frank & Timme.

(2018) Institutional Translation: Surveying the Landscape at International Organizations. In F. Prieto Ramos (Ed.), Institutional Translation for International Governance: Enhancing Quality in Multilingual Legal Communication (pp. 1-8). Bloomsbury Advances in Translation. London: Bloomsbury. doi:10.5040/9781474292320.0007.

(2018) With Guzmán, D. Legal Terminology Consistency and Adequacy as Quality Indicators in Institutional Translation: A Mixed-Method Comparative Study. In F. Prieto Ramos (Ed.), Institutional Translation for International Governance: Enhancing Quality in Multilingual Legal Communication (pp. 81-101). Bloomsbury Advances in Translation. London: Bloomsbury. doi:10.5040/9781474292320.0015.

(2018) With Pacho Aljanati, L. Comparative Interpretation of Multilingual Law in International Courts: Patterns and Implications for Translation. In F. Prieto Ramos (Ed.), Institutional Translation for International Governance: Enhancing Quality in Multilingual Legal Communication (pp. 181-201). Bloomsbury Advances in Translation. London: Bloomsbury. doi:10.5040/9781474292320.0023.

(2018) (Ed.). Institutional Translation for International Governance: Enhancing Quality in Multilingual Legal Communication. Bloomsbury Advances in Translation. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN: 978-1-4742-9231-3. 248 pp. doi:10.5040/9781474292320.

(2017). The evolving role of institutional translation service managers in quality assurance: Profiles and challenges. In T. Svoboda, Ł. Biel & K. Łoboda (Eds.), Quality aspects in institutional translation (pp. 59–74). Berlin: Language Science Press. doi:10.5281/zenodo.1048188.

(2017) Global Law as Translated Text: Mapping Institutional Legal Translation. Tilburg Law Review, 22(1-2), 185-214. doi:10.1163/22112596-02201009.

(2015) Quality Assurance in Legal Translation: Evaluating Process, Competence and Product in the Pursuit of Adequacy. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique, 28(1), 11-30. doi:10.1007/s11196-014-9390-9.

(2015) With Orozco Jutorán, M. De la ficha terminológica a la ficha traductológica: hacia una lexicografía al servicio de la traducción jurídica. Babel, 61(1), 110-130. doi:10.1075/babel.61.1.07ram.

(2014) Legal Translation Studies as Interdiscipline: Scope and Evolution. Meta: Translators’ Journal, 59(2), 260-277. doi:10.7202/1027475ar.

(2014) International and Supranational Law in Translation: From Multilingual Lawmaking to Adjudication. The Translator, 20(3), 313-331. doi:10.1080/13556509.2014.904080.

(2014) Parameters for Problem-Solving in Legal Translation: Implications for Legal Lexicography and Institutional Terminology Management. In A. Wagner, K.-K. Sin & L. Cheng (Eds.), The Ashgate Handbook of Legal Translation (pp. 121-134). Farnham: Ashgate.

(2013) ¿Qué estrategias para qué traducción jurídica?: por una metodología integral para la práctica profesional. In I. Alonso Araguás, J. Baigorri Jalón & H. J. L. Campbell (Eds.), Translating the Law. Theoretical and Methodological Issues / Traducir el Derecho. Cuestiones teóricas y metodológicas (pp. 87-106). Granada: Comares.

(2013) With Borja Albi, A. (Eds.). Legal Translation in Context: Professional Issues and Prospects. New Trends in Translation Studies Series, vol. 4. Oxford, Bern, New York: Peter Lang. ISBN: 978-3-0343-0284-5. 315 pp. doi:10.3726/978-3-0353-0433-6.

(2013) Legal Translation: The State of Affairs. In A. Borja Albi & F. Prieto Ramos (Eds.), Legal Translation in Context: Professional Issues and Prospects (pp. 1-6). New Trends in Translation Studies Series, vol. 4. Oxford, Bern, New York: Peter Lang.

(2013) Legal Translation at the World Trade Organization. In A. Borja Albi & F. Prieto Ramos (Eds.), Legal Translation in Context: Professional Issues and Prospects (pp. 263-282). New Trends in Translation Studies Series, vol. 4. Oxford, Bern, New York: Peter Lang.

(2012) Traducción institucional y (co)gestión de neologismos: entre la armonización y la congestión terminológicas. In C. Sinner (Ed.), Comunicación y transmisión del saber entre lenguas y culturas (pp. 387-400). Études linguistiques / Linguistische Studien, vol. 10. Munich: Peniope.

(2011) Developing legal translation competence: an integrative process-oriented approach. Comparative Legilinguistics — International Journal for Legal Communication, 5, 7-21. doi:10.14746/cl.2011.5.01.

(2011) El traductor como redactor de instrumentos jurídicos: el caso de los tratados internacionales. Journal of Specialised Translation, 15, 200-214.

(2010) Conciencia profesional y formación del traductor institucional del siglo XXI. Puntoycoma, 120, 10-14.

(2005) With Sanford, I. & Cooper, S. Developing and using new reference tools to search the jurisprudence of the World Trade Organization: The case of the Appellate Body Repertory. The Indexer, 24(4), 218-222.

(2004) Media and Migrants: A Critical Analysis of Spanish and Irish Discourses on Immigration. Oxford, Bern, New York: Peter Lang. ISBN: 3-03910-144-7. 267 pp.

(2003) Review of Alcaraz Varó and Hughes (2002). In L. Bowker & D. Kenny (Eds.), Bibliography of Translation Studies. 6th ed. Manchester: St. Jerome.

(2002) Beyond the confines of literality: A functionalist approach to the sworn translation of legal documents. Puentes: Hacia nuevas investigaciones en la mediación intercultural, 2, 27-36.

(2002) Europe and its Others: Implicit Ideologies in Official Discourses of Tolerance. In D. Walton & D. Scheu (Eds.), Ac(unofficial)knowledging Cultural Studies in Spain (pp. 286-300). Bern: Peter Lang.

(2001) Why do they hit the headlines?: Critical media literacy in the foreign language class. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 22(1), 33-50.

(2000) La traducción castellano-inglés de documentos judiciales desde una perspectiva funcionalista. In J. Chabás, M. Cases & R. Gaser (Eds.), Proceedings: First International Conference on Specialized Translation (pp. 42-45). Barcelona: UPF.

(1998) Reviews of Cabré (1993), Obenaus (1995), Nord (1997) and Wilss (1994). In L. Bowker, D. Kenny & J. Pearson (Eds.), Bibliography of Translation Studies. Manchester: St. Jerome.

(1998) La terminología procesal en la traducción de citaciones judiciales españolas al inglés. Sendebar, 9, 115-135. [Also included as good practice in: Bulletí de l'Associació de Traductors i Intèrprets Jurats de Catalunya / Bulletin of the Association of Sworn Translators and Interpreters of Catalonia. 14, April 2000.]

(1998) La legalización del divorcio en Irlanda: un dilema nacional. In Anuario de Derecho Eclesiástico del Estado (pp. 755-781). Vol. XIV. Madrid: Ministerio de Justicia.