I Discuss these questions with a partner. Look at the sample responses.

LAW FIRMS AND COURSES

1 What type of law firm do you (think you would like to) work in?

I’d like to work as a sole practitioner, as I’d prefer to be my own boss. – I think a big law firm would be exciting.

2 Which optional courses are you taking / did you take during your studies?

This semester, I’m taking an elective course in environmental law. – I took a course on human rights law when I was in law school.

II Reading texts in a foreign language often means encountering unfamiliar words. Discuss these questions with a partner.

1 What is the best way to deal with unfamiliar words in a text?

2 Read the following list of strategies and discuss how useful they are. What factors might affect the strategy you use?

• Try to understand the new word with the help of surrounding words.

• Look up every unknown word in a dictionary.

• Ignore the unknown word and read on.

• Look up some new words, ignore others.

• Analyse the unknown word: ask what part of speech it is (a noun or an adjective, for example); if it has a root or a prefix (Latin or French, for example) that may help you understand it; if it has a positive or negative meaning, etc.

Keep these strategies in mind when reading in English.

Exercise 20 This exercise highlights some typical problems that learners of English have and gives some practical solutions. Read information about each character (1, 2, 3, 4) and their problems.

1 Stephanie, a talented junior lawyer, is a perfectionist. She can write beautiful English, but takes too much time checking for mistakes. She knows many rules of English grammar, but she doesn’t like speaking English in public because she is ashamed of her mistakes. Her boss speaks English fluently, which makes Stephanie feel embarrassed. At meetings with native speakers, she prefers to let her boss speak.

2 Jung Hwan is a law student. He has to read a lot for his studies, but has great problems understanding written English. He checks lots of technical jargon in his law dictionary, but still doesn’t understand what the text is trying to say. His listening is even worse: he understands lots of individual words, but cannot follow fluent speech at all. He has a very strong accent, which means that he is reluctant to speak.

3 Borys works in a large law firm. He speaks fairly fluently in English, but he makes lots of mistakes, including very basic ones. He can usually get his message across, but his boss is concerned that his carelessness in English creates a bad impression with international clients. His writing is terrible.

4 Mara is studying law and business administration. She has been studying English for years, but cannot get through a psychological barrier stopping her from speaking fluently. She always worries that she has misunderstood what the conversation is about, and that she will say something irrelevant or embarrassing. She knows lots of words, but forgets them when she wants to speak. By the time she has thought of the right word, the conversation has usually moved on to another topic.

Exercise 21 Choose solution cards (A–K) with the advice to Stephanie, Jung Hwan, Borys and Mara from Exercise 20. You may give your own ideas. Say which of these techniques you are going to try.

A Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. The biggest mistake is to say nothing. If you say nothing, people will surely think you’re useless. Compared to that, grammar mistakes are nothing.

B Don’t be ashamed of your English, especially in front of monolingual native speakers. Be proud that you’re bilingual.

C Don’t just learn complicated new words. Short words, even ones which you think you know, are also worth learning. There’s a difference between recognizing a word when you see it and being able to use it fluently. If you can’t use it but ought to, it’s worth learning.

D Don’t try to translate from your own language when writing. Most sentences can be copied from other pieces of writing, with only small details changed. Keep a bank of useful phrases and sentences for writing and use them in your own writing.

E As you write, keep your sentences short and simple. Make sure every sentence has a subject at the beginning and a verb in an appropriate tense. When you’ve finished writing, check again for mistakes, or get a colleague to check with you.

F Learn some good interrupting phrases, like “Can I just say anything?”. If you can use these fluently, you’ll have time to think of the best way to continue.

G Learn words systematically. If you set yourself a target of ten words a day, you can easily learn 3,000 in a year. In other words, you could double your vocabulary.

H Listen as much as you can in English. Watch DVDs with subtitles in English, and then again without the subtitles. Find the lyrics to pop songs you like.

I Make a list of your mistakes so you can make sure you don’t keep making them.

J Read as much as you can in English, not just for your work or studies. If you read for fun (e.g. novels, websites), don’t spoil the fun by checking lots of words.

K Speak as much as you can in English. Find a friend who is also learning and chat together. It’ll feel strange at first, but it’s free and fun. Don’t worry too much about mistakes, but experiment with new words and structures.

Exercise 22 Choose the words from the box which can be combined with the word LAWYER to describe different types of lawyers. Translate them. Say what each one does.

bar corporate defence government patent practitioner public-sector judge tax trial

Model: tax lawyer – юрист, який спеціалізується на податкових питаннях.

Exercise 23 Read and translate the text.