Study Programmes 2016-2017
LANG3002-1  
Reading legal texts in Dutch
Duration :
30h Th
Number of credits :
Bachelor in law3
Lecturer :
Doris De Laet, ISLV
Language(s) of instruction :
Dutch language
Organisation and examination :
Teaching in the second semester
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents :
The aim of this course is to provide 3d year law students  with the reading comprehension strategies needed for understanding legal  documents such as newspaper articles,  legal texts, as well as other law-related documents. It will cover a wide range of legal subjects and will focus on :
  • the acquisition of reading comprehension skills and strategies
  • syntactic and grammatical structures which are particularly relevant in a legal context
  • the acquisition of basic legal vocabulary
Learning outcomes of the learning unit :
In order to meet the requirements for the final exam as defined by the Faculty of Law, students will, by the end of the course, be able to :
  • read and understand effectively legal documents, such as newspaper articles, legal texts, as well as other law-related documents of manageable difficulty.
  • translate appropriately extracts from legal texts or other law-related documents.
with the help of a bilingual and/or legal dictionary
Prerequisite knowledge and skills :
As a prerequiste for this course students should have sufficient ability to read general texts.
Ideally, their command of general Dutch should correspond to CEFR-level B1.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
  • Reading comprehension exercises of legal documents
  • Study and acquisition of basic legal terms
  • Study of relevant language items (linking words, adverbs, prepositions, verbs, particles, particular sentence structures ...) to enhance students' understanding of legal texts. 
  • Study of various grammatical structures that are relevant to both legal and general Dutch
  • Various translation exercises
  • Activities on how to use a dictionary effectively
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
2 hours/week, second term
Students are required to prepare activities and exercises on a weekly basis as indicated by the teacher. Regular class attendance is mandatory.
Recommended or required readings :
Syllabus: Lecture de textes juridiques en néerlandais. 2016-2017      
Will be made available on Myulg in the course of the year
Assessment methods and criteria :
 Written exam of 2 hours.    The exam will be based on various extracts (multiple choice questions and translation exercises). It will consist of two parts :


  • Part 1 will be based on the texts/documents covered in class 
  • Part 2 will be based on unfamiliar texts 
An  exemption exam (LANG 4003-1) will be organised. It will coincide with the second session exam.
Students will be allowed to use a bilingual dictionary and/or legal dictionary. However, they are not allowed to use either electronic media or other written media, such as word lists or glossaries. In case of doubt, students should seek advice from their teacher in order to make sure that they have chosen an appropriate dictionary.
Work placement(s) :
Organizational remarks :
Contacts :
Doris De Laet
d.delaet@ulg.ac.be