Testing

Before ordering a language course, a small investment in TransLegal’s Legal English Audit will tell you where your time and money are best spent. The Legal English Audit is an on-demand diagnostic test of Legal English in a commercial law context set at an intermediate to advanced level covering levels B1‐C1 of the Council of Europe’s CEFR scale. The audit tests all four language skills (reading, listening, writing and speaking) and is based on realistic tasks of the kind legal practitioners face. The Full Legal English Audit takes approximately one hour and 30 minutes. The reading, listening and writing tests are done online with the writing test graded by a lawyer‐ linguist at TransLegal. The speaking test is conducted by telephone, also by a lawyer‐linguist at TransLegal, and is scheduled at a time convenient for you. The results are delivered by email within 48 hours after the speaking test.

The Reading Test has three parts using authentic texts taken from contracts, cases, legal digests and journals. Part 1 tests word use precision, word groups, and fixed phrases. Part 2 tests the use of conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns, helping verbs and qualifiers. Part 3 tests reading for detail, overall understanding (gist), opinion, implication, and referencing. The test takes 30 minutes to complete.

The Listening Test has two parts with recorded dialogues and monologues taken from authentic legal contexts. Part 1 consists of two recorded dialogues in authentic legal contexts with three multiple choice questions following each recording. Part 2 consists of a recorded monologue in an authentic legal context followed by nine fill-in-the-blank questions. Part 1 tests understanding of gist, detail, purpose, attitude, and opinion. Part 2 tests note taking skills and acquiring specific information from the recording. The test takes approximately 25 minutes to complete.

In the Writing Test the test taker is asked to write a letter of approximately 200 words in response to a letter and notes about the letter. The test taker is required to address all of the notes provided. The focus of the test is to determine the test taker’s ability to use proper expressions using accurate terms, organization and correct tone. The test takes 20 minutes to complete. The test taker’s draft letter is sent to TransLegal for marking and comment.

The Speaking Test is scheduled online with one of TransLegal’s assessors. The test is given by telephone at the scheduled time. The focus of the test is to assess the test taker’s ability to respond to questions and provide information, manage conversation, and express and justify positions and opinions. The test takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. The performance is marked and comments are given by TransLegal’s assessor.

Lawyers and legal support staff who use English regularly in their work in an international, commercial law context.

LEA tests the full range of communication skills required by legal practitioners: reading, listening, writing and speaking. The test is based on realistic tasks of the kind legal practitioners face on a daily basis. LEA is set at an advanced level of the Council of Europe’s assessment (CEFR) scale for modern languages.

The partial audit can be completed within about 45 minutes and the full audit takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes.