Language Proficiency for the Linguistic Role
What is assessed
Depending on the linguistic role, candidates must demonstrate precise legal French or Dutch: reading comprehension of statutes and judgments, written accuracy, and the ability to summarise and draft. Questions test vocabulary, grammar, and register, not literary flair.
Legal vocabulary
Build a glossary of core terms in the language of the role: jurisdiction, competence, appeal, annulment, liability, damages, burden of proof, and the names of courts and procedures. Know the false friends and the terms that differ between legal and everyday usage.
Reading and summarising
Practise reading a judgment and extracting the parties, the claims, the decision and the grounds. Summaries must be faithful and neutral: no added opinion, no omitted essential fact.
Writing
Draft short texts with correct agreement, tense and connectors. Legal writing favours precision over ornament: prefer the precise term to the vague one. Watch for the register: formal but plain.
Traps
Common errors include false friends, wrong prepositions, confusion of legal terms that look similar, and register slips. In summarising, candidates often add interpretation instead of reporting.
Rule of thumb
When unsure between two words, choose the one you can define precisely. A simple correct sentence scores better than an ambitious incorrect one. Read the source text twice: once for meaning, once for structure.