Quick Practice for Memorizing Legal English Vocabulary

Author: Yu Yuanzheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: The author discovered in English teaching that vocabulary is the biggest obstacle students face in learning English. How many talented students have been blocked from the world of English by this hurdle? Among English vocabulary, legal English is particularly difficult to memorize due to its specialized and rigorous nature. Some words rarely appear outside the legal field, while others, though not new, are hard to understand and belong to highly specialized vocabulary. Some Chinese legal terms are clear in meaning, but their corresponding English translations often lack fixed equivalents. This book transforms the tedious task of memorizing vocabulary into an engaging game through matching exercises, fill-in-the-blanks, and self-tests. Students only need a pencil to lightly draw lines and remember dry legal English words or phrases. Moreover, the author designed the exercises with moderate repetition every 14 words, allowing students to transition smoothly when nearing fatigue, aligning with memory and spaced repetition principles to prevent forgetting and enhance learning satisfaction. Before publication, the author had some students try the simulated exercises, and in practice, they found the exercises addictive and never tiring. Such engagement in vocabulary learning is rare, and many students not only quickly memorized the Chinese meanings of English words but also wrote the English words or phrases from the Chinese in the self-test section. Based on the legal English book Legal English edited by He Jiahong and published by the Legal Press, this book includes words from the background and annotation sections of that work. The words in the background section are marked with an asterisk (), and readers can start with this section or skip it and begin with the words and phrases from the annotation section. A small portion of words appear in both sections, and the author has not removed them, as deleting them would cause readers who start with the annotation section to miss some important vocabulary. Additionally, moderate repetition of key words is beneficial for memorization. This book can be used alongside Legal English for a more effective learning experience, though it can also be used as a standalone legal vocabulary exercise. Here, the author expresses deep gratitude to Professor He Jiahong, the author of Legal English.