Thesis on how to translate the legal texts

付曉

【Abstract】The translation of company laws and regulations has long been considered as an important part of Chinas foreign legal communication and international trade and cultural exchange. A critical review of research on legal translation has been made and gained fruitful results in recent years， with the last five years witnessing a significant increase in the number of articles published on this topic. Most studies are around topics from linguistic features of legal text to theoretical considerations， principles， and methods of legal translation. While these studies have been established a firm foundation for further research on legal translation， we should also be aware of such problems as improper translation of legal term， literary style and cultural connotation.

【Key words】legal texts； translate

Chapter one features of legal texts

In order to translate the legal text， the author should make a study of the features of the text， such as the following

1.1 Features of legal Source Text

As a very formal text， the company law text has different features from other stylistic texts thus has a better understanding of the source material and to make the following translation work easier to dealt with， the author divided the features of texts into two levels at lexical level and syntactical level.

1.2 Lexical Features

First， common words are used but have no common meaning. Some words to the lawyer and to the common people has totally different meaning.

Second， the common English words now used are mainly derived from the English in the ancient times and middle ages， which have totally different meanings from the ancient ones. However， the words in the legal texts have the same meanings from the ancient ones such as following， Aforesaid， Forthwith.

Third， common law is the basis of contemporary law English. Roman law which was implemented by the Roman Catholic Church is the basis of common law.some standard Latin words which are frequently used by the law have been recognized by the peoples daily life， such as the following， Affidavit， Alias， Alibi.

1.3 Syntactical Features

The analysis of Legal sentence structure is very important to translate the sentence. Based on George Coodes theory， the legal sentence can be divided into three factors as legal subject， legal action and legal condition. The analysis of legal sentence can be divided into two categories：grammatical analysis and operative analysis. The former one is from the grammatical perspective to analyze the main elements of the sentence such as subject， predicate， object and adverbial modifier. Secondly， analyze the minor important elements such as attribute， complement， parenthesis， active voice， and passive voice.

Chapter two Preparation for Legal Translation

During the process of the translation practice， the author made various preparations， such as search for the translation materials， consultation with the client about the translation affairs， and application of proper translation theories， tools and translation strategies.

2.1 Extensive reading

In the process of the legal translation， the author should have an extensive reading， and learn the quality of legal translation. The author recognized the features of texts， the translation rules and strategies. The author must know the legal knowledge， logic order and other related knowledge.

2.2 Text types

From the perspective of speech theory， the language of the law is declarative and stipulated. The main function of legal language is to offer the accurate information of the rights and obligation.

Chapter Three Duration of the Task

3.1 Grammatical analysis and operative analysis to make sure the means of expression.

When the author encountered the long and complicated sentence， she/he should recognize the components of the sentence and have a clear understanding of voice and tense of the sentence.

3.2 Cross-linguistic Transfer

The author uses the translation techniques， law knowledge， logic and other encyclopedic knowledge to adjust the means of expressions to polish the target language. The target language should conform to the style of the source text.

Chapter Four Quality Control

Proofreading and back-translation

In general， the process of proofreading is not independent. It depends on a series of steps， such as error correction， polish， examine， proofreading or inspection to finish the task. Besides， It is not a persons job， after the translation， the translation needs others to examine， especially the persons in the legal field.

References：

[1]Cao，D.Translating law[M].Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.2008.

[2]Davis，H.Law Interpretation[J].Mental Spaces：Aspects of Meaning Construction in Natural Language.Cambridge：The MIT Press.1930，（3）39-41.

[3]Nord，C.Teaching Translation and Interpreting Training[J].Talent and Experience.Amsterdam/Philadelphia，1992（2）12-15.