On E—C Translation of “Agreements and Memorandums of Chinese— Foreign Cooperation in Running School Project” from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory

李曉宇 張曉

【Abstract】With the aim of introducing high-quality educational resources from foreign educational institutions， China encourages the development of Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools to make up for the domestic educational deficiencies in aspects of teaching， scientific research and management. For ensuring the projects going as planned， agreements and memorandums （hereinafter referred to as “AaM”） are needed to state duties， responsibilities and running models. This paper elaborates features of this literary style and offers specific translation methods with analysis of typical examples under the guidance of Nidas functional equivalence theory.

【Keywords】agreements or memorandums； stylistic features； functional equivalence

【作者簡介】李曉宇，張曉，山東醫學高等專科學校。

1. Features of AaM. As the text before official contract， AaM of Chinese-foreign cooperation projects owns features of legal English in structure， vocabulary and others levels

（1） Regular Structure. Compared with contracts， agreements of cooperative education operation models have more freedom in both structure and content. It consists of four parts： name， preface， main body and the end. The name shows the names of the cooperative parties； preface includes the names of cooperative parties and the site； main body contains the professional content， rights， obligations and the valid period of the agreement； the end is the signature and signing date. Some agreements are more detailed and supplemented with responsibility for agreement breach and dispute resolution.

（2） Professional words. All the words used in the AaM are professional and precise without dissent or ambiguity. Each clause has the potential of being the division of liability， which concerns the interests of both parties and determines whether their cooperation can smooth. Eg： ST： renewed TT： 續約. A colleague proposes in quality control segment that it should be “續展”， which is inappropriate here after discussing.

（3） Regular form. The content of AaM is always illustrated in the form of clauses， which is mainly caused by rigorous and logical representation， especially in the parts of “training objectives” and “education management model”.

Eg： ST： The Training Objectives for Students

1）Becoming nursing talents with international nursing philosophy

2）To serve the development of the nursing industry in China

TT：學生培養目標。

1）具有國際理念的護理人才。

2）有利于中國護理行業發展的護理人才。

In the above segment of agreement， it can be seen that each sentence is short but with parallel structures and clear meanings. Both semantic equivalence and formal equivalence should be done when translating.

Generally speaking， the stylistic features of such text are neat discourse， clear hierarchy， independent content， symmetrical structure， and precise meaning.

2. Cases analysis from lexical level， syntax level and discourse level. As legal document specifies the respective obligations and responsibilities， the translation must fully express the intention of the original， but this does not mean that translation must be done word for word without any change. Under the guidance of Nidas functional equivalence theory， translation should fulfill the purpose of being strict and accurate， close to the original purpose， and also satisfy the functional need of the target language readers. The following part analyses from lexical Level， syntax level and discourse level with several examples.（1）The vocabulary of AaM is mainly formal in order to demonstrate formality and seriousness. In ancient poems， the following ones are often seen： whereas， notwithstanding， thereafter. Eg： WHEREAS YYY COLLEGE is an American college with expertise in the development of innovative courses and programs… “Whereas” is a conjunction to contrast two facts. It has the meaning of “反之” and “然而”， but it is translated into“鑒于” for the introduction part of formal documents.

In translation， vocabulary with total equivalence includes special terms and terminology， such as： reserves the right---具有最終解釋權.In addition， the translation of institution names is needed to be sure they exist in real. Eg： ST： Jinan Intermediate Peoples Court of Shandong Province TT： 山東省濟南市中級人民法院. The translation of institution names may be various， so we must choose among them in view of context and reality. In practices of translation， what bother us is how to find the corresponding meaning in the target language. Eg： ST： Radiography. TT： 醫學影像. Radiography has the connotations of “造影”，“攝像” and“放射學”.Among the catalog of majors in Party B， there is no “放射學”but“醫學影像”. Nida once proposes that formal equivalence will lead information to be distorted， thus the equivalent name in Party Bs major is “醫學影像”.

Modal verbs are common in AaM like “shall”， “will” and “may”. Although agreements have forceful binding on parties， we do not choose modal verbs with strong instruct for expressing friendly attitude. Eg： ST： The Programme may set up appropriate departments to be in charge of any specific aspect of the Programme.TT： 合作項目可設相應的部門，負責各方面的工作。“May” is to illustrate the right or privilege of one party. The mood of “may” is weaker than “shall”， so it is translated into “可”.

（2）From the syntactic level， the biggest characteristic of AaM is concise， clear and logically tight. Fixed patterns often appear. Fixed translation is always equivalent to ST： Eg： ST： Shandong XXX College and YYY University agree to establish close cooperation to train qualified international personnel based on benefiting each other with a view of friendship and equality. TT： 甲乙雙方本著友好、平等、互惠互利的原則，就聯合培養國際型人才合作事宜達成協議如下：.The above is a universal sentence. Remembering this kind of sentences in mind saves translating time and avoids the mistakes in TT.

（3）From discourse level， the most prominent feature is highly stylized and the various components are semantically coherent and cohesive in the form. Firstly， AaM owns the obvious function of tube， and the realization of this function is dependent on the strict form and technical terms （Li Yunxing， 2000）. In terms of content， it is rigorous， euphemistic and objective without any personal feelings.

Eg： ST： Article I Range of the Cooperation

a. Nursing Students 2+2 Bachelor Degree.

b. Nursing Students 3+2 Master Degree.

TT：一、項目內容。

1）護理專業二加二可獲學士學位。

2）護理專業三加二可獲碩士學位。

Analysis： This part is with characteristics as forms of clauses， layers of narrative structure， parallel architectures formed by infinitives. According to functional equivalence theory， “一、項目內容” and “1. 2.” is in strict accordance with the “Article I” and “a. b.”

Secondly， the text function of discourse can be reflected by cohesion methods. According to Hallidy and Hassan （1976） in the book of “Cohesion in English”， cohesion can be divided into reference， substitution， ellipsis， conjunction and lexical cohesion. Grammatical cohesion plays a very important role in the relatively stable and formal text， so some common cohesion methods will be discussed in the following. （1）Reference. The cohesion is indicated by demonstrative reference without personal reference， such as “that， those， here， thereof.” （2）Ellipsis and Substitution refer to omit some components. There is no difference between ellipsis and substitution fundamentally， so the omission can be regarded as a zero substitution. Nominal ellipsis is common in the translation of AaM. Eg： ST： IN WITNESS WHEREOF the Parties have executed this Agreement as of the date first above written.TT： 本協議書自雙方當事人簽署之日起生效。“Above” refers to the whole agreement， in the target text it is translated into the “本協議書” not its word meaning. Generally， in order to make the translation clearer， nominal substitution of the word should be replaced by the corresponding nouns in the target text. （3） Conjunction. A variety of connection makes the context clearer and more accurate. English focus on overt cohesion， sentence forms and complete structure. While Chinese sentences with less formal connection means， focus on covert coherence， logic order， function and significance. It is necessary to adjust or converse in translation. For example， the conjunction with supplement relationship are the words like “and， besides”， transition relation like “but， whereas”， causal relationship like “hence， for”， time relationship like “first， then，”.

3. Conclusion. Based on the analysis of stylistic features and case of agreements of Chinese-Foreign cooperation projects， this paper discusses how to translate legal language in the premise of meeting the functional equivalence standard. In addition， this paper states how to keep the framework feature of source text as well as legal tone and function of other aspects from the perspective of target readers. Functional equivalence makes the target text closer to the Parties cooperation intention， meanwhile actively promotes the development of Sino-foreign cooperation.

References：

[1]李長栓.非文學翻譯理論與實踐[M].北京：中國對外翻譯出版公司，2012.

[2]李運興.語篇翻譯引論[M].北京：中國對外翻譯出版公司，2000.

[3]謝建平.功能語境與專門用途英語語篇翻譯研究[M].杭州：浙江大學出版社，2008.