Mr. Chen Zhongcheng is known as an expert in legal translation. In recent years, Mr. Chen has made a number of comments on the English translation of the "enforcement" provisions commonly found in laws, regulations and other legal documents. In two articles, "Typical Errors in the English Translation of" Implementation "Provisions" and "Typical Errors in the English Translation of" Implementation "Provisions", Mr. Chen pointed out two typical errors in the English translation of "implementation" provisions of some laws and regulations in China at present: one is the abuse of "shall", and the other is the misuse of several prepositions. However, the author has a slight objection to some of Mr. Chen's opinions, which are stated as follows, and Mr. Chen and you are also invited to correct them.
First, let's talk about whether the use of "shall" in the English translation of the "implementation" clause means "I can't bear to read it" and "I have to grade and grade". In his article Typical Mistakes in English Translation of "Implementation" Provisions, Mr. Chen analyzed why "shall" should not be used in English translation of "implementation" provisions, otherwise it would be an abuse. Indeed, as Mr. Chen said, in English speech practice, there are a large number of "implementation" provisions that do not use the word "shall". The author will not repeat it here. The author would like to point out that in English speech practice, especially in the existing legal provisions in some British and American countries, there are also a large number of "implementation" provisions that use "shall":
Example 1: This Amendment shall take effect from the date set out below: The reviewed Decisions I to X shall take effect from 1 April 2002. This is the implementation date of a British health regulation.
Example 2: Except as provided in paragraph (2), parts A and B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as amended by title I, shall take effect upon the enactment of this Act 。 This is the date of implementation stipulated in a regulation of the United States on protecting the disabled to enjoy the right to education.
Example 3: Except as provided in paragraphs (4) and (5) below, the proposal contained in paragraph (2) above shall take effect on the date of promotion of regulations containing criteria under paragraph (1) or on the date of approval of the state solid waste plan under § 4007 of RCRA>42 U.S.C. § 6947, whichever is later 。 This is a regulation in a Delaware legislation on when a prohibition will come into effect.
Example 4: This title shall become effective on November 11940 This sentence comes from the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 in the United States.
In the legislative drafting manual used by Connecticut legislators, there is a sentence about how to write the implementation date: Budget related bills and bills containing applications are commonly given effective dates of July, which is the start of the state’s fiscal year. The standard wording is “This act shall take effect July 1,2000.” 。
In British and American law, there are many examples of the use of "shall" in "implementation" provisions. These living examples tell us that the use of "shall" in "implementation" provisions does exist in English speech practice.
Then why does Mr. Chen insist that the use of "shall" in the "implementation" clause is "abuse"? In articles such as "shall, should and will in the Chinese English translation of laws", Mr. Chen pointed out that clauses such as "this law (regulations, rules It is formed with the original verb. In Mr. Chen's opinion, "in legal English, 'shall' is only used to mean 'duty' (to do...)". In a sense, in legal English, "shall" is really mainly used to express certain orders or obligations. In this sense, it is synonymous with "must". However, in legal English, can "shall" only be used to express orders or obligations? Actually not. Look at a passage by an American legal linguist when he discussed the use of "shall" in legal English:
“Yet shall is not restricted to commanding. It can also make declarations:
This Act shall be known as The Penal Code of California…
It seems odd to say that the legislature is requiring that the populace must refer to this Act as The Penal Code of California. Could someone be thrown in prison for calling it the California Penal Code or even the Criminal Code? Clearly, this is not a command!”
It can be seen that in legal English, in addition to expressing orders or obligations, "shall" can also be used to indicate a certain declaration made by the legislature on a certain legal provision. Therefore, the "shall" used in the "implementation" clause can and should be understood as the clear declaration made by the legislature on the effective time of the laws and regulations.
Let's take a look at the second typical mistake pointed out by Mr. Chen, that is, the misuse of several prepositions. Mr. Chen believes that when translating "implementation" provisions, such as come/enter/go into force/effect as of/as from, Be effective as of/as from... This kind of collocation is wrong, "and the crux of the error is that the act (such as come/go) that occurred at a certain point in time is wrongly used with a preposition that represents a time period with a starting point, thus sending a message that violates the logic of things and makes sense of the text". So, in the practice of English and American legal language, are there any examples of these collocations and usages? Let's look for it in the legislation or legal documents of Britain and America.
come into force as of…
Example 1: As part of Bill C-15, which received Royal Assent on June 1998, section 406 of the Canada Shipping Act (CSA) was named to raise the mandatory annual inspection threshold from 5 tons gross tonnage to 15 tons gross tonnage for vessels that carry no more than 12 passengers This provision is scheduled to come into force as of 31 October 1999.
Example 2: Trading standards would previously only have deal with cases involving areas of consumer law which have critical decisions (these provisions come into force as of the 23rd October 2002)
--- Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 now in force (by Robert McGough, Solicitor in the Company Law Department) 。 This example shows that "come into force as of..." is also used by the British legal community.
come into force as from…
Example 1:... the rate so fixed shall come into force as from such date as he may determine This sentence is taken from the original Coroners Act 1988 in the UK.
Example 2: This variation shall come into force as from 22 August 2002 and shall remain in force for a period of two months This is a sentence in an order issued by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission on August 29, 2002.
become effective as of…
Example 1: This act shall become effective as of the first day of the first calendar month that begins not less than third days after the date on which this act shall be approved by the Governor or shall otherwise become law This is the stipulation on the implementation date of the bill in a bill of the Alabama State Congress.
Example 2: This Act shall come effective as of the date on which it is signed by the Governor of Georgia or as of the date on which it comes law without the approval of the Governor This is the stipulation on the date of implementation of the bill in a bill of Georgia's Congress.
In the practice of English and American legal language, such collocations as "come into effect as of...", "enter into force as from...", "become effective as from..." exist in large numbers.
Mr. Chen believes that the reason why these collocations are wrong is that as of and as from indicate "a period of time with a starting point". The author believes that the meaning of as of and as from is not the same. See the following examples:
The definition of as of in Websters' Third New International Dictionary is "at or on (a specific time or date)". The rule takes effect as of July 1.
As from, esp US as of (indicating the time or date from which sth starts) is the interpretation of as from and as of in the fourth edition of Oxford Advanced Learner's English Chinese Dictionary.
Fowler's Modern English Usage, published by Oxford University Press, is considered as a "standard work on the correct but natural use of English". How does it explain the use of as from? See: as from etc. An agreement, especially one for an increase of pay, is often said to come into effect as from a certain date 。
These examples have clearly shown that as from or as of does not mean a period of time, but only the time when an action or action begins. In the Dictionary of Contemporary English by Paul Procter, Robert F. Ilson, etc. (1978), an example sentence: The agreement starts as from March 31 is quoted under the item as from. If as from represents a time period, how can it be matched with start, a non continuous verb occurring at a certain time point?
In the Typical Mistakes in the English Translation of "Implementation" Provisions, Mr. Chen also listed the take force on... and come into force from. In fact, there are many examples of such collocation in practice:
Example 1: In the daily debate record of the House of Commons in the British House of Commons, there is a sentence: Authority and the shadow ITC that they will not negotiate the sort of codes and guidelines that are beginning to appear, and which may multiply and take force on 1 January.
Example 2: In March 1997, after the governments of Switzerland and the United States reached an agreement on simplifying extradition procedures, the Swiss Federal Ministry of Justice and Police released relevant information, including the following sentence: The new treatment will take force on 10 September 1997
Example 3: The first duties under DDA Part 4 (to make rational adjustments) come into force from 1 September 2002 This is the content of a British legal document that introduces when the Disability Discrimination Act 2001 will come into effect.
Example 4: Following the adoption of the Insurance Mediation Directive (IMD) by the European Parliament Ruth Kelly, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, today confirmed that the regulation of mortgages and general insurance will come into force from October 2004.
In a word, from the above examples and analysis, we can see that the so-called two typical errors in the C-E translation of the "implementation" provisions of laws and regulations are not in fact wrong, which is evidenced by a large number of practices. From these so-called "errors", we can draw the conclusion that "the current level of the C-E translation of laws and regulations is poor", regardless of which aspect, There is no basis.
References:
[1] Chen Zhongcheng French window translation [M] Beijing: China Translation and Publishing Corporation, 1992
[2] Chen Zhongcheng A dictionary of legal terminology [M] Beijing: Law Press, 2000
[3] Chen Zhongcheng Translated by Fayuan Tan [M] Beijing: China Legal Publishing House, 2000
[4] Middle rope Typical errors in English translation of "implementation" provisions [J] Legal English World (Part II), 1999, 64-68
[5]Tiersma, Peter. Legal Language[M]. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1999. |
