Summary:
This paper focuses on the problems in the translation of legal terms, points out the problems that should be paid attention to in the translation of legal terms from the etymology, characteristics and translation principles of legal terms, and points out the position and role of the translator in the translation of legal terms, and puts forward suggestions and requirements.
Key words: legal translation, legal terminology translation, etymology, characteristics, principles.
1. Problems in legal translation in China:
Legal translation has a long history, especially in recent years, with the acceleration of China's legalization process, the expansion of the scope of foreign exchanges, and the increase of foreign legal and cultural exchanges, a large number of legal documents are translated into foreign languages every year in China. China's entry into the WTO has brought China into the environment of international integration. Since China's legal system has not yet fully integrated with the international community, in order to better participate in the political and economic activities of the international community, China has also accelerated the pace of learning from the international developed countries, including the learning and reference of laws. This requires a large number of national laws and regulations to be translated for reference. It is undeniable that legal translation has achieved fruitful results, but there are still some problems.
At present, the problems in legal translation mainly include the following aspects:
1) Spelling and grammatical errors - In Chinese English translation, these errors are the most common. Duan Liancheng, a famous translator in China, calls this phenomenon "Type A symptom". Such errors can be seen everywhere even in officially published works.
2) Omission, addition and literal interpretation ---- In legal translation, the common problem is to add words or even sentences that do not exist in the original at will. Although the sentences to be translated are not difficult to understand and the words are not uncommon, they are more arbitrary, and they are translated without thinking, resulting in literal or even common sense errors.
3) Improper style - legal English has a rigorous language structure, well chosen words and strict logic. The problem is more formal and rigid than other subjects, and more passive voice is used, which is determined by the nature of the law itself. However, if the problem of legal language is not properly understood, the translation may also cause various errors.
4) Inadequate understanding of the original text - in order to pursue accuracy, legal language often has sophisticated wording, lengthy sentences, complex structures, and is affected by the original language and loopholes in professional knowledge, or lacks scrutiny of the original text, which may lead to incomprehensible understanding of the original text, thus resulting in various errors in translation.
5) The poor language accomplishment is manifested in two aspects: first, because the translator has limited mastery of language, he cannot understand everything and has no mistakes. Sometimes, the translator does not master his mother tongue or foreign language well, which leads to mistakes in understanding. If the interference of language is added, the translation will be contradictory, logic unclear, sentence structure confused, and language expression non-standard. When translating from English to Chinese, the translation is heavily Europeanized; When translating from Chinese to English, the translation is in the form of Chinese English. Even when translating, we often use the method of "taking the right place" or "following the same steps" according to the literal meaning and word order structure of Chinese, which results in a large number of non-standard English. (Ding Hengqi)
6) Errors caused by differences in legal culture - any language is not simply a combination of words, words and sentences, but the deposition of history, philosophy, art, psychology and other aspects of the nation using the language. Different languages are the embodiment of their own unique cultural accumulation, which makes the transformation between them more complex. (Sun Huijun, Zheng Qingzhu). Language barriers can be solved through translation, while cultural differences are a major obstacle in translation. This difference is even more difficult in legal translation because of the authority of legal language, and a slight carelessness of the translator may sometimes lead to serious consequences.
7) Errors in the translation of legal terms
Due to space constraints, this article only comments on the translation of legal terms, hoping to be helpful to the translation of legal terms.
2. Translation of terms in legal translation
It is well known that the translation of legal terms is an extremely important aspect of legal translation. Unlike medicine, chemistry and computer science, law is first and foremost a national phenomenon. Each national or regional law has its own terminology and potential conceptual structure, its own classification rules, legal sources and socio-economic principles. Each legal system has its own vocabulary for expressing concepts, different types of rules, and methods for interpreting rules. David's analysis of comparative law points out some legal obstacles encountered by translators in the process of legal translation: one of the greatest difficulties is that there are no completely opposite legal concepts and classification systems in different legal systems. In real society, legal science develops independently in its legal system. Therefore, the basic concepts and classification methods familiar to judges in one legal system are completely unfamiliar to judges in another legal system.
The translation of terms in legal translation is of particular significance. The quality and accuracy of terminology translation is often related to the quality of translation. The translation of legal terms is accurate. Even if there are some problems in other aspects, such as grammar, it may be acceptable and not cause too much misunderstanding; If the translation of terms is wrong, it may lead to misunderstanding and even disputes. In the process of translation, the translator may only pay attention to one meaning of a term, ignoring other meanings, or only pay attention to its common meaning, ignoring its special meaning in a special context, or make mistakes due to inaccurate choice of words. For example, the most common translation of the word "burglary" is "burglary" and "crime of burglary". Unfortunately, this translation only reflects the side of "burglary". In the common law of the United States and Britain, burglary refers to "the breaking and entering of the weelling house of another person at night with the intention to commit a felony of larceny inside", that is, the act of breaking doors and windows into another person's house for the purpose of committing a felony or stealing. Although the current criminal law has greatly revised the definition of large, for example, the time is not limited to night, and houses can also include other buildings. The United States Uniform Criminal Reports (1998) even defines large as "illegally entering a building for committing serious crimes or stealing", No matter whether violence is used to enter the building or not, however, it is not just "burglary" or "burglary crime". Entering other people's houses or other buildings for the purpose of harming, raping or even killing someone (not necessarily forced entry with violence) also constitutes a big house. Our country also has a similar accusation, that is, "the crime of illegally trespassing on another's house", but we can't use this word to paraphrase burglary, because according to the criminal law of our country, the so-called illegal trespass on another's house means that without the consent of the owner, without proper reasons, you break into the place where other people live, affect their peace of life, or withdraw from the house at the request of the owner, But the act of making trouble without reason and refusing to quit, and the purpose of invasion is not only to commit other crimes, such as theft, homicide, robbery, rape, etc., because if the entry is for committing other crimes, such as theft, homicide, robbery, rape, etc., then the latter will be convicted instead of being punished for several crimes, which is just the opposite of the crime constitution of Burglar. Therefore, in consideration of the above factors, the word "burglary" can be translated as "the crime of malicious invasion of another's house".
2.1 Features, etymology and translation of English and Chinese legal terms
Due to the solemnity of legal work itself, the specialized trade language in legal work has the characteristics of precision, clarity, fixed usage and single semantics of scientific and technical language. The specialized vocabulary of legal language has a large number and a wide range of applications. Its vocabulary system is mainly composed of specialized legal terminology, commonly used words in legal work, and other basic and non basic words in the national common language. Legal terminology is an important vocabulary in the legal language vocabulary system.
2.1.1 Features of English and Chinese legal English terminology
1) Singularity of word meaning - The most prominent feature of all scientific terms is that the word meaning is single and fixed. On this point, English and Chinese legal terms are the same. Therefore, in the specific application process, anyone must have a unified interpretation of it under any circumstances. The oneness of legal terminology is mainly manifested in two aspects. First, each professional term represents a specific legal concept, which cannot be replaced by any other words when used. For example: negligence, not miss; Attempted murder - uncompleted murder instead of failure in murder. "Intentional" and "intentional" cannot be used intentionally, and "suspect" cannot be used. Second, even if a certain professional term is a polysemous word in the national common language, once it appears as a professional term in the legal language, it can only retain one meaning. For example, suit --- there are several meanings in English: 1) set of articles of outer clothing of the same material, 2) request make to a superior, esp. to a rule 3) civil legal procedures or law suit 4) asking a woman's hand in marriage. As a legal term, only meaning 3 can be taken. The word "cohabitation" in Chinese has the following meanings in the national common language: 1) several people live together; 2) couples live together; 3) men and women live together without going through marriage registration procedures. In legal language, "cohabitation" has only one specific meaning, that is, "men and women live together without going through marriage registration procedures". The single and fixed meaning of English and Chinese legal terms is determined by the characteristics of law itself
2) Paradoxy of words - -- Paradoxy of words means that the meanings of words are contradictory and opposite to each other, that is, the concepts expressed by words have a contradictory or opposite relationship in logic. Such as "general" and "special", "above" and "below". In the national common language, such words with opposite or corresponding meanings belong to the category of antonyms. In legal language, we call it antonym. The reason why we call it this way is that legal work must use a group of words that express contradictions, opposite things or opposite legal acts to express various opposite legal relations. In terms of legal terminology, this point is consistent between English and Chinese. For example:
Plaintiffs -- Defendants
Right ---- Obligation
Creditor -- debtor
Principal -- accessory criminal
The opposite phenomenon of legal professional terms is given by the nature of legal work itself. Because the object of legal work is often the two opposite aspects of interests. Such as the perpetrator and victim in criminal cases; The plaintiff and defendant in civil cases; Party A and Party B in the economic contract. This determines that there are inevitably a large number of synonyms in legal terminology.
3) Variability in use - The variability of legal terms refers to the difference between the use of some terms and the language habits of the national common language. For example, the two legal terms "omission" and "impossibility", in the national common language, "not laughing", "impossibility" and verb phrases often act as predicates in sentences. In legal language, "omission" and "impossibility", as legal terms, are no longer verb phrases, but legal concepts with verb functions. They often act as subjects and objects in sentences, rather than as predicates. This phenomenon also exists in English, but it is much less than that in Chinese. For example, in the structure of "not proven", not is an adverb, and proven is a past participle transformed from the verb "prove", which has the function of an adjective and means "unconfirmed". In English, provencan only be used as slogans and attributives. But as a legal term, it has been nominalized and can be used as subject and object in sentences. For example:
Another difference is that in Scottish criminal law a third verdict of “not proven ”is possible intermidiate between guilty . It is equivalent to an acquittal.
4) The category meaning of words - -- category meaning words refer to words whose meanings belong to a certain category. Another feature of English and Chinese legal terminology is that there are a large number of synonyms. For example, "car", "bus", "truck", "train", etc. belong to the category of "vehicle". Class words are the product of concept division. Words belonging to the same semantic category represent several concepts within the same generic concept. For example, "crime" is a generic concept, which can be divided into many kinds of crimes according to the different nature of criminal acts, and these kinds of crimes become concepts.
There are many synonyms in legal terminology, because the law is aimed at the whole society, and the object of its adjustment is all kinds of legal relations, such as all citizens, legal persons, organs, organizations, etc. The concepts that express these legal relationships must be large, small, and various. In the process of using these concepts, in order to clarify the scope of their extension, it is necessary to divide categories according to their respective attributes from different angles and at different levels, and then use appropriate words to determine them, so as to avoid arbitrary expansion or contraction of understanding, thus generating concepts of genus and species at different levels, The words that express these concepts are synonyms at different levels.
2.1.2 The etymology of English and Chinese legal English terminology
1 ） . Use the old legal language - language is a communication tool at any stage of social development, and it serves the society equally. Therefore, some of its basic symbols have been used since ancient times. Some old legal terms including ancient ones are also used in the legal provisions. Such as "surrender", "amnesty" and "petition" in Chinese. In English, "exile", "ransom", "summers", etc. The society inherits and uses these old legal terms because they have already had a specific meaning recognized by people in their long-term use. There is no need to create new legal terms at a distance.
2) Create new legal terms - under the influence of globalization and new technology, many new social phenomena can no longer be properly expressed by the original conventional words, thus generating a large number of new words, new words. The formation of new words can be summarized into the following forms: 1 Compound method 2 Derivation 3 Shifting meaning 4 Extension in Grammatical Function 5 Abbreviation 6 Blending 7 Borrowing 8 Create new words. Most of the new words are created by the ingenuity of journalists in the news media, while a few are created by the ingenuity of scholars and experts. Through the widespread acceptance of the public, they have officially become "neologism", which forms part of the overall language and enriches the content of legal terms. For example, securities act, contract and responsibility system, computer crime.
Another way to create new words is "old words acquire new meanings", that is, a word acquires a new meaning category, so that the original form of expression can differentiate into a new meaning. For example, administrator originally refers to any administrator. Since the 1980s, it has gained the new meaning of "administrator of bankrupt company appointed by the court" in Britain.
Those engaged in legal and news translation should be aware of the meaning and background of neologism. The translator must pay attention to the use of terms that can accurately express the internal meaning of the original text when it comes into being. If the translator ignores the development of legal terminology, sometimes it will lead to serious consequences. As shown in the following example, this is the translation of a judgment in New York that the Australian authorities authorized the plaintiff and his wife Scheidung. The judgment was made before 1938. At that time, Scheidung didn't mean "divorce" in Australian law at all, but separated. However, the translator uses the word "divorce", which is correct under German law and wrong under Australian law. Due to the translator's mistake, the man was allowed to remarry in New York even though he was legally separated from his first wife. Therefore, the translator cannot ignore the fact that the meaning of legal terms is constantly developing.
3) With the continuous development of society and the increasingly frequent international exchanges, China's legal system must be further improved and developed, which requires reference to the legislative experience of other countries with better legal systems, and timely quotation of legal terms frequently used in legal activities of other countries. For example, "bankruptcy", "patent", "legal person", "intellectual property", etc. In the English language, in addition to absorbing new legal terms related to modern countries, foreign legal terms are mainly French and Latin. For example, French states, assize and warrant; Latin de facto fort, proviso, etc. This is a major feature of legal English.
4) The legal terms transformed from the general vocabulary members of the national common language - -- to transform the national common language and endow it with specific legal meanings, the legal professional terms come into being. For example, the word "tell", as a legal term, has changed both the original phonetic form and the original meaning.
3. Principles of legal terminology translation
Legal terminology is a dual work of legal transformation and language transformation. Any legal translation work almost inevitably involves functional differences arising from legal concepts under different legal systems. Therefore, legal translation should not only require the equivalence of language functions, but also take into account the equivalence of legal functions. The so-called legal functional equivalence refers to the equivalence of the legal functions and effects of the source language and the target language. Only in this way can the target language accurately express the true meaning of the source language, that is, the so-called preciseness of legal translation. Specialized legal terms are the most important part of legal English, so accurate translation of legal terms is necessary. According to the above conceptual cognition, we should do the following in practice:
1) Correctly understand the exact meaning of the original word in the context----- The function of special terms is to describe a generally accepted complex legal concept, theory, or rule with the most concise words or phrases, so that legal workers can communicate with each other in simpler language. Therefore, the internal meaning of words is usually much more complex than the external form. If the translator simply translates the literal meaning directly or literally, he cannot express the true meaning of the word correctly and completely. Moreover, the meaning of words changes with the context, that is, the meaning of the word "noscitur a soclis" in Roman law can be understood from its context.
2) Try to find a special term that is equivalent to or close to the original word in domestic law---- The legal terms in English and Chinese have their own specific legal meanings and effects, and cannot be changed freely. In order to achieve legal equivalence, translators should try their best to seek formal terms that are equivalent to or close to the original words in their own laws, rather than creating new words at will, so as not to mislead readers, cause ambiguity or disputes in interpretation.
3) There is no equivalent translation------ The concept of equivalence is relative, not absolute (Zhang Meifang). Due to the differences in legal systems, the concepts, principles or norms referred to by many terms in Anglo American law do not exist at all in domestic systems, so there is no equivalent or close equivalent. In this case, the translator may as well translate the original word into neutral term in non legal terms after correctly understanding its meaning to avoid confusion. For example, "dispose" should be translated as "taking evidence out of court, taking testimony transcripts out of court" rather than "taking testimony, testimony", that is, to confuse with the idioms in the domestic judicial system.
4) Ambiguous to ambiguous, clear to clear--- There are many terms in Anglo American law. Although they have specific meanings, they are not clearly defined, and their scope of application is not clearly defined, so their exact meanings are not clear. For example, "substantially certain" should be translated as "roughly certain" rather than "inevitable result" as translated in the book Similar ambiguities also exist in Chinese law. For example, in the General Principles of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China, "the main source of life" (Article 11), "suitable civil activities" (Article 12), "necessary property" (Article 37). Ambiguity in laws and contracts is intended to maintain flexibility in the execution or performance of provisions. In case of any dispute in the future, the final right of interpretation belongs to the court, and the translator has no right to make any explanation or clarification. Therefore, on the premise of the equivalence of legal functions, the translator should adopt the translation strategy of fuzziness to fuzziness. On the contrary, the original words with clear meanings should not be swallowed and confused to avoid unnecessary ambiguity.
4. Translator's identity in term translation
Translation should be regarded as the result of the cooperation and communication among the three communicators, namely, the original author, the translator and the target reader. It is their common wealth. (Zhang Xinhong, He Ziran) Any kind of translation activity can not be separated from the translator who plays a decisive role in the translation subject, and can not be separated from the translator's re understanding and re expression of what the original author knows. The translator has a unique identity in it. A good translation is not only the crystallization of this re understanding and re expression, but also the unique identity of the translator. Translation is a very complex process, which is not only a language conversion, but also a cross-cultural activity. In the process of translation, the translator cannot simply stand on the position of the reader or engage in translation activities from the position of the author. In the process of translation, the identity of the translator is multiple. It is not only the reader, the author, but also the creator and researcher.
The translator's understanding and grasp of the original should include two aspects, one is the translator's understanding of the meaning of the original language, the other is the mastery of knowledge beyond the original text. The essence of translation is to jump out of the shackles of language and convey the content and cultural spirit of the original text. A good work can be translated only when the same creative mentality as that of the original author can be maintained as far as possible, and the content meaning and cultural spirit of the original work can be recreated in combination with the cultural and economic background of the nation.
In actual translation, there will be many difficulties or limitations in achieving complete equivalence, mainly shown in:
1) Translators cannot be ideal bilinguals, and their own understanding and expression abilities are defective.
2) The translator's knowledge structure, breadth and depth are limited
3) The time for translation is too short to find relevant information.
4) Ambiguity caused by the author intentionally or unintentionally.
The translation of legal terms is only one aspect of legal translation. Different legal systems have no corresponding legal concepts and classifications. The basic concepts and classifications familiar to judges in one country or region are completely unfamiliar to judges in another country or region. And because the cultural and historical background of different countries will be reflected in legal terms, it requires the translator to have a certain understanding of the cultural and historical background of the original text. Since law is a highly professional science, an excellent translator must have a certain understanding of the law of a certain profession.
Although there are inevitably some contradictions and defects in the process of translation, the talent of excellent translators and interpreters lies in: "They know the consequences and difficulties that these factors may cause to translation, but they can still accomplish the task well" (Xu Jun, 1998)
Reference Books ：
Comments on the Translation Notes in Legal English of Fudan University
---Zhu Dingchu, Chinese Translator, May 2002, Volume 23, Issue 3
Equivalence in Translation from the Perspective of Discourse Analysis Zhang Meifang, Modern Foreign Languages, Volume 24, 2001, Issue 1: 78-84
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On the Problems in the Current Legal Translation in China -- Wu of Jin Dynasty, Hu Aiping, Chinese Translator, 2000, Issue 3
Characteristics, etymology and translation of English and Chinese legal terms -- Xiao Yunshu, Chinese Translation, Vol. 22, Issue 3, May 2001
On the Identity of Translator -- Tian Debei, Chinese Translation, No. 6, 2000
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Cultural Turn in Translation Studies Sun Huijun, Zheng Qingzhu, Chinese Translation, 2000, Issue 5
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Trial Translation of New Words in American Law -- Zhu Dingchu, Chinese Translator, Issue 4, 2000
Exploration of Contemporary Western Translation Theory -- Liao Qiyi, Yilin Press, April 2002
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