OnCulturalFactorsinLegalEnglishTranslation

1、OnCulturalFactorsinLegalEnglishTranslation【Abstract】Thisthesisaimstodiscussthesignificanceofculturalfactorsinthepracticeoflegaltranslation，forenlighteningtranslatorsandinterpreterstocaptureanddetecttheculturalsignificancebehindthelegaltexts.【Keywords】LegalEnglish；Translation；CulturalFactor【作者簡介】陳芳19

2、95-，女，漢族，天津人，天津農(nóng)學(xué)院人文學(xué)院英語專業(yè)2020屆本科在讀，研究方向：法律英語翻譯。I.IntroductionLawisculture-embodied.Whentranslatorstrytocoveyinaccuratemeaningoflawterms，theymusttakeintoconsiderationalargebunchoflegaltermswhichisculture-embodiedandrepresentthedistinctivecountryscharacteristics.InlegalEnglishtranslation，culturalloss

3、oftenoccurs.TheculturaldifferencebetweeneasternlegalsystemandwesternlegallawhasalwaysbeenabigprobleminlegalEnglishtranslation.Becauseofthedifferenceofhistory，geography，socialsystem，ideology，valuesandotherfactors，anditisdifficulttoachievethesameunderstandingoftheessenceoflanguageandculture，sointhepra

4、cticelegalEnglishtranslation，culturalfactorshaveasignificantinfluenceontranslationactivities.II.CharacteristicsofLegalEnglish1.AccuratelegaltermsThischaracteristicisparticularlyapparentinprepositionsoflegalEnglish.Differentprepositionsexpressdifferentmeaningsandprepositionscannotbeusedfreelyinregula

5、rEnglish，otherwiselegaldisputesmaybecaused.2.TheusageofformalwordsThelegalEnglishexpressionshouldbeformalsothatitcoulddemonstrateitsauthorityandequality.Forexample，theexpressionof“priorismoreproperthan“before，andtheuseof“adviseisrecommendedtoreplactheexpressionof“tell.3.Differentmeaningsofcommonword

6、sThemeaningsofsomecommonwordsaretotallydifferentinlegalEnglish.Forexample，actionlitigation，avoidcancel，considerationpriceetc.4.TheusageofOldEnglishandMiddleEnglishInlegalEnglish，thereareavarietyofexpressionswhichcomefromOldEnglishandMiddleEnglish.Thisismainlyreflectedintheextensiveuseofwordssynthesi

7、zedby“here，“there，“wherandprepositions，suchas“hereafter，“herein，“hereunderetc.5.TheusageoflegalterminologyandjargonAsalegalEnglishtranslator，onemustmakesurethegraspingoflegalterminologyandlegaljargon，suchas“burdenofproof舉證責(zé)任causeofaction案由，letterspatent專利證書etc.III.TheCulturalFactorsinLegalEnglish1.C

8、haracteristicsoflegalcultureMateriality-orientedattribute?！癟helivingconditionofthesocietydoesnotdependonthewillofindividual，itistherealisticfoundationoflegalculturethathascomeintoexistenceanddevelopment.Butlegalcultureexistsbecauseofpeopleswill，whileitisrestrictedbyobjectivesocialrelationsGongPixian

9、g3.Politicalfunction。Differenttypesoflegalcultureembodythepoliticalandeconomicconditionsgovernedbyrulingclass，whichreflectsthewilloftherulingclass，cateringtotheneedsofrulingclass.Abasicpoliticalfunctionofthelegalcultureistorealizesocialcontrolandtomaintainapoliticalorderandsocialorder.Universalappli

10、cability。Legalsystemcouldbeunderstoodasaseriesofnorms，providingforallthemembersofasetofuniversallyapplicablenormsstandardsandcodesofconduct，andcontentoforganiccompositiontobuildasocietyinlegalorder.Itwillgraduallyovercomeitsdecentralizedstateinthelongdevelopmentprocess，andultimatelyresultinuniformit

11、y，coherenceanduniversalityasthecharacteristicsofmodernlegalculture.Practicality。Thelegalnormsstaynotonlyinthelegaldocuments，butalsointhecountryspoliticallife，economiclifeandculturallifeactivities.Legalorganizationsandlegalfacilitiesaregeneratedforsocialpractice，andtheyplayanimportantroleinsocialprac

12、tice.Thus，lawcanregulatethesocial，political，economicandculturallife.Culturalcontinuity。Legalcultureisnotaspiritualwealthforageneration，butaprocessofcontinuousaccumulationofcultureinthecourseofthedevelopmentofhumanhistory.Legalculturemustbebasedonvaluablelegalcultureheritageaccumulatedintime-honoredh

13、istoryinacriticalmanneranddevelopthelegalculturesuitableforcontemporarysociety.2.TranslationbarriersduetoculturaldifferenceLegalcultureisinfluencedbynationsdifferentsocialbackgrounds，materialfoundationandvalues，anditseemsdifferentindifferentcountriesandregionsduringtimesZhangFalian49.Firstly，cultura

14、ldifferencerelatedtodifferentvaluessuchasbehavioralpatterns，communityrelationshipsandrituals.OneofthegreatestdifferencesinvaluebetweenEnglish-speakingcountriesandChinaisindividualismandcollectivism.Secondly，religionisanotherimportantaspectwhichleadstoculturaldifference.MostofEnglishspeakerstakeChris

15、tianityasbelief，soitundoubtedlyreflectsthevalueofChristianity.Therearelotsofexpressionsof“GodinregularEnglishspeakingaswellasliteraryworks.Andindocumentofcontracts，wecanalsofindanexpressionas“actsofGodwhichhavethesamemeaningofforcemajeure.Thirdly，differentpeopleshavedifferentwaysofthinking.Englishsp

16、eakersalwayslayemphasisonthecompetenceinabstractthinkingthatisrationalandlogical.Bycontrast，Chineseusuallypreferthethinkingpatternsaboundsinromanticandintuitiveimagination.ThenativeEnglishspeakersexpressthingsinadirectandimmediatemannerbutChinesepeopletendtoexpressdetailsinthebeginningandthenshowthe

17、keypointattheendofsentences.IV.TheStrategiesofLegalEnglishTranslation1.DomesticationandforeignizationDomesticationandforeignizationaretwokindsofstrategiesintranslationlegalEnglishtranslation.Domesticationisastrategytomaketextcloselyconformtotheculturalfeaturesofthesourcetext，whichmaycausethelossofin

18、formation.Andforeignizationisthestrategytokeeptheoriginalfeaturesofsourcetext，withbrokenconventionsoftargetlanguagetotransferitsoriginalmeaningdeliberately.onlybyfocusingondifferentculturalfactorsaswellasflexibleusageofdifferenttechniques，cantranslatorsreachtheequivalenceofthereceptorresponseinlegal

19、EnglishtranslationZhuXuelin88.2.TechniquesforltranslationofculturalfactorsinlegalEnglishOmission。Itmeansthewayofomittingsomeuntranslatablewordswithculturalconnotations.Byusingtechniqueofomission，thefundamentalinformationandculturalfactorsshouldnotbeinfluenced，especiallyforthewordsorexpressionswhicha

20、rerichinculturalconnotationsseeminglybutactuallyobsoleteSunYifeng29.TheformationofthisContract，itsvalidity，interpretation，executionandsettlementofdisputesinconnectionherewithshallbegovernedbythelawsofthePeoplesRepublicofChina“PRC，butintheeventthatthereisnopublishedandpubliclyavailablelawinthePRCgove

21、rningaparticularmatterrelatingtothisContract，referenceshallbemadetogeneralinternationalcommercialpractices.“Publiclyavailableisredundantbecausethelawisavailableafterbeingpromulgated，thus，thetextcanbetranslatedintoChineselikethis：本合同的訂立、效力、解釋、執(zhí)行及合同爭(zhēng)議的解決，均受中華人民共和國“中國法律管轄。中國公布的法律對(duì)本合同相關(guān)的某一事項(xiàng)未作規(guī)定參照國際商業(yè)慣例

22、。Substitution。Becausetherearenoexactlythesameexpressionsinlegallanguageconcerningculturalelements，translatorscouldnotfindcounterpartinonecultureequivalenttoanothercultureallthetime.“ActsofGodusuallybetranslatedinto“不可抗力inChinese，becausetranslatorsconsiderthattheactsconductedbyGodcouldnotbeavoided.3.

23、ExplanationThetechniqueofexplanationisoftenadoptedbytranslatorswhenancientChineselawsbetranslated，suchasinTheTangCodes，“五刑whichincludes“答、杖、徒、流、死.Sobyadoptingthestrategyofexplanation，“五刑couldbetranslatedinto“thefivecrimesascanning，heavy-stickpunishment，imprisonment，banishmentanddeathpenalty.4.TransliterationTransliterationinlegalEnglishtranslationisatechniquetotransformsomewordsorlegaltermsintoalphabeticitemsofanotherlanguage.Byusageoftransliteration，theeffectoftranslationcouldnotbeinfluencedbythetargetlanguageandtheessenceofcultureinsourcetestcouldberetained.“Brow