On the Translation of Contract.docx
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On the Translation of Contract.docx
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OntheTranslationofContract
OntheTranslationofContract
Introduction
Acontractobligationisalegallybindingagreementthatisanagreementimposingrightsonthepartiesofcontracts,likestatutes,whichwillbeenforcedbythecourts.Theattentiontodetailsmaybeduetoanumberofcauses,includingthestandardizationofroutinetransactions,thefrequentinvolvementoflawyersinallstagesofexceptionaltransactions,thedesiretoavoiduncertaintywhenthelawofmorethanonestatemaybeinvolved.
Businesscommunicationsacrossthebordersaresubstantiallyincreasingwhichstimulatesthedemandofcontracttranslationasacertainresult.Translationofcontractshasthusdrawntheinterestsoftranslatorsandscholars.Todeveloptranslationcompetence,contracttranslatorsneedinstructionintranslationtheoryaswellaspractice.Thethesiscitesthetheoreticalaspectsoftranslationprinciples.Likegeneraltranslationcriteria,thecriteriaforcontracttranslationmayberegardedasacriteriainactionifithelpstranslatorsbecomeresponsibledecision-makersintermsof"Faithfulness,ExpressivenessandElegance"or“信、达、雅”inChinese.ChapterTwoofthisthesisaddressesthelexicalfeaturesofcontracttranslation,whichistofulfillthemaintaskbymeansoftheanalysisofwords.Chapterthreemakesanalysisonthesyntacticcharactersofcontracttranslation.ThenChapterfourputsforwardtheoptionsasstrategiesforthetranslationofcontracts.
Chapter1CriteriafortheTranslationofContracts
Criterionistheyardsticktoassessatranslatedtext.InChina,YanFufirstproposedthreecriteriafortranslation:
"faithfulness","smoothness"and"elegance".In1930s,thedebatebetweenLuXunandLiangShiqiuabout"faithfulness"and"smoothness"acceleratedthestandardizationoftranslationcriteria.FuLeicalledfor"spiritualsimilarity"insteadof"formalsimilarity".MrQianZhongshubroughtforththehighestcriterionof"perfection"or"transformationofsouls".AndProfessorLiuZhongdeclaims"faithfulness","smoothness"and"closeness".However,allthesecriteriaarebasedonthegeneralandfuzzyimpressioninsteadofprecisescientificreasoning.
Butthewesternfunctionaliststightlyconnectedthecriteriaoftranslationwithtexttypes.Reiss'stypologyisintendedasasetofguidelinesfortranslatorsandtranslationcritics.Thatis,differentcriteriaareappliedindifferenttexttype.
AccordingtoLiuMiqing“contractsbelongtolegaldocumentswhicharecharacterizedbythelanguageofofficialdocument”1.Moreover,EnglishofcontractisfallenintopracticalbusinessEnglish.Thecriteriaproposedinthefollowingaredefinedaccordingtoitsfunctionsandtexttype.
§1.1.AccuracyandfaithfulnessinMeaning
1.1.1Accuracy
Acombinationofaformalstyle,anexpressivelanguagefunction,andtheneedtoachieveextremeprecisionoravoidambiguityasmentionedabovealmostcertainlyandunavoidablyproducestheneedtoaccomplishaccuracyinmeaninginthetranslationofbusinesscontracts.KarlaC.Shippeyclaims"Themoredefinitivetheterms,thefewerthedisputes".2Theprincipleof"accuracy"shouldberegardedasthesoulofcontracttranslation.Thestylisticandlinguisticfeaturesofinternationalbusinesscontractsdeterminetheneedofanexactwordingandwell-knitsentenceswithouttheleastpossibleambiguity,misunderstanding,discrepancyordepartureinmeaning.Thesefeaturesmarkoffthetranslationofbusinesscontractsfromthetranslationofliterature.
1.1.2Faithfulness
Ontheimportanceoffaithfulnessthetranslationoftechnicaltermsisagoodcaseinpoint.Anexactunderstandingoftheessenceofthesourcelanguage(SL)isthekeytosuccessfultranslatingintotargetlanguage(TL).Neitherdistortionsnoralterationsshouldbemadeintheprocessoftranslating.
Example[1]
商标由买方提供。
如果发生第二方指控商标侵权,买方应负责与第二方交涉并承担由此引起的法律责任和经济损失。
ThetrademarkistobesuppliedbytheBuyer.Incaseathirdpartybringsachargeofinfringement,theBuyershallberesponsiblefordealingwiththethirdpartyandbearlegalresponsibilitiesandeconomiclossesarisingtherefrom.3
Itseemspropertotranslatethestatementlike“承担经济损失”into"tobeareconomiclossesarisingtherefrom",butherethelosses(损失)exactlyrefertothefinancialonesconnectedwithmoneyratherthantheeconomiconesconnectedwithtrade,industry,moneyandothers.Andtheresponsibilitiesandlossesarenotnecessarilyacertaintybutakindofprobability.Forthisreason,itwouldbebettertochangetheEnglishversioninto“…andbearlegalresponsibilitiesandfinanciallossesthatmayarise”.
§1.2.ExpressivenessandSmoothnessinFormulation
Thecriterionof"expressivenessandsmoothness"comesinthesecondplaceinthebusinesscontracts.ByexpressivenessandsmoothnesswemeanthatcontractsshouldberenderedinnormativeandidiomaticTLinbothwordingandsyntax.Wordsandexpressionsusedshouldconformtothecustomarilyrecognizedmeaningsininternationalbusiness.Forexample,Chinese“议付”shouldberenderedinto"negotiation"ininternationalbankingpractices,andanysubstitutesmayleadtoconfusion.
Thecriterionof"expressivenessandsmoothness"showsgreatimportanceindealingwithlongcomplexsentences.
Example[2]
买方应在收到卖方交货通知后由中国银行开出以卖方为受益人的与装运金额相同的不可撤销的即期信用证。
TheBuyershall,onreceiptfromtheSelleroftheshippingadvice,openwiththeBankofChinaanirrevocableletterofcreditavailablebydraftatsightinfavoroftheSellerforthetotalvalueoftheshipment.4
ItisimpropertotranslatetheaboveChinesesentenceswordbywordintoEnglish.InordertomakethetranslatedversioncomplywiththeidiomaticwayofformulationinEnglish,wehavetomakesomemodulationstothesyntaxoftheChineseversionbyshiftingthepre-modifyingelements“以卖方为受益人的”“与装运金额相同的”,“不可撤销的”“即期”topost-modifyingpositions.
§1.3.Elegance
Styleistheessentialcharacteristicofatext,inwhichthespiritofapieceofwritinglies.TheodoreSavoryadvocatesinhisbook.TheArtofTranslationthattranslationshouldreflecttheoriginalstyle.5WithreferencetoYangFu's"elegance",ZhouXulianghashisownunderstanding:
"elegance"referstoappropriatenessbothincontentandstylebetweenthetranslationandtheoriginal6.
Sofarascontracttranslationisconcerned,eleganceinstylemeansthatthetranslatedversionofacontractshouldbeinstrictcompliancewiththeoriginalintermsofstyle.
Chapter2TheLexicalFeaturesoftheTranslationofContracts
Analyzingalanguageonthelevelsofmorphology,phonologyandsyntax,isastraightforwardwaytounderstandtextsbetter.Therefore,toanalyzethestylisticandlinguisticfeaturesofcontractEnglishisofgreatvaluetounderstandcontracts.Thisanalysiswillinevitablyfacilitatetheirtranslation.
§2.1ArchaismsinContracts
ThereisaceremonialqualityofthecontractlanguageachievedbythefrequentuseofarchaismsinbothEnglishandChinese.ThusinC-Etranslationofcontracts,properuseofEnglisharchaismsplaysasignificantroleinexactwording.InrenderingtheChinesearchaismslike“此”、“之”、“在”、“凭”、“由”,etc.,wemayrelyontheuseofsomeEnglisharchaismsformedbyacombinationofsuchprefixesas"here","there"or"where"andsomeparticularprepositionsindicatingdirections,mannersorreasons,forexample,"herewith","thereby",etc.Archaismsnearlyalwaysseemtoaddatouchofformalitytothelanguageinwhichtheyoccur.Andinthisrespect,theuseofEnglisharchaismsinC-EtranslationdoubtlesslycontributestoachievingstylisticequivalencebetweenSLandTL.Theuseofsucharchaismsalsomayresultinaneffectofstressedandclarifiedmeaningofthetext.TheseOldandMiddleEnglishwordswereonceinusebutarerareincontemporaryEnglishespeciallyincontemporaryspokenEnglish.Buttheyareinfrequentuseincontracts.ThesewordshavetheirgeneralChineseequivalentsandtheirusagefollowstheirownrulesasfollows:
A.here=this.Forinstance:
hereby(=bymeansofthis;byreasonofthis特此;兹;因此),hereinafter(=laterinthiscontract,etc以下;在下文),herein(=inthis此中;于此),hereof(=ofthis于此;在本件中),hereto=tothis对此;至此);
B.there=that.Forexample:
therein(inthat在那里;在那点上),thereto(=tothatorit随附;附之),thereof(=ofthat;fromthatsource由此;因此),therewith=withthatorit与此;与之),thereafter(=afterwards此后);
C.where=which.Compoundrelativeadverbsareformedbycombining"where"withprepositionsandareoftenusedtointroduceattributiveclauses.Forexample:
whereby=(bywhat;bywhich凭此条款;凭此协议);whereof(=ofwhich关于那事),etc.
ThesearchaisticwordsshouldbeusedinC-Etranslationinacorrectandflexiblewayinaccordancewiththecontext.
Example[3]
凡与本合同有关或因履行本合同而发生的一切争议,应由合同双方通过友好协商解决。
Alldisputesinconnectionwiththiscontractortheexecutionthereofshallbesolvedbythetwopartiesthroughamicablenegotiation.7
§2.2TranslationofLoanWordsandFormalWords
2.2.1LoanWords
Loanwordisafeatureoflegaldocuments,whosefunctionistoformalizethetextandkeepthelegalflavor,buttheyarenotaspopularinChineseasinEnglish."Ingeneral,itisbesttospeakof"functionalequivalence"intermsofarangeofadequacy,sincenotranslationisevercompletelyequivalent.“Anumberofdifferenttranslationscaninfactrepresentvaryingdegreesofequivalence.Thismeansthat`equivalence'cannotbeunderstoodinitsmathematicalmeaningofidentity,butonlyintermsofproximity,i.e.onthebasisofdegreesofclosenesstofunctionalidentity"8.Therefore,thepurposehereistoreproducetheformalnessandlegalsense,andlegalwordsareusedinthisrenditioninsteadofChineseloanwords.Forexample,"remise"istranslatedas“让渡”,insteadof“让出”,"action"
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