Legal Translation from Chinese to English

LESSON ONE

SOME BASIC ISSUES IN LEGAL TRANSLATION FROM CHINESE TO ENGLISH

一、讲课前的几个“小”问题

1.What documents do Chinese lawyers often need to translate from Chinese to English?

(1) laws and regulations eg. The Interpretation(II) on Some Issues of Application of

Contract Law of the PRC of the Supreme People's Court

(2) precedents eg.

Hadley and Another v Baxendalc [1854] 9 Exch. 341

The defendants unduly delayed delivery of a mill shaft to the plaintiffs' mill. The mill was

out of action for a considerable time. The plaintiffs did not tell the defendants that the lack

of the shaft would mean closing the mill. The plaintiffs claimed damages for loss of profit

due to the delay. The defendants argued that the alleged loss was too remote and they were

not liable.

HELD: that the plaintiffs could recover damages against the defendants for the delay in

delivery, but not for the loss of profits occasioned by the closure of the mill, as there was no

way the defendants could have foreseen that their delay would mean the closure of the mill.

By this decision, damage is not too remote if the damage is the natural consequence of

the breach, and is something that should have been foreseen by the defendant when

making the contract.

思考：怎样翻译中国法院的卷宗案号？是

/blog/cns!B0217EB4E07E2F10!349.entry这样翻译

吗？

（2003）吉民三终字第20号(2003) Ji Min San Zhong Zi No. 20可修改为：（2003）

JILIN NO.20 CIVIL TRIBUNAL 3 JUDGMENT OF LAST RESORT

(3) legal articles

(4) others,

小结：做好汉英法律翻译的一个重要前提是要认真思考我们所需要做的文本工作类型，即究竟在中国哪些法律文件是外国读者需要的。

2.How many legal documents have you researched in legal English world?

思考1：Ask yourself have you ever read a whole code or case in legal English world?

思考2：想一想下面的《美国合同法重述》中的节选条款怎样理解？

§6. Formal Contracts

The following types of contracts are subject in some respects to special rules that depend on their formal characteristics and differ from those governing contracts in general:

(1) Contracts under seal,

(2) Recognizances,

(3) Negotiable instruments and documents,

(4) Letters of credit.

参考译文：

§6. 要式合同

下列类型的合同根据其形式上的特征，在某些方面受不同于一般合同规则的法律规则的调整：

（1）盖印合同

（2）保证书

（3）可流通票据和单据

（4）信用证

小结：汉英法律翻译不能望文生义，做好汉英翻译的前提是大量阅读英文法律原文。

3.What’s your tool for legal translation from Chinese to English?

（1）灵格斯翻译软件和GOOGLE：解决专有名词表述的问题，比如“国家工商总局”、“检验检疫局（‘出入境’还是‘质量监督’，勿理解为“商品检验检疫局”）” （2）书面字典：推荐《韦氏法律词典》

小结：工欲善其事，必先利其器。在互联网时代我们的法律翻译工作必须学会借助互联网工具及重要的电子字典工具。

4.What’s your opinion on the reasons for difficulties of legal translation from Chinese to

English?

法言法语、语序（修饰关系）、不理解“法律表述结构”

法言法语之难：

例1：

假冒他人专利，具有下列情形之一的，属于刑法第二百一十六条规定的“情节严重”，应当以假冒专利罪判处三年以下有期徒刑或者拘役，并处或者单处罚金：

（一）非法经营数额在二十万元以上或者违法所得数额在十万元以上的；

（二）给专利权人造成直接经济损失五十万元以上的；

（三）假冒两项以上他人专利，非法经营数额在十万元以上或者违法所得数额在五万元以上的；

（四）其他情节严重的情形。

参考译文：The passing off of another’s patent where the passing off is characterized by any of the circumstances set forth below shall fall under the “serious circumstances”