英汉文体与翻译论文.docx
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英汉文体与翻译论文.docx
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英汉文体与翻译论文
英汉文体与翻译论文
题目:
AStudyontheTranslationofVaguenessin
LegalEnglishfromNida’sFunctionalEquivalence
姓名:
王文洁
学号:
2012211041
学院:
文法学院
专业:
外国语言学及应用语言学
Abstract
ThelanguageoflegalEnglishisacustomarylanguage.Theexistenceofvaguenessisoneofitscharacteristics.ThispapermanagestostudythetranslationofvaguenessinlegalEnglishfromtheperspectiveof“Nida’sfunctionalequivalence.”Itmainlyincludestwosituations:
IfthereisequivalentconceptbetweenthelawinEnglishandChinese,literaltranslationisused;Otherwise,addition,omissionandfreetranslationareemployed.
KeyWords:
legalEnglish,vagueness,functionalequivalence
1TheIntroductionofVaguenessinLegalEnglish
1.1DefinitionoflegalEnglish
Thelawofsocietyisasetofrulesandprinciplesthatdetermineasystemofsociety’sdosanddon’ts,andtheinstitutionsthatlegislateandenforcethelaws.Theyreflectthewilloftherulingclass.
ThenwhatislegalEnglish?
Itisthemainreflectionofthecultureoflaw.Throughthiswindowwecanseetheideologyandthecultureofthelegislationandjudicialdocumentindifferenterasanddifferentnations.ThelanguageoflegalEnglishisakindofcustomarylanguageusedbythelawyers,judgesandthelegalworkers.Itisdistinctfromhumantalk;itislawtalkincludingsomespecialwords,phrasesanduniquemodeofexpressions.
1.2WhatisVaguenessinLegalEnglish?
Vaguenessoflanguageoflawreferstothesemanticindeterminaciesofsomeprescriptionsinlegislations,offormulationsinjudicialdocumentsandofpresentationsincourtdebates.Commonly,thevaguelanguageinlawmainlycontains:
A:
Vagueaffixwordsaddedtomodifyothersandmakeotherwiseexactconceptsvague,suchas“about”,“orso”,“often”andsoon.Whendoingthecountingworkroughly,peopleusuallyusethevagueaffixwordssuchas“about”,“around”,“some”,“approximately”,“roughly”,“intheneighborhoodof”or“somethinglike”toshowthenumbersroughly.
B:
Vaguetermwordswhichthemselvesaredifficulttodefine.
C:
Vagueimplicationwords,thedefinitionofwhichisclear,butwithvagueconnotation.Forexample,night(BritishPenalCodeuses“night”todistinguishtwocrimes-burglaryandhousebreaking).Inlegislation,“night”isinterpretedas“fromanhouraftersunsettoanhourbeforesunrise”,butbecausedifferentplaceshaveitsrespectivetimezone,thespecifictimeofsunsetandsunriseisdifficulttodefine.
2“FunctionalEquivalence”inLegalEnglish
2.1TheTheoryof“FunctionalEquivalence”
Nidaholdsthat“thetranslationprocesshasbeendefinedonthebasisthatthereceptorsofatranslationshouldcomprehendthetranslatedtest”thetranslationprocesshasbeendefinedonthebasisthatthereceptorsofatranslationshouldcomprehendthetranslatedtesttosuchanextenttheycanunderstandhowtheoriginalreceptorsmusthaveunderstoodtheoriginaltext.”(Nida,1964)Likewise,histheoryof“functionalequivalence”focusesontheresponseofreceptorincommunication,“…Whatonemustdetermineistheresponseofthereceptortothetranslatedmessage.Thisresponsemustthenbecomparedwiththewayinwhichtheoriginalreceptorspresumablyreactedtothemessagewhenitwasgiveninitsoriginalsetting.”(Nida&Taber,1969:
1)
“Functionalequivalence”embodiestheessentialspiritofNida’stheory,whichhighlightsthesameimpactthemessagehasonthetargetlanguagereaderasonthesourcelanguagereader.
2.2“FunctionalEquivalence”inLegalEnglish
Anyanalysisoflanguageusedinanareaofspecializedapplicationshouldbeginwithaninquiryintothecircumstancesofthatapplication:
whateffecttheapplicationisintendedfor.Itfollowsthatapragmaticapproachshouldbeadoptedinsurveyingthelanguageofdocumentsoflegalcharacter.Thisapproachfirstlyleadstothediscoveryofcertaincommoncharacteristicintrinsicinanylegallanguage.
Asisknown,oneofthefundamentalfeaturesofthepracticeoflawisitsrelianceonlanguageasamethodofoperation.LegalEnglishisconcernedwithimposingobligationsandconferringrightsandthereforeareauthoritative,directiveanddeterrent.Tosatisfythisspecialfunction,legallanguagemustbeprecise,formalandconcise.ThefollowingrequirementsshouldbehighlightedinapplyingNida’stheoryof“functionalequivalence”tolegaltranslation:
2.2.1FaithfulnessPriortoElegance
Anytextisaunityofcontentandform,thecontentbeingthemessage,whichisinclusiveofallmeanings,denotativeandconnotative,implicitandexplicit.“Ashasalreadybeenindicatedinthedefinitionoftranslating,meaningmustbegivenpriority,foritisthecontentofthemessagewhichisofprimeimportance…”(Nida,1969:
13)Inlegaltranslation,becauseofthecharacteristicsoflegallanguageandthespecialsocialfunctionoflegaldocuments,faithfulnesstothemeaning,oraccuracy,canneverbeoveremphasized.Agoodtranslatedtextissupposedtobeabletoconveyaccuratelythemessageoftheoriginaltothereadershipofthetargetlanguage,withaslittlegiveandtakeaspossible.Therefore,faithfulnesstotheoriginalmeaninghaspriorityovereleganceornaturalnessofthetranslatedtextwhentheycan’tbesatisfiedatthesametime.
2.2.2AdequateReproductionoftheOriginalStyle
Styleisthemodeofexpressioninlanguageasdistinctfromtheideasexpressed,orwayofusingwordstoexpressthoughts.Theorganizationofparagraphs,sentencestructure(length,variety,emphasis),thechoiceofwordsandfiguredofspeech,evengrammar,punctuationandspelling-allofthesearemattersofstyle.Nidasays,“Translatinginvolvesmuchmorethanfindingcorrespondingwordsbetweentwolanguages.…Inmanyrespectsthetoneofapassage(thatis,thestyleofthelanguage)carriesmoreimpact,andoftenevenmuchmoremeaning,thanthewordsthemselves.”(Nida,1975:
183)Toservethefunctionofspecifyingpeople’srightsandobligations,thelanguageemployedinlawsisusuallyformal,rigorousandcomplete,admittingofnoambiguityorobscurity.Intranslating,translatorsmustaccordinglyreproducethisstyle,makingthetranslatedtextasprecise,formal,andimpersonal.
2.2.3SmoothandConciseRepresentationintheTargetLanguage
Superiorityof“faithfulness”to“elegance”doesnotmeanthatsmoothornaturalrepresentationisnotimportant.Itisthecommonknowledgethatthesourcelanguageandthetargetlanguageusuallyhavedifferentlexicalandsyntacticalsystems,andfewwords,phrasesofsentencescorrespondprecisely,sodoChineseandEnglish.InC-Etranslating,for“themeaningoftheoriginaltextbeingfaithfullyconvertedintothetargetlanguage”,translatorsmust,makesuretheirtranslationis“orientedtothetargetlanguagesoastotaptheadvantageofthetargetlanguagetothefull.”(LiuMiqing,1998:
25)Inotherwords,theyshouldfollowthecustomandcorrectusageoftheEnglishlanguage.Forthissake,theyneedtointegrateorganicallythemethodofliteraltranslationandoffreetranslation.Ifessential,theyevenhavetochangesurfaceformstoachievebetterfunctionalequivalence.What’smore,thesamemeaningcanberenderedindifferentwaysandusuallythemoreconciseexpressionispreferred.Alwaysthecomprehensibilityorreadabilityofatranslatedtextincreaseswiththedegreeofitssmoothnessandconcisenessinexpression.
3TheApplicationof“FunctionalEquivalence”intheTranslationofVaguenessinLegalEnglish
3.1EquivalentConcept
3.1.1LiteralTranslation
AlthoughtherearealotofvagueexpressionsinlegalEnglish,thetranslatorcanstilluseequivalencetranslation.EquivalencetranslationreferstotranslatingthevagueexpressionoflegalEnglishintoChinesewithitsvagueform.Forexample,
(1)WethepeopleoftheUnitedStates,inordertoformamoreperfectUnion,establishjustice,insuredomestictranquility,provideforthecommondefense,promotethegeneralwelfare,andsecuretheblessings
oflibertytoourselvesandourposterity,doordainandestablishthisConstitutionfortheUnitedStatesofAmerica.
我们合众国人民,为建立更完善的联邦,树立正义,保障国内安宁,提供共同的国防,促进公共福利,并使我们自己和后代得享自由的幸福,特为美利坚合众国制定本宪法。
(2)Ifasentenceofimprisonmentisimposed,therearelimitsonthetermofimprisonment-notmorethansixmonthsorlessthanthreeyears.
如对之做出有期徒刑判决,其刑期也有限制—不超过六个月或少于三年。
ThefirstexamplecomesfromtheconstitutionoftheUnitedStates.Thevagueexpressions“perfect”“common”and“general”embodythegeneralityoflegalEnglishandaretranslatedinto“完善的”、“共同的”和“公共的”correspondingly,keepingthevaguestyleinChinese.Thisiscalledfuzzyequivalenttranslation.Inthesecondexample,“nomorethan”inand“lessthan”expressvaguemeaning,translatinginto“不超过”and“少于”
3.2NoEquivalentConcept
Whenthereisonequivalentconcept,addition,omissionandfreetranslationareused.
3.2.1Addition
Additionreferstoaddingfuzzywordsintothetranslatedtexttofaithfullyexpresstheideaoftheoriginalcontent.Itcouldavoidtherigidwordsequivalencebetweentheoriginaltextandtranslation.Forexample,
EverybillwhichshallhavepassedtheHouseofRepresentativesandtheSenate,shall,beforeitbecomealaw,bepresentedtothePresidentoftheUnitedStates;ifheapproveheshallsignit,butifnotheshallreturnit,withhisobjectionstothatHouseinwhichitshallhaveoriginated,whoshallentertheobjectionsatlargeontheirjournal,andproceedtoreconsiderit.IfaftersuchreconsiderationtwothirdsofthatHouseshallagreetopassthebill,itshallbesent,togetherwiththeobjections,totheotherHouse,bywhichitshalllikewisebereconsidered,andifapprovedbytwothirdsofthatHouse,it
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