A Stylistic Approach to EC Translation of Contracts.docx
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A Stylistic Approach to EC Translation of Contracts.docx
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AStylisticApproachtoECTranslationofContracts
AStylisticApproachtoE―CTranslationofContracts
摘要:
ThisthesisattemptstosolvecertainissuesinvolvedinE-Ctranslationofcontractsfromastylisticperspectiveatthelexicallevel.ThroughacomparisonoftwopairsofEnglishandChinesecontracts,certainlexicalsimilaritiesanddifferencesarediscovered.Basedonthesefeatures,relevanttranslationtechniquesareapproached.
关键词:
contractEnglish;Englishcontract;lexicalfeatures
中图分类号:
H31文献标识码:
A文章编号:
1009-0118(2011)-07-0-02
1.Introduction
Intranslationpractice,itisrecognizedthatthestyleofthelanguagemustbetakenintoaccountforanaccurateandidiomatictranslation,especiallyinthetranslationofcontracts.SometranslatorsignoreortakeforgrantedcertainstylisticsimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenEnglishandChinesecontractsandhenceunabletorendertheminthetargetlanguage.
Thesignificanceofthestudyliesinboththetheoryandpractice.Contracts,asasub-varietyofthelanguageoflaw,haveitsownstylisticfeaturesinEnglishaswellasinChinese.Itisthesefeaturesthatdistinguishcontractsfromothervarietiesorsub-varieties.LordMansfield,oneofthemostfamousEnglishjudges,onceobservedthat“mostofthedisputesintheworldarisefromwords”.Hetoldusthesignificanceoflexicon.Onlyunderthisprerequisite,cantranslatorsobtainaccuraterenditioninproperstyle.Therefore,itisofgreatimportancetoviewE-Ctranslationofcontractsfromastylisticperspective,especiallythelexicallevel.
2.AnalysesofEnglishandChineseContracts
Inthispaper,fourcontracts,twoinEnglishandtwoinChinese,willbeanalyzedtodemonstratethestylisticsimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenthetwolanguagesofcontracts,comparisonconstitutesamajormethodadoptedinthisthesis.
Thesefourcontractsareratherlong.ElandE2arecomposedof39and28sentenceswith2,288and1,175wordsused.C1andC2consistof25and17sentenceswhile2,998and1,227wordsareemployedrespectively.Mostofthesentencesarequitelongwithsubordinateclauses.Duetotheirlengths,fulltextsarenotprovidedinthepaper.Forconvenientreference,thetwoEnglishcontractsaremarkedasElandE2whilethetwoChineseonesC1andC2.Intermsofsituationalfactors,E1isawritten,formal,legallybindingdocumentwithitsspecificfieldontechnologytransfer,whileE2concernsequipmentleasing.AstotheChineseones,C1pertainstomortgageloanswhileC2involvesexclusivesales.
3.TheLexicalFeaturesofContractEnglish
3.1.TechnicalWords
IntheEnglishcontracts,itisnaturalthattechnicalwordscanbediscoveredsincecontractscaninvolveeveryspecializedfieldinwhichcertaintechnicaltermshavetobeused.Forinstance,inElandE2,termssuchastechnologytransfer,descriptionsofmanufacturing,billsofmaterials,letterofguarantee,industrialpropertyrights,know-how,specifications,arequitetechnicalinthespecificfields.Inaddition,termssuchasarbitration,forcemajeure,andarbitrationawardarealsofairlyspecializedlegalterms.InC1andC2,technicaltermsalsoenjoyfrequentoccurrences.Termssuchas抵押房产、第一优先抵押权、授权、按揭、权益、转口arehighlytechnical.Therefore,itcanbeconcludedthatinEnglishandChinesecontracts,theuseoftechnicaltermsisquitecommon.
3.2.FormalWords
Inadditiontotheuseoftechnicalwords,formalwordsarealsofrequentlyemployedinbothEnglishandChinesecontracts.InE1andE2,wordsandphrasessuchassubstantial,confidential,purchase,insufficient,penalty,stipulate,authorizedvia,whichareofFrenchorLatinateoriginandquiteformal,canbeeasilyrecognized.InC1andC2,therearesimilaroccurrences.Forinstance,formalwordssuchas该、予、经、特、应、如、或arepreferredtotheircolloquialuse,sinceinChinese,single-charactertermsaregenerallymoreformalthanthosecomposedoftwoormorecharacters(张中行,1988:
21).LikethetechnicalwordsemployedinC1andC2,theyaremostlyfunctional,too.
3.3.ArchaicWords
Besidestechnicalandformalwords,inEnglishcontracts,certainwordsareespeciallyeye-catchingsuchaswitnessethinEl,whichisratherarchaicandlessfrequentlyusedinModernEnglish.Infact,fewusethiswordindailylife,andtoanEnglishlearner,thiswordlookssoodd.However,draftersofcontracttendtochoosethiswordasatradition,althoughitsalternativewitnessescanperformexactlythesamefunction.Inaddition,wordssuchasherein,hereof,hereby,hereto,whichhavealonghistory,arefrequentlyusedinthetwoEnglishcontracts.Thesewordsareratherarchaic.Inaddition,theyaremostlyadverbs.InEl,adverbsareusedfor37times,while25timestheyoccurintheformlikehereinorhereof.InE2,adverbsareemployed10timeswith7oftheminsuchaform.Thisfrequentuseofarchaicwordsrendersthetextsratherformal.Therefore,itisjustifiedtostatethatinEnglishcontracts,archaicwordsareoftenemployedtocomplementtheformalityofthissub-variety.ThisconstitutesadistinctfeatureoftheEnglishlanguageofcontracts.
InChinesecontracts,asimilarphenomenonoccurs,thoughthearchaicwordsaredifficulttospotatthefirstsight.Formally,thesewordsdonotmanifestanyodditiesliketheEnglishwordwitnesseth,andsometimespeopleforgetthattheyarethewordsthatwerefrequentlyutilizedinancientChineseclassics,sincenowadaystheyarestilloftenemployedinhighlyformalvarieties.However,theycanberegardedasanequivalentuseofarchaicwordsinEnglishcontractsaswell.Forexample,certainChinesewordssuchas亦、若、倘、惟、概,whichareancientexpressions(刘宓庆,1985:
562),areoftenusedinChinesecontracts.TheseancientwordsaregenerallyfunctionalonesinChinese.InC1andC2,suchwordsarerecurrentlyemployed.InCI,theabove-mentionedancientChinesewordsoccur15timeswhileintotalthereare47functionalwords.InC2,functionalwordsareused25times,7ofwhichare若and亦.ThisshowsthatChinesecontractstendtouseancientfunctionalwords,whichareequivalenttotheuseofarchaicwordsinEnglishcontracts,tohighlightitsformalstyle.
3.4.Coordination
AnotherfeatureofEnglishcontractsatthelexicallevelisthecoordinationofsynonymsornear-synonyms.InElandE2,suchcoordinationisapparent,suchassoleandexclusive,nullandvoid,termsandconditions,transfersandgrants,differencesanddisputes,fulfillandperform.However,inC1andC2,similarcoordinationcannotbediscernedasforthesakeofconciseness,synonymsarerarelyusedinChinesecontracts.
4.TranslationTechniques
4.1.StandardsforaGoodTranslationofContracts
Contractsinessencestipulatetheconferringofrightsandtheimpositionofobligations.Therefore,thefundamentalandforemostfeatureofthelanguageofcontractsisprecisionandexactness.ThusinE-Ctranslationofcontracts,theChineserenditionshouldbeveryfaithfulwithoutdistortingorchangingtheoriginalintention.Otherwise,misinterpretationorevenlegalconsequencesmayoccur(陈忠诚,1992:
16).Inshort,agoodChineserenditionofanEnglishcontractmustbe,ontheonehand,veryfaithfultotheoriginalwithoutanydistortionoftheintention.Ontheotherhand,itshouldconformtothenormsofChinesecontractssoastoensureitsclarityandreadability.Tothisend,translatorsofcontractsarerequiredtoobtaincertaintranslationtechniques.
4.2.TranslationTechniques---attheLexicalLevel
Atthislevel,ithasbeenfoundinthepreviousanalysesthatbothEnglishandChinesecontractscontaintheuseofarchaicwordsorexpressions,whichaddatouchofformalitytotheentirestyle.Therefore,intheprocessofE-Ctranslationofcontracts,suchasimilaritymustbehighlighted.Sometimes,intranslatingthearchaicwordsintheoriginaltext,translatorscannotfindequivalentarchaicexpressionsinChinese.Onsuchoccasions,translatorscanuseformalexpressionstorenderthearchaicwordsinthesourcetextortheycanutilizecertainancientChineseexpressionsinappropriateplacestodemonstratetheformalstyle,evenifarchaicwordsarenotusedinthecorrespondingpositionsintheoriginal.
Actually,draftsmenofChinesecontractsoftenutilizethefollowingexpressionssuchas亦、即、兹、并、于、为、之、未、均,whichenjoyedaveryhighfrequencyinancientChinesewritings,tomanifesttheformalityandsolemnityofcontracts.Therefore,translatorshadbetteremploytheseancientorformalwordstomaketheirChineserenditionformal,solemnandconcise.
IntranslatingtechnicaltermsinEnglishcontracts,translatorsmustmakesuretheChineserenditionisalsotechnical.Inthisregard,itwillnotconstituteamajorprobleminE-Ctranslationofcontractsaslongastranslatorsrefertoreliablesources.
AnotherissueinvolvedinE-Ctranslationofcontractsatthelexicallevelishowtorenderthecoordinationofsynonymornearsynonym.TranslatorsshouldkeepinmindthattheChineselanguageofcontractsispreciseaswellasconcise,andoneconceptisclearlyexpressedbyasinglewordorterm.ThusitiscommonpracticetouseonesingleterminChinesetoreproducetheconceptexpressedbythecoordinationofsynonymsornearsynonymsintheoriginal.Takethefollowingtranslationasanexample:
O:
Subjecttotheconditionshereinaftersetforth,PartyAwillindemnifyandprotectPartyBagainstanylossesordamages.
T:
在下述情况下,甲方将保护乙方不受任何损失。
IntheEnglishsentence,therearetwoexamplesofthecoordinationofsynonymsornearsynonyms,whichareindemnifyandprotectandlossesordamages.However,intheChi
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