A Practice Report Of E-C Translation Of The U.S "Section 301" And The Related Presidential Memorandum

As much attention by the whole world has been paid to the trade friction between China and the United States,“Section 301” and a “Presidential Memorandum” are selected as translation practice materials in order to provide reference for those who are concerned about the legal issues represented in the China-U.S.trade war.The source texts contain two parts.One is all the texts of sections from 301 to 310 of the Trade Act of 1974,which authorizes the United States Trade Representative to initiate investigations into allegedly unreasonable or unfair trade practices of other countries,consult with the countries concerned and decide whether to impose sanctions against them;the other is a “Presidential Memorandum” targeting China signed by U.S.President Donald Trump on August 14,2017 to formally launch the “Section 301Investigation” against China.The goal of legal translation guided by Susan ?ar?evi?’s theory of legal translation requires translators to produce texts with the same normative strength as other parallel texts.Although this view is mainly aimed at parallel legal texts,non-parallel legal texts with high authority as the source text are also applicable if the goal is further focused on language expression.In other words,it is necessary to not only accurately grasp the meaning of the text,but also understand the effect of the texts in legal translation.While the language of the original text is professional,formal,normative and logically relevant,the six principles proposed by Professor Li Kexing are chosen,which are of practical guiding significance to the legal translation.In the course of this translation,six problems are mainly solved,including the translation of legal terms,old and Middle English,commonly used sentences,passive voice and long sentences,and the achievement of the overall effect of the legal texts.The main translation method used by translators is literal translation and translation techniques which include amplification,omission,division,reversion and sentence adjustment are also applied in the practice of this translation.In the translation of legalterm,most equivalent words are chosen after understanding the literal meaning and the deep meaning of both English and Chinese legal terms.For the Old and Middle English formed by the combination of prepositions and “there”,“where” or “here”,the complex structure within the word is analyzed and after understanding the specific context,concise and solemn words are selected for translation.In the face of passive sentences,the active voice of omission subject or active sentences to express passive meaning are used.At the same time,the translator pays special attention to the accuracy of words and the logic and consistency of the translation,so as to reflect the original writing intention of the source text to the full and the formal,rigorous and solemn style of legal texts.