A Report On The Chinese Translation Of Elements Of International Law (Excerpts)

The text of this report is selected from the second chapter of Part Three and the first chapter of Part Four of the Elements of International Law.This work is written by Henry Wheaton who is an American jurist.Published in 1836,this work mainly describes the framework system,content,terminologies and institutional principles of western international law.At present,the earliest Chinese version was completed by the American missionary William Alexander Parsons Martin in the Qing Dynasty.Although there is a Qing Dynasty version,it is not a complete translation and it is written in classical Chinese.Thus,it is of great significance to translate this work in vernacular writing.The translator translated the materials and made this report.The report is divided into five parts: introduction,translation process,theoretical framework,case analysis and the summary of translation report.The first chapter makes a brief introduction of this project and the structure of the report.The second chapter gives an account of the whole process of translation,including preparation before translation,planning during translation and revising after translation.The third chapter briefly analyzes Li Changshuan’s framework—“Comprehension,Expression and Adaptation”.The fourth chapter analyzes the lexicon and syntax of the translation materials based on Li Changshuan’s theoretical framework.At the lexical level,the translator focuses on legal terminologies,loanwords,proper nouns and nominalization,describing the specialization and preciseness of legal words.At the syntactic level,the translator focuses on adverbial clauses of time,passive sentences and long andcomplex sentences,analyzing how to deal with special sentence patterns in legal texts,so as to accurately express the original information.The fifth chapter summarizes this translation report,including the enlightenment,limitations and improvements of the translation.This translation practice belongs to the legal text and involves a lot of background knowledge.All of this make translation process more difficult.Therefore,strengthening the accumulation of legal knowledge and strengthening the foundation of legal translation play an important role in legal translation.In this translation report,the translator summarizes the translation strategies and methods of international law,in the hope of providing experience for future translation work,and providing reference for legal researchers.