A Report On The Translation Of Criminal Trials And Mental Disorders(Chapter One)

With the development of the society,people’s awareness of health is gradually strengthened,and more attentions are paid to mental health as serious mental health problems can result in mental disorders,leading to violation of the Criminal Law.The source text of this translation practice is selected from the first chapter of Criminal Trial and Mental Disorders written by Thomas L.Hafemeister.This chapter introduces the background information related to mental disorders,including the types and characteristics of mental disorders,their impacts on human functions,and the status of people with mental disorders in the American criminal justice system.It also analyzes various myths of mental disorders,summarizes different models of comprehension,explanation and solutions on mental disorders,and discusses the diagnoses and identifications of mental disorders.The book provides referential information for criminal trials involving defendants with mental disorders in China,and readers who are interested in psychiatry and criminal trials can learn a lot from this book.In terms of text type,the source text falls into a combination of informative and operative.It is analyzed from three aspects,namely lexical,syntactical and textual.According to Katharina Reiss’ s theory of Text Typology,the author holds that the translation should convey the information of the original text accurately,and render it in conform with the expression the target readers are accustomed to so that they can understand the meaning transferred.In this project,three difficulties have to be coped with by the author.First,it takes a lot of time to find parallel texts and relevant background knowledge while many professional terms in psychiatry are used in the text.And some of them may even have no available translation for reference.Second,it is difficult to understand the text as long and complex sentences are frequently applied,and it is hard to provide a natural translation with numerous information.Under the guidance of Reiss’ theory,the author applies appropriate translation strategies and employs multiple translation skills according to the context to process the translated text.In the case analysis,the translator illustrates examples from lexical,syntactic and textual levels.At the lexical level,polysemous words,words with extended meaning and nominalizations are mentioned.At the syntactic level,elliptical sentences and long difficult sentences are covered.At the textual level,reference and substitution in grammatical cohesion,as well as repetition in lexical cohesion are described.As this translation practice is completed,the author realizes that a good translator should not only have solid professional knowledge,but also have an understanding of knowledge in various fields.Accumulation is the key to a better translation and an important requirement of a good translator.The author hopes that this translation report will be of some value to the translation of criminal trials related to people with mental disorders in the future,and will provide some help and inspiration for domestic researchers in this field.