A Report On The E-C Translation Of Employment Law In A Nutshell (Excerpts Of Chapter One And Chapter Two)

This paper is a practical report based on an excerpt from a book entitled Employment Law in a Nutshell by Robert N.Covington,Professor of Law Emeritus at Vanderbilt University,and Joseph Seiner,Professor of Law at the University of South Carolina.The first two chapters of the book are selected for this translation project,which concerns the development of American employment law and the formation and termination of the employment relationship.This translation practice aims to provide readers with the relevant legal knowledge,make them appreciate the accuracy and clarity of the legal language,as well as learn some translation skills that will broaden their horizons and improve their bilingual conversion skills.There are a large number of legal terminology,actual precedents,and relatively complex and lengthy sentences in the book,which makes it more difficult to translate.To address the major difficulties,the translator makes specific analysis at the lexical,syntactic and discourse levels,and chooses Professor Zhang Falian’s four basic principles of legal text translation as the guiding theory.The translation is faithful to the original text and strives to be accurate,fluent and easy to understand.In addition,the translator has also used some translation strategies such as lexical conversion,addition and omission,and order adjustment to make the translation more precise.Through this translation practice,the translator is deeply aware that in order to translate legal texts well,the following translation skills and qualities are required:firstly,the translator should have solid language skills and excellent conversion ability.Secondly,a certain degree of legal background knowledge is essential.Thirdly,we must pay attention to the legal text’s regularity and rigour,and use standardized legal language to pursue plain and accurate representation.Finally,the translator hopes that this translation practice can not only exercise and improve her translation skills,but also provide some help and reference for future legal translation learners.