Skopostheory Approaches To Legal Translation

Legal translation has a history as long as that of translation. However, the history of legal translation theory is comparatively shorter. With the development of legal translation practice, its theory keeps developing. Meanwhile there is a shift from linguistics- based equivalence to multidisciplinary equivalence.This thesis is guided by Skopostheory, exploring the principles and strategies of legal translation. The author deems that the legal translation based on Skopostheory approaches is practical and feasible.Skopostheory contains three principles: skopos principle, intra-textual principle and inter-textual principle. And this theory holds the view that any translatorial action is purposeful, In order to achieve the purpose, the translator should be creative and decisive to produce the "translatum" of the target culture. However, the freedom of the translator is not unlimited and he/she must abide by the rule of fidelity, that is, he/she must be loyal to the initiators, target text receivers and the source text producers. Through the action of the translator, he/she must produce communicative and cross-cultural target text. In fact, the balanced point between inter-textual coherence and intra-textual coherence lies in adequate translation, which can solve such burning issues as literal vs. meaning, TT vs. ST etc. As a result, there remains an objective criterion, which is significant both practically and theoretically. The Skopos of translation determines the methods and strategies and a good translatum must be communicative and received by the TT readers.