Application Of Logical Thinking To E-C Legal Translation

In such an epoch when economic globalization becomes a trend,legal translation is viewed as one of the most significant factors thatmotivated the progress of our country. With the development andadvancement of society, the need for legal translation has topped itshistory. However, compared with the immense quantity of legaltranslations produced daily, the literature on legal translation is scantyindeed. Meanwhile, as a special variety of English, legal English is moretypical of logicality than literary language. So in legal English translation,the translator is required to mainly adopt the logical thinking. Logic, as ascience to study the rules, forms and methods of thinking, monitors thewhole process of translation. Thus under the guidance of logical thinking,the development of legal translation theory and practice will bestimulated. Furthermore, the successful utility of logical thinking willimprove the quality of translation. Starting with the analysis of thecharacteristics of legal English, the author tries to probe into the study oflogical thinking in translating legal language from English to Chinese(hereafter referred as E-C).Firstly, the author gives a definition to legal English and describes its major characteristics from lexical level, syntactical level and textual level, then introduces the previous study of legal translation in the West and in China, and finally, explores the inadequacy of legal translation study.Secondly, the thesis centers on the significance of logical thinking in legal translation. In this part, the author introduces the definition and characteristics of logical thinking and points out that logical thinking is the main pattern of translating thought. And after analyzing some common logical errors in legal English translation and difficulties such as fuzziness and cultural differences existing in legal translation, the author comes to the conclusion that logical thinking is a necessity in legal English translation.Thirdly, the thesis focuses on the concrete application of logical thinking in E-C legal translation from two aspects: one is the application of formal logic and the other is the application of specialty logic. From the perspective of formal logic, the author analyzes the importance of accurate concept, correct judgment and appropriate inference in legal English translation. As for specialty logic, its essential role in legal English translation for faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance is also discussed.Finally, some implications are extracted from the effective use of logical thinking in legal English translation. Appropriate application of logical thinking will undoubtedly avoid logical mistakes and settle some translation difficulties so as to achieve a higher quality of translated version. Moreover, higher requirements are set forth for legal translator, i.e. cultivation of logic sense, mastery of English and Chinese and familiarization of legal knowledge.