Tentative Approach To The Application Of "Shall" In C-E Legal Translation

At present, a large number of scholars mainly focus their C-E legal translation researches on the translation at the lexical and syntactical level and attach great importance to legal concepts but ignore the translation skills for some modal verbs with regulative functions such as"ying dang","ke yi"or"bu de". Furthermore, some existing researches on them are not very systematic and detailed; therefore, it is inevitable that there remains the in-equivalence in legal translation. Accordingly, the author tries to discuss the application of"Shall"from the perspective of"ying dang"Linguistics is indispensable in translation studies. Translation experts have acquired great achievements by use of linguistic theories. Wherein, the Illocutionary Act Theory by John Langshaw Austin is widely used as well. He holds that there are three senses in which saying something may be understood as doing something, namely, locutioary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act. Therefore,"Shall"must be featured with the three acts.Under these circumstances, the Illocutionary Act Theory is introduced to study the application of"Shall"in C-E legal translation from the perspectives of both the legislative purpose and actual effects. It is clear that the appearance of"Shall"must be purposely formed to achieve a certain visual and psychological presuppositions in the general public, so that the imperative mood of legal language is declared publicly; consequently, the original legislative purpose is realized, by which the validity and enforcement of law is promoted. In view of the above, the author exerts to make a deeper insight into the rights, obligations and the spirit of law radiating from"Shall", and tentatively explores some basic methods and practical principles guiding legal translators from the micro angle.This thesis is structured as follows: Chapter One mainly introduces the significance of this study and its layout. Chapter Two exerts to elaborate the differences between the language of legal science and legal language. Then, the author comments the limitations of general translation theories on translating"Shall". Then the Illocutionary Act Theory by Austin is introduced to delve into the acts of"Shall", and analyze its connotation and significance in legal language. Chapter Three firstly discuses the relationship among"Shall", the public law, the private law, mood,modality, rights and obligations, followed by an analysis of their practical application in C-E legal translation. In Chapter four, the author tentatively explores four principles for translating"Shall", which are principle of economy, principle of precision, principle of dynamic-equivalence and principle of consistency. Then, some examples are used to illustrate how to apply those principles to practical translation of"Shall". Chapter Five presents a summary of the thesis. It is concluded that though"Shall"is the major consideration in this thesis, and this thesis icebergs one minor finding in the large and complicated legal translation system, the translation methods and principles mentioned in the thesis are the effective supplement to the whole legal translation system.