The C-E Translation Of Legal Texts From The Perspective Of Text Typology

In the history of human civilization, legal translation, as a sort of special-purpose texts translation, can date back to the very ancient times, and it plays an essential role in the development of human civilization. In modern times, with the rapid development of science and technology, the tendency of globalization promotes the development of intercultural communication between different nations, from which it is unavoidable that some disputes and problems may arise. As one of the most efficient tools to solve these problems, law has been paid more and more attentions.For long, the translation of legal texts is divided from all the other forms of translation. Due to the large number of laws and regulations established by the nation, the expression forms of legal texts could be stable in somehow. Although the accumulation of experience is essential, for it can help us to find a sort of translation strategies of similar texts, the author holds that precise usage of text typology and proposed translation strategies also play decisive roles in the translation of legal texts.Text typology, an important breakthrough and a significant complement of the traditional translation"Equivalence Principle", is based on the divisions of text functions. After being introduced into China, it has received much attention from many Chinese translation researchers who then made extensive studies on it from various perspectives.This thesis approaches C-E translation and proper translation strategies of legal texts in the perspective of text types and typology. The author takes a general review of the status quo of the studies on legal texts and legal translation both in and outside of China, and points out the significance of text typology in legal texts. Then the author makes an introduction of text typology, such as the categorization of text types, different criteria adopted, the relevant viewpoints and translation strategies of some outstanding scholars in text typology, for instance, Reiss, Newmark, Snell-Hornby, and so on. Through the comments on the criteria of classic Chinese translation theories and western translation theories, the author puts out her own point of view on the translation principles of legal texts. In addition, the author states the essential elements which may affect the target texts, such as the linguistic differences between Chinese and English, the stylistic, lexical and syntactic characteristics of legal texts, and finds out the relevant translation strategies proposed for the translation of legal texts. The author finally proposes to apply the typological analysis to the translation of legal texts which is both an interlingual and cross-legal-system operation per se.