A Study Of The Translation Of English Legal Terms From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

The present study draws on Sperber& Wilson's Relevance Theory and Gutt's conceptualization of a relevance-theoretic approach to translation studies and purports to investigate the process of legal terms translation. It aims to identify the main factors in the translation process to account for the inconsistency in legal terms translation and how they exert the impact on the translating process.Following Relevance Theory, the present thesis treats the translation of legal terms as a double ostensive-inferential dynamic process, during which the legal translator is presumed to strive for optimal relevance.The translator's utmost objective is to transfer the optimal relevance to the receivers of the target language while the latter need only the minimum effort.Inconsistency often occurs to the translations of a legal term.In the thesis,the writer identify several factors thereof that might influence the final translations:the indefiniteness of legal concept,the context,the translator's assessment of the target readership's cognitive environment, the language competence,the expertise of the two laws and the understanding of two different legal cultures. In applying these factors to the explanation of two English versions of legal terms in the Contract Law, it is further established that legal concept tends to be the leading factor in translating specified legal texts.The present study may help engender an evaluation mechanism to compare the discrepancies between the different versions of the same legal instrument. It may also help to gain deep insight into the training of the legal translator.