A Comparative Study Of The Chinese Translations Of The Manila Amendments To STCW Convention And Code In The Mainland And Taiwan

The Manila Amendments to STCW Convention and Code is a milestone in the development of STCW Convention by making important additions and modifications which keep the convention abreast with the new era. To achieve timely and effective implementation nationwide of those updated requirements is of great significance to shipping regulation, ocean environment, seafarers’life quality and any other person on board. Therefore, it is indispensible to produce a Chinese translation of the Amendments to allow the common people to get access to them either for reference or for research.There is no doubt that the Mainland and Taiwan belong to one China, yet there exist differences between them in many walks of life due to historical complications. Aiming at different target readers in different situational backgrounds of the two parts, the Mainland and Taiwan both turn out their respective Chinese translations of the Manila Amendments so as to fulfill a best understanding in the applicable areas.This paper tries to make a comparative study of the two Chinese translations (MT and TT) from both a macro-perspective and a micro-perspective. By applying Functionalism into legal translation studies, a systematic analysis is made about how the two translations comply with representative Functionalist translation theories in a top-down way. And from perspective of language and subculture, detailed translation language in the two translations is observed and typical parallel examples are extracted for comparison, which are then built into a systematic comparison framework in a bottom-up way. It is obtained from the research that both MT and TT manage to comply with the functionalist translation theories generally, but meanwhile due attention is still needed to be paid to the consistency and accuracy in translating. And under subcultural influences, differences between MT and TT in writing features and at lexical level are studied with similarities as the basis.This research initiates a new angle in IMC studies by integrating culture, translation study and linguistic study together and will also contribute to the further improvement in STCW translation as well as the communication in the maritime field between the two sides of the strait.