On E-C Translation Of Long Sentences In Legal Texts Against"Faithfulness, Expressiveness And Closeness"

As a kind of English for special purposes (ESP), legal English has both thefeatures of English and the language of law. Compared with other formal styles, thefrequent use of long and complicated sentences is believed to be the most notable oneof its unique characteristics. And it is required by the regulative, rigorous,authoritative feature of legal texts as well as the special purpose to adjust various legalrelationships between different individuals and organizations, thus it is of crucialsignificance for us to handle well the translation of long sentences in English legaltexts. As a critical part of legal translation and a new research area, the study in thevery field is presently still in its infancy stage in China. The theoretical system hasn’tbeen established and there is much room for improvement in terms of the translationquality. This thesis holds that the "Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Closeness" whichis generally adopted to instruct the literal translation can also be applied in the E-Ctranslation of long sentences in legal texts. Under this principle, division-thefundamental method for the translation of long legal sentences seeking for the goalsindicated in the principle is proposed combined with analysis of selected examplesfrom the author’s translation practice.The thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter is the introductory wordsintroducing the research background and explaining the guiding function of"faithfulness, expressiveness and closeness" to the practice of legal English translationto reveal the purpose and significance of this thesis. Apart from the foregoing points,the research methodology adopted is also presented. Chapter2mainly deals with theresearch achievement in the translation of long legal English sentences and relevanttheories and principles developed. In addition, it also briefly introduces the definitionand history of legal English as well as the development of the principle of "faithfulness,expressiveness and closeness". In the third chapter, analysis of reasons for the muchuse of long legal sentences is made and then it goes to classify the long legal Englishsentences into four types, which enables readers to acquire a basic and clearunderstanding of the long sentences in legal English texts. The core of this thesis liesin Chapter4where the translation method and relevant techniques used in long legalEnglish translation are proposed from the perspective of "faithfulness, expressivenessand closeness" as the theoretical support of the thesis， and "division" is consideredby the author as the most applicable means, of which steps involved are as follows: firstly conduct a grammatical analysis of the whole sentence and find out the logicrelationship of and between the main clause and various qualifications to get a correctand general understanding of the original text, then divide the sentences intodifferent units complete in grammar level with notable conjunctions as the dividingindicators, and on the basis of "being faithful to the original" as required by the natureof legal texts we come to translate the divided parts; thirdly in line with Chinese modeof expression, we continue to rearrange the translated parts into a complete sentence intarget language expressively; and the last step is to perfect the translation and checkwhether it is in accordance with the language environment of Chinese legal language,including using the same terminology throughout the translation, words used beingsolemn and rigorous, etc. All in all, this check is to ensure that the translation shall beclose to the stylistic features of the original as much as possible.