On Normalization Of Translating Legislative Texts

With the globalization of economy, China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and its increasing cultural, economic, political communication with other countries, legal translation has become increasingly important and useful, among which translating legislative texts is of great significance as it demonstrates the status quo of the construction of China’s legal system and the international image of China. Besides, translating legislative texts, as an inevitable requirement of China’s opening-up policy, is also the commitment made by China to WTO. Last but not the least; it is an effective means of enhancing the transparency of Chinese legislation, accordingly attracting an increasing number of foreign investments, thus promoting the economic development in China. Although translating legislative texts in Chinese mainland has made great progress during these years, it is still at the stage of development, far from normalization. Thus, the author decides to investigate the normalization of legislative text translating in Chinese mainland, with the purpose of enhancing its normalization of translating legislative texts.The thesis mainly consists of five parts. The first part is a brief introduction of the thesis, including research background, research rationales, research questions, research methods and thesis structure. In the second part, a literature review of previous studies on normalization is first introduced, and then definition of normalization in the context of translating legislative texts is given. Besides, previous studies on normalization of translating legislative texts are discussed. The third part concentrates on normalization of translating legislative texts outside Chinese mainland from the perspectives of translation policy and translation mechanism. Successful experience of other countries, regions and organizations from the above two aspects is demonstrated. In the fourth part, current situation of normalization of translating legislative texts in Chinese mainland is introduced from perspectives of translation policy and translation mechanism. And then on the basis of the current situation of Chinese mainland and successful practices outside Chinese mainland, suggestions for enhancing normalization of translating legislative texts in Chinese mainland are proposed, including strengthening translation policy construction, establishing systematic translation mechanism, diversifying the publishing form of translated legislative texts. At last, major findings of the thesis are displayed. Moreover, limitations and prospects of the study are also discussed.