A Chinese Translation Of Chapters13,14and15of The American Jury System And A Commentary On The Translation

The American Jury System by Randolph N. Jonakait is considered as a good work to popularize the knowledge of the jury system. It gives a systematic description of the history, the mechanism, etc. of the jury system. A translation of the book can provide a reference for China’s judicial reform. This thesis is a translating and analyzing program in which Chapters13,14and15of the book are translated and pre-translation preparation, adoption of new term translations as well as an analysis of the translating techniques are elaborated on. This thesis adopts such translations as“决认团”,“威定”,“邦”and“提示”initiated by Professor Hu Zhaoyun for "jury","verdict","state" and "instruction". After the translation, both lexical and syntactic techniques employed in the translation are illustrated with ample examples. The lexical techniques include addition, conversion of word class, collocation, negation and adoption of four-character phrases in Chinese translation, while the syntactic techniques include conversion of clauses and techniques used in translating long sentences and the passive voices. Techniques used in translating long sentences include linear translation, embedment of modifiers, reversion of the original order of clauses and insertion; techniques used in translating the passive include translation of the English passive into the Chinese passive, conversion of the English passive into the Chinese active and supplementation of words like "受" and "得到". With the analysis completed, the thesis concludes that difficulties in translating the book lie both in its professionalism and its complex expressions and sentences. To tackle these problems, the author is required to read works about the jury system to lay a knowledge foundation for the translating task and to read the original text carefully to obtain a thorough understanding of it. Meanwhile, a high language proficiency in both English and Chinese is essentially required in rendering idiomatic translation.