A Tentative Study On The Translation Of Contract Texts From Chinese To English

After China’s access to WTO, the communication between China and othercountries is becoming more and more frequent. As a result, translation is playing amore significant role, which is especially apparent in cultural exchanges betweenChina and other countries. With the development of industry, the environment isdeteriorating and environmental problems are worsening in some areas. Therefore,people are paying more attention to the protection and treatment of environment. Onthe basis of natural protection, developing and utilizing natural resources effectivelyand rationally is very important，especially the geological resources. Thus geoparksare set up.“World Cultural and Natural Heritage Protection Convention” was passedby UNESCO in Paris in1972. This can lead countries to put the places that are neededto be protected to the “list of world heritage”. By doing so, all people around theworld will protect the resources together. In2004, China’s geoparks were listed in theGNN for the first time by UNESCO.The reference translation materials about geoparks are very limited. Thistranslation report is written on the basis of translating some parts of “Application forMembership of Global Geoparks Network of Dali Cangshan Mountain GlobalGeopark”. In order to improve the quality of the translation, the translator first learnedthe professional knowledge about geography. On the basis of this translation, atentative study is made on the characteristics and translation process of contract textswhich include the texts like the application for membership of global geoparksnetwork.This report is divided into four parts. The first part is the description oftranslation task, which includes a brief introduction of the background of thetranslation, requirements of the task and nature of the translation task etc. The secondpart is the description of the process of the translation, which includes preparation,translation process and post-translation introduction. In this part, it is stated throughtechnical procedures and organizational procedures. Meanwhile, the study for theprofessional knowledge and the referring of professional terms are conducted during this process. The third part is the core of the entire report. The three maincharacteristics of contract texts, which include logic, authenticity and normalization,are discussed with examples from the translation. During the discussion of the threecharacteristics, Narration, Description, Officialese and Contract should bedistinguished. Next, the writer analyses the reasons which lead to the mistakes oftranslation of contract texts, such as the lack of professional knowledge, backgroundinformation and different thinking models between Chinese and Western people. Thentranslation strategies of contract texts are put forward. The fourth part is thegeneralization of the translation and problems to be solved in the future andinspiration from the study. Translating contract texts is not an easy job and translatingthe application for the global geoparks is even harder. Therefore the limitation of thestudy and problems to be solved in the future are also put forward at the end of thereport.