Application Of Parallel Texts In E-C Translation Of Legal Documents

University statute is the basic document to guarantee the autorhythmicity of the university. It is of great importance to the improvement of the academic level and administration level in Chinese universities to study the university statutes abroad to improve and develop the university statutes in China. University statute belongs to the legislative language, for it is categorized into the genre of the legislation. Most studies on the university statutes abroad conducted by experts and scholars in China focus on the legislation contents, instead of the linguistic features.Under the theoretical guidance of the application of parallel texts in E-C translation of legal documents, this thesis conducts the study of university statutes translation from the linguistic perspective. By analyzing the definition and selection of the parallel text, the linguistic features and translation principles, this thesis explores how to choose the parallel text and how to utilize the parallel text to translate the same type of legal documents as university statutes from English to Chinese.After concluding the linguistic features of the legal text, this thesis mainly focuses on the analyzing of the vocabulary and the sentence structure as are typical in university statute. The legal English vocabularies feature continuity, normativity and conservation. Therefore it is proper to apply parallel terminologies during the translation of legal text. The target text should be identical or similar to the original text on layout, linguistic features, subject and stylistic function. Through a case study based on The Yale Corporation By-laws and The University of Hong Kong Ordinance, this thesis holds the view that the functions of the parallel text applied in E-C translation of legal documents mainly are:through reading the parallel text to gain a general idea of the subject and select the useful information; through confirming the terminologies to apply the proper nouns, judicature phrases and vocabulary of archaic register; and through intimating the sentence structures to polish the translations. What is more, any translation theories, methodologies or principles applied during the translating process are flexible and are often adjusted according to the actual demand.