Translation Report For ENCJ Report On Independence And Accountability Of The Judiciary(2013-2014):The Translation Of Attributive Clauses

This is a report mainly focusing on E-C translation of attributive clauses in The Final Report of the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary's Project Group on the Independence and Accountability of the Judiciary. In translating this legal text, the author has encountered an enormous number of attributive clauses, which are generally of great length and are difficult to understand. Due to embedding rigid logic and structural complexity, attributive clauses cause a lot of trouble for effective translation, especially when they are processed inappropriately and are translated into lengthy and incomprehensible sentences, leading to impaired legal effect of the original legal text. Therefore, the study of how to deliver better Chinese translation of the attributive clauses in English legal texts, though considerably difficult, is of great significance.In this report, the author firstly categorizes attributive clauses in English legal texts and points out their key features respectively. Then the author makes a summary of the general translation methods of attributive clauses and proposes four particular translation methods for translating attributive clauses in legal texts, i.e., fronting, division, combination and conversion, which are proved by instances selected from the original text. Finally, the author summarizes the experience and lessons learned from this translation practice and presents the problems still to be solved as well.In conclusion, appropriate translation methods result in effective processing of the attributive clauses in English legal texts. They can make the translation meet the reading demand and aesthetic habits of the target readers as much as possible and improve legal validity of the translation.