汉英法律术语译文与法律概念不对应问题研究  

On Problems of Non-Correspondence Between Renditions of Legal Terms and Their Legal Concepts in C-E Translation

作　　者：刘法公 Liu Fagong

机构地区：[1]浙江海洋大学外国语学院,316022

出　　处：《中国ESP研究》2022年第3期29-38,114,115,共12页Chinese Journal of ESP

摘　　要：中英文法律概念的对应一致,是法律汉英翻译信息精准传递的基本要求。原文法律概念与译文传递概念不一致,不但会导致法律解读和适用的偏差、法律判定失误,而且还会造成对我国法律国际传播的歪曲。本文阐述当前我国法律汉英译文中的两个典型问题:(1)汉语法律术语与英语译文的法律概念脱节,信息不对应;(2)法律名称翻译中逢“法”必“law”的用词倾向,与英语国家对应法律名称用词不通约。本文就两个问题提出汉英法律翻译原则:(1)使用译入语中能与译文受众的意象概念对应的固有术语,以此实现法律术语与法律概念的精准对应;(2)参照英语国家法律名称用词和句法,英译我国法律名称中的“法”字,以顺应英语受众思维中已有的法律文件名称用词和内涵概念。运用这两个原则能够有效解决上述两个问题。Correspondence between Chinese and English legal concepts is a basic requirement of accurate information transmission in C-E legal translation.Non-correspondence between original legal concepts and translated terms may lead to different understanding and application of laws,wrong legal judgments,and therefore result in distorted international communication of China’s laws.This paper illustrates two typical problems in current C-E translations of China’s laws:(1)Chinese legal terms are disconnected from the legal concepts of their English translations,causing information inconsistencies;(2)The Chinese word“fa(法)”is often translated into“law”which,in many cases,is not commensurable with the words used in the names of those laws in English-speaking countries.To solve the two problems,this paper proposes two corresponding translation principles:(1)Use fixed legal terms with legal concepts corresponding with those in translated versions for the target audience,so as to realize the corresponding connection between legal terms and legal concepts;(2)Translate“fa(法)”in China’s law names into different terms by referring to what English-speaking countries are using in the names of their corresponding laws,in order to connect the existing legal documents in the mind of English-speaking readers.These two principles hopefully will guide us to solve the two problems in translating China’s laws.

关 键 词：法律汉英翻译 法律术语 法律概念 不对应问题 

分 类 号：H31[语言文字—英语]