A Stylistic Approach to EC Translation of Contracts.docx

A Stylistic Approach to EC Translation of Contracts.docx

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AStylisticApproachtoECTranslationofContracts

AStylisticApproachtoE―CTranslationofContracts

　　摘要：

ThisthesisattemptstosolvecertainissuesinvolvedinE-Ctranslationofcontractsfromastylisticperspectiveatthelexicallevel.ThroughacomparisonoftwopairsofEnglishandChinesecontracts,certainlexicalsimilaritiesanddifferencesarediscovered.Basedonthesefeatures,relevanttranslationtechniquesareapproached.

　　关键词：

contractEnglish;Englishcontract;lexicalfeatures

　　中图分类号：

H31文献标识码：

A文章编号：

1009-0118（2011）-07-0-02

　　1.Introduction

　　Intranslationpractice,itisrecognizedthatthestyleofthelanguagemustbetakenintoaccountforanaccurateandidiomatictranslation,especiallyinthetranslationofcontracts.SometranslatorsignoreortakeforgrantedcertainstylisticsimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenEnglishandChinesecontractsandhenceunabletorendertheminthetargetlanguage.

　　Thesignificanceofthestudyliesinboththetheoryandpractice.Contracts,asasub-varietyofthelanguageoflaw,haveitsownstylisticfeaturesinEnglishaswellasinChinese.Itisthesefeaturesthatdistinguishcontractsfromothervarietiesorsub-varieties.LordMansfield,oneofthemostfamousEnglishjudges,onceobservedthat“mostofthedisputesintheworldarisefromwords”.Hetoldusthesignificanceoflexicon.Onlyunderthisprerequisite,cantranslatorsobtainaccuraterenditioninproperstyle.Therefore,itisofgreatimportancetoviewE-Ctranslationofcontractsfromastylisticperspective,especiallythelexicallevel.

　　2.AnalysesofEnglishandChineseContracts

　　Inthispaper,fourcontracts,twoinEnglishandtwoinChinese,willbeanalyzedtodemonstratethestylisticsimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenthetwolanguagesofcontracts,comparisonconstitutesamajormethodadoptedinthisthesis.

　　Thesefourcontractsareratherlong.ElandE2arecomposedof39and28sentenceswith2,288and1,175wordsused.C1andC2consistof25and17sentenceswhile2,998and1,227wordsareemployedrespectively.Mostofthesentencesarequitelongwithsubordinateclauses.Duetotheirlengths,fulltextsarenotprovidedinthepaper.Forconvenientreference,thetwoEnglishcontractsaremarkedasElandE2whilethetwoChineseonesC1andC2.Intermsofsituationalfactors,E1isawritten,formal,legallybindingdocumentwithitsspecificfieldontechnologytransfer,whileE2concernsequipmentleasing.AstotheChineseones,C1pertainstomortgageloanswhileC2involvesexclusivesales.

　　3.TheLexicalFeaturesofContractEnglish

　　3.1.TechnicalWords

　　IntheEnglishcontracts,itisnaturalthattechnicalwordscanbediscoveredsincecontractscaninvolveeveryspecializedfieldinwhichcertaintechnicaltermshavetobeused.Forinstance,inElandE2,termssuchastechnologytransfer,descriptionsofmanufacturing,billsofmaterials,letterofguarantee,industrialpropertyrights,know-how,specifications,arequitetechnicalinthespecificfields.Inaddition,termssuchasarbitration,forcemajeure,andarbitrationawardarealsofairlyspecializedlegalterms.InC1andC2,technicaltermsalsoenjoyfrequentoccurrences.Termssuchas抵押房产、第一优先抵押权、授权、按揭、权益、转口arehighlytechnical.Therefore,itcanbeconcludedthatinEnglishandChinesecontracts,theuseoftechnicaltermsisquitecommon.

　　3.2.FormalWords

　　Inadditiontotheuseoftechnicalwords,formalwordsarealsofrequentlyemployedinbothEnglishandChinesecontracts.InE1andE2,wordsandphrasessuchassubstantial,confidential,purchase,insufficient,penalty,stipulate,authorizedvia,whichareofFrenchorLatinateoriginandquiteformal,canbeeasilyrecognized.InC1andC2,therearesimilaroccurrences.Forinstance,formalwordssuchas该、予、经、特、应、如、或arepreferredtotheircolloquialuse,sinceinChinese,single-charactertermsaregenerallymoreformalthanthosecomposedoftwoormorecharacters（张中行,1988:

21）.LikethetechnicalwordsemployedinC1andC2,theyaremostlyfunctional,too.

　　3.3.ArchaicWords

　　Besidestechnicalandformalwords,inEnglishcontracts,certainwordsareespeciallyeye-catchingsuchaswitnessethinEl,whichisratherarchaicandlessfrequentlyusedinModernEnglish.Infact,fewusethiswordindailylife,andtoanEnglishlearner,thiswordlookssoodd.However,draftersofcontracttendtochoosethiswordasatradition,althoughitsalternativewitnessescanperformexactlythesamefunction.Inaddition,wordssuchasherein,hereof,hereby,hereto,whichhavealonghistory,arefrequentlyusedinthetwoEnglishcontracts.Thesewordsareratherarchaic.Inaddition,theyaremostlyadverbs.InEl,adverbsareusedfor37times,while25timestheyoccurintheformlikehereinorhereof.InE2,adverbsareemployed10timeswith7oftheminsuchaform.Thisfrequentuseofarchaicwordsrendersthetextsratherformal.Therefore,itisjustifiedtostatethatinEnglishcontracts,archaicwordsareoftenemployedtocomplementtheformalityofthissub-variety.ThisconstitutesadistinctfeatureoftheEnglishlanguageofcontracts.

　　InChinesecontracts,asimilarphenomenonoccurs,thoughthearchaicwordsaredifficulttospotatthefirstsight.Formally,thesewordsdonotmanifestanyodditiesliketheEnglishwordwitnesseth,andsometimespeopleforgetthattheyarethewordsthatwerefrequentlyutilizedinancientChineseclassics,sincenowadaystheyarestilloftenemployedinhighlyformalvarieties.However,theycanberegardedasanequivalentuseofarchaicwordsinEnglishcontractsaswell.Forexample,certainChinesewordssuchas亦、若、倘、惟、概,whichareancientexpressions（刘宓庆,1985:

562）,areoftenusedinChinesecontracts.TheseancientwordsaregenerallyfunctionalonesinChinese.InC1andC2,suchwordsarerecurrentlyemployed.InCI,theabove-mentionedancientChinesewordsoccur15timeswhileintotalthereare47functionalwords.InC2,functionalwordsareused25times,7ofwhichare若and亦.ThisshowsthatChinesecontractstendtouseancientfunctionalwords,whichareequivalenttotheuseofarchaicwordsinEnglishcontracts,tohighlightitsformalstyle.

　　3.4.Coordination

　　AnotherfeatureofEnglishcontractsatthelexicallevelisthecoordinationofsynonymsornear-synonyms.InElandE2,suchcoordinationisapparent,suchassoleandexclusive,nullandvoid,termsandconditions,transfersandgrants,differencesanddisputes,fulfillandperform.However,inC1andC2,similarcoordinationcannotbediscernedasforthesakeofconciseness,synonymsarerarelyusedinChinesecontracts.

　　4.TranslationTechniques

　　4.1.StandardsforaGoodTranslationofContracts

　　Contractsinessencestipulatetheconferringofrightsandtheimpositionofobligations.Therefore,thefundamentalandforemostfeatureofthelanguageofcontractsisprecisionandexactness.ThusinE-Ctranslationofcontracts,theChineserenditionshouldbeveryfaithfulwithoutdistortingorchangingtheoriginalintention.Otherwise,misinterpretationorevenlegalconsequencesmayoccur（陈忠诚,1992:

16）.Inshort,agoodChineserenditionofanEnglishcontractmustbe,ontheonehand,veryfaithfultotheoriginalwithoutanydistortionoftheintention.Ontheotherhand,itshouldconformtothenormsofChinesecontractssoastoensureitsclarityandreadability.Tothisend,translatorsofcontractsarerequiredtoobtaincertaintranslationtechniques.

　　4.2.TranslationTechniques---attheLexicalLevel

　　Atthislevel,ithasbeenfoundinthepreviousanalysesthatbothEnglishandChinesecontractscontaintheuseofarchaicwordsorexpressions,whichaddatouchofformalitytotheentirestyle.Therefore,intheprocessofE-Ctranslationofcontracts,suchasimilaritymustbehighlighted.Sometimes,intranslatingthearchaicwordsintheoriginaltext,translatorscannotfindequivalentarchaicexpressionsinChinese.Onsuchoccasions,translatorscanuseformalexpressionstorenderthearchaicwordsinthesourcetextortheycanutilizecertainancientChineseexpressionsinappropriateplacestodemonstratetheformalstyle,evenifarchaicwordsarenotusedinthecorrespondingpositionsintheoriginal.

　　Actually,draftsmenofChinesecontractsoftenutilizethefollowingexpressionssuchas亦、即、兹、并、于、为、之、未、均,whichenjoyedaveryhighfrequencyinancientChinesewritings,tomanifesttheformalityandsolemnityofcontracts.Therefore,translatorshadbetteremploytheseancientorformalwordstomaketheirChineserenditionformal,solemnandconcise.

　　IntranslatingtechnicaltermsinEnglishcontracts,translatorsmustmakesuretheChineserenditionisalsotechnical.Inthisregard,itwillnotconstituteamajorprobleminE-Ctranslationofcontractsaslongastranslatorsrefertoreliablesources.

　　AnotherissueinvolvedinE-Ctranslationofcontractsatthelexicallevelishowtorenderthecoordinationofsynonymornearsynonym.TranslatorsshouldkeepinmindthattheChineselanguageofcontractsispreciseaswellasconcise,andoneconceptisclearlyexpressedbyasinglewordorterm.ThusitiscommonpracticetouseonesingleterminChinesetoreproducetheconceptexpressedbythecoordinationofsynonymsornearsynonymsintheoriginal.Takethefollowingtranslationasanexample:

　　O:

Subjecttotheconditionshereinaftersetforth,PartyAwillindemnifyandprotectPartyBagainstanylossesordamages.

　　T:

在下述情况下，甲方将保护乙方不受任何损失。

　　IntheEnglishsentence,therearetwoexamplesofthecoordinationofsynonymsornearsynonyms,whichareindemnifyandprotectandlossesordamages.However,intheChi