How to Translate Chinese Legislative Texts into English: A System of Principles

Abstract

AbstractTranslation of Chinese legislative texts should be subject to certain guiding principles. Based on a review of English translations of Chinese civil laws over the past 90 years and analysis of some English translations of The Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China in particular, this chapter argues that, in view of the characteristics of Chinese legislative texts and Chinese legal language, translation of Chinese legislative texts should be adherent to a system of Law of Equivalence, Law of Identity, and Law of Equal Authenticity. This chapter then puts forward and elaborates on three secondary principles of the Law of Equivalence, i.e. text-type equivalence, semantic equivalence, and formal equivalence, together with four sub-strategies of translation, i.e., professionalism (terminology), colloquiality, accuracy, and ambiguity. The pursuit of the translation of legislative texts is to achieve equal authenticity, which is different from the principle of equivalence, and only parallel texts that have been certified or reviewed through legislative procedures have the equal legal effect. Moreover, the said principles also apply to the translation and communication of Chinese legal discourse.KeywordsEnglish translationChinese legislative textsLaw of equivalenceLaw of identityLaw of equal authenticity