试论英汉法律术语的不完全对等现象与翻译

The Absence of Exact Equivalents and Legal Terminology Translation

法律术语的翻译是法律翻译中的难点,因为翻译法律术语时,译者面临这样一个问题:一方面,法律翻译要求语言功能上的对等和法律功能的对等,另一方面,翻译中又经常没有确切对等词,面对的是接近对等、部分对等和不对等这几种情况.本文探讨了法律术语英译中时这种不完全对等的现象,并提出了翻译法律术语的一些方法:使用功能对等词、扩充词义、释义、使用非法律专业用语的中性词、译借或创造新词等.

The translation of legal terminology is one of the difficulties encountered by legal translators, for legal translation requires equivalence both in linguistic function and in legal function. Yet the absence of exact equivalents is not uncommon and the translator is often faced with near equivalence, partial equivalence and non equivalence. This article looks into the absence of exact equivalents in legal terminology translation from English to Chinese. In addition, it illustrates some ways, such as the use of functional equivalent, lexical expansion, paraphrase, neutral term, borrowing and neologism, to deal with terminology translation.