立法句子中“条件”和“情形”分句的英译问题

English Translation of Condition- and Case-clauses in Chinese Legislative Sentences

中国法律条文具有独特的表达习惯和行话,而英语国家的立法句子也具有稳定的结构和组成部分,从而形成一些立法写作的常用句式。由于国内法律翻译工作者没有借鉴英语立法句子的撰写规律,造成对含有"条件"或"情形"分句的中国法律条文的大量误译。因此,法律翻译工作者在翻译前要熟悉英语立法语言和中国法律英译规律,以便在中国加入世界贸易组织后的新形势下切实做好国家级和省级立法文件的英译工作。

Chinese legislative sentences display distinctive features of expression while legislative sentences of the laws of English-speaking countries have entrenched structures and elements to form some syntactical conventions of legislative drafting. As domestic legal translators fail to make cross-reference to the rules for drafting the legislative sentence in English, a myriad of mistranslations of Chinese legislative sentences containing condition- or case-clauses arise. Therefore, before legal translators put Chinese legislation into English, they must have a better idea of English-based legislative language and the rules of English translation of Chinese legislation so that they will be able to do well in the translation of national and provincial legislation in the backdrop of China's admission to the World Trade Organization.