中国法律法规英译名存在的问题研究

A Study on the English Translation of the Names of Chinese Laws and Regulations

长期以来,中国法律法规名称英译版本缺少统一规范,英文译名混乱的状况常给来自法律界和学术界的人士带来诸多疑惑,特别是给外国读者带来一些理解上的困难。目前,中国具有较高效力层级的现行法律法规——由全国人大及其常委会制定的法律和国务院制定的行政法规——的名称英译版本存在一些问题,比较突出的有:英译名称冗长且极具中国特色;名称格式词后的介词使用混乱;"Law"的前置定语表述形式多样。文章尝试以法律法规名称的英译文本存在的问题作为切入点,对其进行归类,找出目前存在的问题,并与普通法系国家的法律法规名称进行对比,分析中国存在这些问题的原因,同时提出解决问题的相关建议:引用英文名称时参考权威机构编译的版本;尽量简化译文名称的长度和结构;制定不同格式词的一致结构标准;尽量统一"Law"的表述形式。

For quite a long time,the English translation of the names of current Chinese laws and regulations lacks a unified standard. The discrepancy of the English translation regarding the names of the laws and regulations often brings confusion to people from legal professionals to academic circles,especially to foreign readers. At present,there are some problems in the English translation concerning the names of existing Chinese laws and regulations with higher levels of legal force,i. e.,the laws promulgated by the National People＇s Congress and its Standing Committee and the administrative regulations enacted by the State Council. As far as the names are concerned,the prominent problems are lengthy English translation full of Chinese characteristics; the inconsistent use of prepositions following the form words; and different forms of pre-modifying attributes in front of the ＂Law＂. This paper attempts to analyze the existing problems in the English translation of the names of Chinese lawsand regulations,conduct a comparative study with the names of laws and regulations in the U. S. A.,find out the reasons for the existing problems in China,and put forward some relevant suggestions to solve the problems in the end. The proposed suggestions are referring to the authoritative version when adopting the English names in translation; simplifying the length and structure of the name translation as much as possible; developing a consistent structural standard for different form words; and trying to unify the form of the ＂Law＂.