Skopos-Theory-and-Legal-Translation---A-Case-Study

SkoposTheoryandLegalTranslation:ACaseStudyofExamplesfromtheCriminalLawoftheP.R.C.YanpingLiuPublishedonline:24January2014©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaDordrecht2014AbstractLegaltranslation(shortenedasLT)hasbecomeaprincipalmeanstounfoldChineselawstotheworldintheglobaleraandthestudyofithasprovedtobeofpracticalsignificance.SincethepropertheoryguidanceisthekeytothequalityofLTtranslation,thispaperfocusesontheSkopostheoryandthestrategiesappliedinthepracticeofLT.AcasestudyofLTexamplesfromtheCriminalLawoftheP.R.C.hasbeenmadewhilebrieflyreviewingtheSkopostheoryanditsprinciples.StartedwithshortdiscussionofLT,thispaperprobesintotheapplica-bilityofthethreeprinciplesofSkopostheory,includingtheSkoposrule,thecoherenceruleandthefidelityrule,intothelegaltexts,especiallyintothetrans-lationoftheCriminalLawoftheP.R.C.andbasedonthestudy,thestrategiesforLTareproposed,withthehopethatitcanbeusefulforreferenceinotherlegaltexts.KeywordsLegaltranslation·Skopostheory·Strategies·Casestudy·CriminalLawoftheP.R.C.1OverviewSincehumansocietyissteppingintoaglobaleraandChinaisplayinganincreasinglyimportantroleininternationalcommunity,thereisagreatdemandfortheworldtoknowmoreaboutChineselawsandunderstandbetteraboutChineselegalsystem.Therefore,thetranslationoflegaltextsisnotonlyofgreatacademicsignificance,butalsosatisfiestheeconomic,politicalandsocialpurposes.However,theLegaltranslation(LT)isfarfromsatisfactionformanyfactors,andamongall,theoryguidanceisthetoponthelist.Thisstudy,underliningtheLTfromtheperspectiveofSkopostheory,willfocusontranslationexamplesfromtheY.Liu(&)ChinaUniversityofPoliticalScienceandLaw,Beijing,Chinae-mail:[e-mail]123IntJSemiotLaw(2015)28:125–133DOI10.1007/s11196-013-9353-6CriminalLawoftheP.R.C.soastoshowthatthetranslationinlegalcontextsmaybeaffectedbyaimsorpurposes,andbasedonthediscussionitproposestheLTstrategies.2SkoposTheorySkopostheoryfocusesontheaimandpurposeoftranslationtexts,whichthereforedeterminesthetranslationstrategiesaccordinglyandthatisthecasealsointheLT.ThethreerulesinSkopostheory,namelytheSkoposrule,theFidelityRuleandtheCoherenceRule,presenteffectiveinstructiontotheLT,thusovercomingobstaclesthattranslatorsmightrunintointhetranslation.HansJ.Vermeerfirstproposedthe“Skopostheory”,statedsimplyas“theendjustifiesthemeans”[1],whichattemptstorelievethetranslationoftheconfinementofthesourcetextwiththepurposetoexplainthetranslationactivityfromtheperspectiveofthetargetlanguage.FunctionalisttranslationtheorydidnotcomeintobeingovernightandactuallyitisputforwardbysomeGermanscholarsin1970s,thus,itisalsocalledasGermanSchoolinthefieldoftranslationtheories.Differentfromthelinguistictheorists,thefunctionalisttheoristsattempttofocusonthelanguage-independentpragmaticorculturalaspectsoftranslationandthespecificnatureoftranslationcompetence.Functionalisttranslationtheoryhasgenerallyexperiencedfourperiods,whicharecorrespondinglyrepresentedbyfourGermanscholars,namely,KatharinaReiss,JustaHolz-Manttari,HansJ.VermeerandChristianeNord.“TheSkoposruleisthattranslating/interpreting/speaking/writinginawaythatenablesyourtext/translationtofunctioninthesituationinwhichitisusedandwiththepeoplewhowanttouseitandpreciselyinthewaytheywantittofunction”Vermeerstated[1,4].Vermeerclassifiesthreepurposesintranslation,namely“thegeneralpurposeaimedatbythetranslatorinthetranslationprocess(perhaps‘toearnaliving’),thecommunicativepurposeaimedatbythetargettextinthetargetsituation(perhaps‘toinstructthereader’),andthepurposeaimedatbyaparticulartranslationstrategyorprocedure(forexample,‘totranslateliterallyinordertoshowthestructuralparticularitiesofthesourcelanguage’).”[1].Thecoherenceruleisalsocalledas“intra-textualcoherence”[1],whichstatesthatthetargettextmustbecoherentenoughfortheintendedusertocomprehendinthetargetcommunicationsituationandculture.Thefidelityrule,alsocalledastheinter-textualcoherenceoftheSkopostheory,callsforconsistencebetweenthesourcetextandtargettext.Onepossiblekindofinter-textualcoherencecouldbemaximallyfaithfulimitationofthesourcetext[3].3LegalTranslation(LT)TheLTisatransferofbothlegalandinter-lingualinformation,whichhaslongbeenstudiedsimplyfromtheperspectiveoflinguistics.ArthurWaleyoncesaid,“Ifoneistranslatingalegaldocument,alloneneedstodoistoconveythemeaning;butifoneistranslatingliterature,onehastoconveyfeelingaswellasgrammaticalsense.”[5].126Y.Liu123SkopostheoryistheeffectiveonetoguidetheLTreasonthattheLTispurpose-oriented,insteadoftheCatford’sconceptsituationalequivalenceandNida’sformalcorrespondencetheoryonceappliedtothetranslationoflegaltexts.GoodcasesinpointareexamplesoftheapplicationofSkopostheoryinthetranslationoftheCriminalLawoftheP.R.C.4CaseStudyBasedonthethreerulesofSkopostheoryandtosatisfythepurposeofLT,specifictranslationstrategiescouldbeappliedintheLT,includingcutting,omission,shifting,conversion,additionandcombination,andallthefollowingexamplesarechosenfromtheCriminalLawoftheP.R.C.4.1CuttingLegallanguageisfeaturedwiththeformalwrittenstyle,complexityandlongsentencesandforthesakeofbetterunderstandingofthetargetreadersandacleare