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ResearchintheTranslationsofLegalEnglishPollyAbstractThisresearchpapersummarizesthebasiccharacteristicsoflegalEnglish,someprinciplestoobeyandsomeskillstousewhentranslatingthelegalEnglishintoChinese.Inaddition,IintroducesomefactorsaffectingthetranslationoflegalEnglishsuchaslexiconandculturebackground.DoingsuchresearchbenefitsmystudybothinlawandEnglish.SinceIamalaw-majorstudent,thisresearchisveryhelpfulforimprovingmyknowledgeinlawandtranslation.ItisaworthyresearchtodoforanET-classstudentinthesameway.Contents1.Introduction...........................................................................................................................42.CharacteristicsofLegalEnglish..........................................................................................4-6Lexiconcharacteristics.....................................................................................................4-5SyntacticCharacteristics..................................................................................................5-6FactorsAffectingtheTranslationsofLegalEnglish...........................................................6-7Lexiconfactors....................................................................................................................6CultureBackgroundFactors...............................................................................................7PrinciplesofTranslationsinlegalEnglish..........................................................................7-8Solemnity............................................................................................................................7Accuracy..............................................................................................................................85.Conclusion...........................................................................................................................8-9IntroductionTranslationisacomprehensivelycomplicatedprocedure.Itiscross-linguistic,cross-cultureandcross-social.Meanwhile,translationprocedureisnotjustalanguagetransformingprocedure.Itismoreaboutaculturetransformingprocedure.LegalEnglish,asforitsownliterarystyle,itshouldbeformalwhenusedintoprofessioncareer.Therefore,legalEnglishisaspecificandprofessionallanguageasavariantinthewholeEnglishregister.ThereareparticularexpressingwaysandnormsinlegalEnglish,becausecountrieswhousecommonlawmakethemhappengraduallybyjuridicalpractices.Consequently,legalEnglishisquitedifferentfromcommonEnglish,withformingitsownspecialliterarystyle.Duetothedifferenthistoriesandcustomsindifferentcountries’legalsystems,althoughtheyhavefamiliarjuridicalsources,theirlegalconstructioncannoteasilybefamiliar.TranslationoflegalEnglishinvolvescomparasiontodifferentlegalsystemswhiletryingbesttomakethetranslationmatchtheoriginaltext.TranslatorshavetomasterthecharacteristicsandcultureoflegalEnglishsothattobettertranslationworks.CharacteristicsofLegalEnglishLexiconcharacteristicsLexiconisthebasisoflanguage.AccordingtoMellinkoff'sDictionaryofAmericanLegalUsage:“LexiconoflegalEnglishisdividedintosixtypesincludingprofessionlawterms,oldEnglishvocabulary,loanwordswhichtheetymologyisLatinandFrenchwords,commonwordswithprofessionalmeaning,formalwordsandwordsinpairs”(Mellinkoff.6)Professionallawterms,suchas“Plaintiff,”“aforesaid,”and“Recidivism,”theyareintypicalliterarystyleoflegislativelanguage,simplynotexistinotherregister.Commonwordswithprofessionalmeaning,weshallexcludethecommonmeaningthatarenotrelatedwiththelawinthecommonwords.Onlythatwaycanweclearlyrevealthespecificlawmeaningofcommonwordsandavoidconfoundingcommonmeaningwithprofessionalmeaning.Forinstance,theword“society,”commonmeaningisthatpeopleingeneral,thoughtofasalargeorganizedgroup.However,itslegalmeaningcouldbeaninsurancecompany.LoanwordsarecommontobeseeninEnglishandsoisinlegalEnglish.MostoftheprofessionallawtermsareoriginatedfromLatinwordsduringtheMiddleEnglishPeriodandthefollowingRenaissance.SoitsnormaltoseegreatamountofloanwordsinlegalEnglish.SyntacticCharacteristicsComplexofsyntaxisagreatdifficultyfortyrowhiledealingwiththelegalfiles.Itisthecomplicatednounstructures,frequentusedpassivesandlongsentencestructuresthatmakethecomplexshowup.Inthemeantime,theyarethemaincharacteristicsofsyntaxinlegalEnglish.Inaddition,difficultyisincreasedbyAdverbialclauseofthecompoundconditionandtheprepositionalphrasesusedinhighrates.Here,IwillexplainhowtousetheAdverbialclauseofthecompoundconditioninthetranslationoflegalEnglish.InlegalEnglish,sentencescontainsubjectandpredicatearemoreoftentobeused,whichwecallcompletesentence.Donotuseellipticalsentenceandmonotremesothatavoidvariousinterpretation.AsCrystaandDavyoncepointedthatLegalsentencesareusuallyself-containedunitswhichconveyallthesensethathastoconveyedatanyparticularpointanddonotneedtobelinkedcloselyeithertowhatfollowsortowhathasgonebefore.(Wong,Crysta.andDavyTing.58)Translatorsshouldanalyzefromgrammarsandcomprehendthewholemeaningofthesentenceatthebeginning.Firstisthesentencestructurethentherelati