Retrospect And Prospect Of Chinese Legal Translation

The legal translation in China started in late Qing Dynasty. The national survival campaign after the Opium War and missionaries serving as translators made it possible for legal translation to become popular in China. Missionaries and native translators in China translated foreign law and law works such as international, civil and business law, among which international law translation was the focus. The missionaries’ translation strategies gave priority to domestication as well as used various translation methods. Whereas the native Chinese translator Liang Qichao put forward the “Indirect Translation” strategy. The translation methods used during late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China Period were transliteration, literal translation and free translation etc. Most translation agencies were government-organized and the translating materials were mainly from England, America and France. Legal translation during this period played a pivotal role in the development of translation theory and practice. Chinese legal translation gained continuous development after the founding of People’s Republic of China. At the very beginning, Soviet Union law and law works were translated and Soviet Union translation theories were introduced to China. After Reform and Opening-up, legal translation flourished with large-scale legal translation works systemized, and target languages and countries diversified. Meanwhile, western translation theories were introduced to China and translation criteria were put forward. Legal translators attached greater importance to selection and conversion of cultural connotation adaptability. Then came a diversity of legal translation methods such as annotation, fussy equivalence etc. Based on the retrospect of legal translation development in China, this paper makes a study on the prospect of legal translation from such two aspects: translation theory perfection and translation practice tendency. The author shares her views on the establishment of the legal translation theory system, research on legal translation methodology, unification of legal translation criteria, and practical development of legal texts in both English and Chinese version, aiming at providing theoretical support to the sustainable development of legal translation in China.