| With the trend of economic globalization, integration and China’s access to WTO, more communication and cooperation have been carried on between China and other countries in the world in such fields as polities, culture, economy and law. It is gradually clear that legal exchanges play a very important role in dealing with international affairs. As is known to all, legal exchanges cannot successfully be carried out without legal translation. Meanwhile, in order to make the world know China, further strengthen democracy and legal system and also perfect Chinese socialist market economy, legal translation should be given.Legal translation, not only needs practice but also guiding theoretical principles, which is a channel of communication across different legal cultures and different legal languages. Eugene A. Nida’s functional equivalence theory is one of the most widely accepted theories among many theories proposed by the scholars in the East and West. Nida pointed out that the translation work is to reproduce the most suitable and fluent information equivalent to the formal information in the target language. When it comes to applying his theory to the practice of translation, Nida has also developed some practical rules for his "Functional Equivalence" theory. Meanwhile, in respective of the distinctive linguistic features of legal English, functional equivalence theory even proves to play a vital role in guiding legal translation research.The formulation and promulgation of General Principles of the Civil Law of the People’s Republic of China can strengthen Chinese legislative system, promote economic system reform, protect the legitimate rights of citizens, and develop the international economy. After comparing with different English versions, the author chooses the English version published by the China Legal System Publishing House as a case study. The thesis analyzes the accurate conveyance and improper conveyance in the English version of General Principles of the Civil Law of the People’s Republic of China from functional equivalence perspective, and systematically explores how to translate Chinese legal texts into English under the functional equivalence theory.The thesis falls into five parts, including introduction, body and conclusion.The first part is an introduction of research background, significance, purpose, General Principles of the Civil Law of the People’s Republic of China and importance of its English version.Chapter One briefly reviews legal translation theories at home and abroad.Chapter Two presents the overview of Nida’s functional equivalence theory. Under the functional equivalence theory, the author puts forward four principles of legal translation:principle of preciseness, principle of conciseness, principle of consistency, and principle of profession.Chapter Three analyzes the English version of GPCLPRC from functional equivalence perspective. Some accurate conveyance and improper conveyance in the English version are pointed out through abundant examples. The author also tentatively proposes some improvements.The fourth part is the conclusive part. It is concluded that functional equivalence theory can effectively guide legal translation, and the application of the functional equivalence theory to legal translation contributes to improving the legal translation quality. Meanwhile, the author hopes this thesis can be worthy of the effort in the research of legal translation. |
