Use Of Parallel Text In Translation Of Legal Documents

Under the trend of globalization, translation of legal documents plays a vital role in international cultural communication. Differences between English and Chinese languages present barriers to the English-Chinese translation of legal documents. However, the development of society, science and technology has enriched translation methods, including various translation aids. Among them, parallel text is one newly emerging form.The term "parallel text" came into being in the1980s. It has been primarily mentioned in textual studies and comparative linguistics, but has hardly been used in applied translation studies (such as the translation studies of legal documents). This thesis aims to research into the use and functions of parallel text in English-Chinese translation of legal documents, with its focus on the specific application, especially in handling the terminologies, key words and phrases in the law document, with the English-Chinese translation of Codex Alimentarius:Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems-Fifth Edition as a case study, and to explore potentially available methods in making use of parallel texts to tackle difficult problems arising in translation, and to reveal relevant advantages and issues of considering parallel texts’ relevance, diversity, authority and appropriateness when referring to them in the English-Chinese translation of legal documents.