Solutions To The Coherence Problems In Legal Translation

Coherence in translation is complicated because it involves two processes that the translator interprets the author's logic and reconstructs coherence in the translation,coherence from textual linguistics to cognition.In the translation practice of Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 of Maritime Law(4th Edition),though the translator has noticed the cohesive devices of the source text,there are still some local inconsistencies in the translation.After analysis,the translator thinks that mainly three reasons lead to the incoherence in the process of translation of this legal text.There are two kinds of incoherence caused by language differences.One is that methods such as ellipse,reference etc.are used in the source text to avoid repetition and enhance coherence while the target text does not supplement the elliptical connotation of the source text.The other is that when the long complex sentences in the source text are segmented and translated sequentially,the sentence focus of the source text may shift,resulting in the inconsistency between the target text and the source text in thematic progression.The readers of the source text and the target text are different and target readers may lack knowledge and experience in the field of British maritime law;therefore,if the translator fails to fill in the cultural default,the readers cannot achieve cognitive coherence.This report will focus on how translators can cope with incoherence problems caused by the above-mentioned reasons.Solutions under domestication strategies could be supplement of elliptical connotation of the source text,adjustment of the word order,etc.On the basis of theoretical discussion and translation example analysis,this report will also discuss how to maintain coherence between the two languages,and summarize specific translation strategies to improve the coherence of the target text,hoping to shed some light on relevant translation studies.