The Impact Of The Lack Of Legal Professional Knowledge On The Quality Of Legal Translation And How To Deal With It

This report is based on the translation of The Oxford Handbook of the Theory of International Law(hereinafter referred to as the "Handbook")edited by Anne Orford and Florian Hoffmann.The author translated the first part of the Handbook(“History”)into Chinese.In the first chapter,this report briefly introduces the translation project concerned,summarizes its main contents and textual styles,and briefly describes the translation process as well as the significance of the project.This report will focus on case studies.By comparing the original translation and the revised translation,the author discusses the influence of the lack of legal knowledge on the quality of legal translation from four aspects: professionalism,accuracy,consistency and acceptability.Based on the above analysis,the author concludes the following feasible strategies to make up for the deficiency of legal knowledge,such as searching for background information and relevant literature;using various translation tools,such as online tools to extract terms,and parallel text,etc.;also,seeking assistance and guidance from experts and peers,asking them to proofread the translation so as to improve the quality of translation.By analyzing and summarizing,the author has realized that the rich legal knowledge basis and the ability to search and acquire relevant knowledge are crucial for translators to discover terms,and analyze the text structure,which can ensure the quality of translation and improve the quality of translation and translation efficiency.The Handbook is a classic work recommended by the international lawyers but has no published Chinese edition at the moment.Therefore,the author hopes the translation of the Handbook can become representative to some extent and the summary of the influence of legal knowledge on the quality of legal translation can serve as a reference to further legal translation.