A Report On The Translation Of Between Rights And Contract:Arbitration Agreements And Non-Compete Covenants As A Hybrid Form Of Employment Law (Excerpt)

The source text of this report on English-Chinese translation is an academic journal article on law,which was written by Cynthia L.Estlund,a law professor at New York University.The article contains four parts,whose titile is ―Between Rights and Contract:Arbitration Agreements and Non-compete Covenants as a Hybrid Form of Employment Law‖.In the first part that the translator excerpts as the report,the professor Estlund mainly expounds that structural parallels between non-compete covenants and mandatory arbitration agreements that place them at a distinct intermediate point along the spectrum between nonwaivable rights and ordinary contract.Under Peter Newmark‘s translation theory,the translator makes an in-depth analysis of the important and difficult contents in the article from the following levels: the vocabulary level,the syntax level,and the text level.Specifically,the translator chiefly adopted the translation strategy of ―communicative translation‖ supplemented by ―semantic translation‖due to the specific features of legal English text in terms of vocabulary,syntax and discourse.In addition,some methods like literal translation and free translation,as well as translation techniques such as word addition,part-of-speech conversion are also employed in order that the target text is as close to the original one as possible and can become smooth and easy to understand at the same time.This translation practice may contribute insight into objectivity,professionalism,rigour of legal English texts compared with other texts.Therefore,what the translator should require is not only the good language transfer ability,but also the skilled legal background knowledge.Just as a well-known proverb goes,―there is no sweet without sweat‖.That is to say,great efforts should be made for purpose of achieving the effective translation of legal English.If at all possible,the translator hopes that this report will provide some references for legal English learners to understand the strategies and methods of legal translation,as well as some ideas and clues for readers who pay more attention to the contents of mandatory arbitration agreements,non-compete covenants and conditionally waivable rights in the employment law of the United States.