Translation of Vague Language in CLPRC

【Abstract】The thesis attempts to analyze the vague language in CLPRC， and finds the particular functions of vague language in CLPRC， however， how do they spread？ How can we transfer the function in the target language？ What are the translation requirements to the translator？ And what are the enlightenments to the translator？ And what is the enlightenment to the translation. The answer of these questions might bring great significance to the later research and the new version of CLPRC， thus in the article the paper delves into the translation enlightenment to the translator and the version.

【Key words】CLPRC; Vague language; translation

【作者簡介】谭水池（1986.06.06-），女，汉族，湖南湘潭人，湖南艺术职业学院，中级职称，硕士，研究方向：英语教育。

1. Enlightenment to the Translator

Just as other translations， Legal translation is also a communicative act. What comes different is that it is not only a cross cultural and cross linguistic act， but also a cross legal system communication process. In this process， the translator requires not only mastering of bilingual language， but also being familiar with the particular legal culture expressed by the language. Thus the translation requirements for legal translation are particularly different. Legal translation involves in three domains： jurisprudence， linguistics and translatology. Thus legal translation requires the translator get in touch into at least the three domains. An ideal translator of legal translation should improve bilingual competence，master translation skills and expand legal knowledge.

1.1 Improving Bilingual Competence

In the process of legal translating， despite the fact that we can understand the original text， it is difficult to find the appropriate English expression. In this way， translation especially legal translation requires high bilingual competence. Based on the understanding of the original， the translator should accurately transfer it into the target language by the most proper way. Accuracy is the most important issue of legal translation， and also the first principle in legal translation the translator should concern. In order to express information accurately， and maintain the precision of law， the translator should flexibly use the bilingual competence to achieve accuracy between the original and the target.

Accuracy means that translator “should be a faithful reproducer of the meaning of the source language and does not make any changes to the source language unless in the absolutely necessary circumstances” （Sarcevic， 1997：91）. In order to express information accurately， and maintain the precision of law， accuracy is the first standard to avoid the ambiguity， and contradictions of law. It also fully embodies the solemnity of legal language.

（18）  第一条   为了保护合同当事人的合法权益，维护社会经济秩序，促进社会主义现代化建设，制定本法。

Article 1   This Law is enacted for the purpose of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the parties to contracts， maintaining the socio-economic order and promoting the socialist modernization.

（CLPRC： Article 1）

The three words“保护， 维护and促进”are the major verbs in the Chinese version， they play the key roles in the article， which are all translated into their corresponding words “protecting， maintaining and promoting” respectively. Normally，“保护”can be translated into “safeguard” in English.“维护”is usually translated into “defend” and “uphold”，“促进”has the same meaning as “advance” and “accelerate”. However， in this context the translator chooses “protect”， “maintain” and “promote”. In the article， “protect” is more appropriate and accurate to modify interests and rights， “maintain” is also more accurate in front of the socio-economic order and “promote modernization” is also proper in this context.

Translations of legal language are influenced by different socio-cultures and more importantly， and are constrained by different legal system. The confusion brought by translating semantic vague language in different legal systems makes every translation a tough job for translator. The translator should understand the vague expressions of the original text and then find the most accurate one in the target language. Such as the word“罪”in Chinese legal language， it has many connotations. It is vague because it can produce different crimes：“殺人罪”，“伤害罪”and“盗窃罪”， but in English there are different words in the following table. In this case， the translator should master the two languages quite well.  If he fails to distinguish them and translate them into crimes， it will cause troubles and even it is an irresponsible behavior.

1.2 Mastering Translation Abilities

Based on the high professioncy of billigual competence， A professional translator is obviously a master of translation abilities as well. The relevant theoric knowledge and sufficent translation practices are important requirements for translator.

In doing legal translation the translator should follow the principle of appropriateness. The principle is particularly important in translation of legal documents. Chinese legal language with unique semantic features， syntactic structure and grammatical rules is falsely transferred in English would bring many troubles （Chen Jianping， 2007）. Thus the application of Chinese to English in legal document becomes rather difficult and important. For example， the vague word “defendant” means extremely fuzzy in different context of legal language， so the translator should make the wise choice standing on the principle of applicability and produce different translations according to different litigation environments. In the civil cases， the preliminary stage，“被告”should be translated into “defendant” and “原告” would be “plaintiff”. When come to the appeal stage， “被告”becomes “appellee” or “respondent” and“原告”is “appellant” or “applicant”， however， in marine cases or divorce proceedings，“被告”should be applicable with “libellee” and“原告”would be “libellant”.

Legal language with high legal validity， the translator chooses words being appropriate in every article. “情況”in legal language has vague concepts， is a type of vague language in CLPRC. The author collects 20 places of using the word， and the translations of which are all different in different contexts. In the following table the author selects ten of them as examples. We can easily see that in expression “情况”are quite different. In different articles according to different contexts the translator chooses different English words by using different translation skills.

1.3 Expanding Legal Knowledge

Legal translation as a special field translation for specific purpose， there are many legal terms， and phrases requires professional translation. Even the expression of legal language must reflect their professional characteristics （Chen Jianping， 2007）. The translation of legal terms has always been the emphasis and one of the difficulties in legal translation. The translator is supposed to make the right decision and chooses the right translation to the legal terms. The translator should be aware that formal and standard legal terms are commonplace in legal language. In the following table， there is a comparable research on the ordinary words in legal terms. Version 1 is the translation in daily language， is not suitable to legal language， while， version 2 is obviously standard， and is typical legal translation.

Legal translation involves in three domains： jurisprudence， linguistics and translatology. Thus legal translation requires the translator get in touch into at least the three domains. An ideal translator of legal translation should expand legal knowledge， improve bilingual competence and master translation skills. Among them， the first thing to do is expanding legal knowledge. In the above chapter we have mentioned the function of vague language in CLPRC including expressing the right amount of information， deliberately withholding information， and lack of specific information. In that way， a translator should have the legal awareness to figure out the special function of each vague expression， and be familiar with the legal culture then transfer the expression into the target language and finally tries to keep the function in the target language to achieve equivalence. Equivalence enables the translator to reach equivalence between the source language and the target language in the translation practice. According to the previous scholars’ contributions on translation and translation theories， it is also an illusion to say that “rigorous equivalence” is only an ideal stage. In the process of translation there is always an eternal pursuit to reach the ideal stage. There are many differences and contradictions which translators should unite. Vague language is used to demonstrate the accuracy of legal language. For our law is changeable， the language of our law is relatively stable and can’t change every day， so the vague language is unavoidable. Moreover， law enforcement officers must make the right decision and take consideration of the actual cases. Thus vague language in legal language holds special functions， no doubt that the translator should unite more things in dealing with the legal translation. They should firstly retain the meaning and secondly transport the special function of vague language and reach the equivalence between Chinese and English.

In English and Chinese legal language， there is a large number of vague words such as“適当、若干、其他、严重、从重、从轻、减轻、必要、明显、重大、恶劣、显失公平、合理、数额巨大”. They are all indeterminate in meaning. It is the same in English version such as further general， perfect， somewhat， other， necessary etc. （Cheng Jianping， 2007：67）. All of these hold particular function and the feature of flexibility and generality. As the translator to the vague words， he should constantly improving legal knowledge to achieve equivalence.

2 Enlightenment to the Translation

2.1 Vagueness to Vagueness

As vagueness is an intrinsic feature of legal documents， in both Chinese and English， there is a large amount of vague language， and that doesn’t mean we can’t use the method of retention. It is possible for the translator to render a source language text containing vague language into target language with vague counterparts. But this method by transferring vague language to vague language should serve for the aim of achieving the function equivalence of the two texts. Peter Newmark has ever put forward “a good translator abandons a literal version only when it is plainly inexact or， in case of a vocative or informative text， badly written.”（2001：76）. That is to say， in many cases， we should firstly consider liberal translation， and otherwise the free translation. However， the using vagueness language for the vagueness in the source language is a possible and in many situations is desirable in legal documents.

Nouns with vague concepts sometimes use this method. The following example is translated in this method. “必要情况” is a vague expression in the English version ，the translator transferred as “information necessary”， which makes the version exactly relevant to the Chinese.

Transferring vague language from original text into vague language in target text means to use different language forms to express the same thing even in different ways. Because contents are the same， this method can reach the accuracy in translation， and create contextual effect of the original.

2.2 Vagueness to Precision

Besides the liberal translations by rendering the vague language into vague language， there abound to another method by transferring vague language into precise one， in other words it is a kind of free translation， example is cited below. According to this， addition can be satisfactory way to render vague language into precision one.

Addition， the method is also known as “amplification” which means to add reasonable vague words according to the connotative meaning of original so as to make the translation more faithful to the original. Addition used to be a taboo in legal translation， apparently because of the solemnity of legal language. However， with the development of the translation practice， addition in legal translation is used for many reasons： firstly， addition is used for the compensation of the connotative meaning， and fills up the gap of information in legal terms. Secondly， the method can help to make the meaning specific， and avoid unnecessary vagueness.

Vague implicature is typical vague language in legal language， and many such “big words” are acceptable. To illustrate specifically， example is cited below：

（30）  第一百一十九條  当事人一方违约后，对方应当采取适当措施防止损失的扩大;没有采取适当措施致使损失扩大的，不得就扩大的损失要求赔偿。

Article 119   After either party breaches the contract， the other party shall take appropriate measures to prevent the increase of the loss; the party that fails to take appropriate preventive measures and thus aggravates the loss may not claim compensation for the increased part of the loss.

（CLPRC： Article 119）

In this example above， there are two fuzzy expressions“适当措施”. The Chinese fuzzy expression “适当措施”is faithfully rendered into the English fuzzy counterpart “appropriate measures”， but the second one has translated into “appropriate preventive measures”. Here the translator adds “preventive” after appropriate according to the context. In fact， in the Chinese version“适当措施”should be a preventive measures， so in the English version the adding “preventive” is to make the meaning specific to reach the equivalence of the two languages.

Deletion of the vague language of the original is also a good way to transfer vagueness to precision. Deletion as an approach of translation is a common method in legal translation. The most important reason lies that the great discrepancy between English and Chinese inevitably causes great difference of meaning in practice. Deletion of the vague language is the aim and also the way to achieve accuracy in legal translation. Deletions help to reduce some irrelevant expression， avoid redundant information brought by vague language， and make the legal translation faithful and ultimately improve the practice of law.

Much vague language with vague implicature uses this method. The type vague language is tough， so the translator usually skillfully delete the unnecessary word to reach the accuracy in legal translation.

Here in the following example ， “必要”is fuzzy. What is called “必要”， how much money means“必要费用”are all depending on the different circumstances. In fact in the English version “expenses required by the creditor subrogation” can cover the“必要费用”， and the unnecessary expression“必要”has been deleted by the translator.

（31）  代位权的行使范围以债权人的债权为限。债权人行使代位权必要费用，由债务人负担。

The scope for exercising the subrogation is limited to the creditor’s rights enjoyed by the creditor. The expenses required by the creditor’s subrogation shall be borne by the debtor.

（CLPRC： Article 73）

“情况” is a noun with vague concepts which is difficult to specify， and belongs to vague language. In the following example， there is the same word“情況”and they all use the method of deletion.

The same word“情况”has been translated into different words in order to achieve the principle of appropriateness. In table 3 ， there are different translations of the same word“情况”and some of them has deleted the vague word. The expression“使用情况”has been translated into “the use of”，“情况”has been deleted. And “紧急情况”has converted to “emergency”， the vague word has omitted. That is because “emergency” can fully describe the meaning， any other vague word added is not necessary.

（32）第一百二十二条   因当事人一方的违约行为，侵害对方人身财产权益的，受损害方有权选择依照本法要求其承担违约责任或者依照其他法律要求其承担侵权责任。

Article 122   If the breach of contract by either party causes infringement on the personal or property rights and interests to the other party…

（CLPRC： Article 122）

The expression“行为” which includes all kinds of activities governed by our minds， is an abstract noun. It is also similar to“情况”， we should handle it according to different situations and different contexts. In Chinese version， in this article“违约行为”is quite proper， and also habitual. Owing to the difference between Chinese and English， in the English version the abstract noun is not proper to express. In this context ， “breach of contract” can fully display the meaning of“违约行为”. Frankly speaking ，“违约”itself is precise， so “行为” is superfluous， but it is habitual saying in Chinese. In English we avoid this unnecessary vague word“行为”， and “breach of contract” is effective enough to express the meaning. It also conforms to English expression. Hence in the above article， “违约行为” has been translated into “breach of contract”， and“行为”has been deleted.

Adaptation of vague language is another method by transferring vague language into precise one， in other words， it also is a kind of free translation. When translate vague language， sometimes if addition and deletion is not possible， adaptation can be used to achieve the goal of equivalence between source text and target text.

References：

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[3]恩迪科特.法律中的模糊性[M].北京：北京大学出版社，2010（6）.