基于语料库的《中华人民共和国民法典》英译本比较研究——以民法核心概念民事主体相关术语的英译为例

A Corpus-based Comparative Study of Two English Versions of The Civil Code of the People's Republic of China——With Specific Reference to the English Translation of Terms Concerning Parties to Civil Legal Relations

  • 摘要: 本文基于自建的《民法典》语料库平台对《中华人民共和国民法典》两英译本的语言形式参数和民事主体相关术语的英译进行了语内和语际比较研究。研究发现:(1)两译本的各项语言形式参数十分接近,且都接近《德国民法典》英译本的语言形式参数,但与美国最高法院判决书语料库及英国国家语料库法律子库的语言形式参数存在显著差异。这主要是因为英美民事法律文本为判例法文本而非成文法文本,它们多使用描述性法律话语,而非法典类的规定性法律话语。(2)就民事主体相关术语英译而言,两译本均忠实于原文,对应翻译占比极高,省略和分析型翻译占比极低。此外,两译本在少数民事主体相关术语的英译选词上有些差异,并存在个别未遵循术语翻译一致性原则的情况。

     

    Abstract: Based on the self-built Corpora of the Civil Code, this paper makes an intra-/inter-linguistically comparative study of the two English versions of The Civil Code of the People's Republic of China from the aspects of linguistic parameters and the English translation of legal terms concerning parties to civil legal relations.The research findings suggest: (1) Linguistic parameters of the two English versions of The Civil Code of the People's Republic of China are quite similar, both of which are close to those of the English version of the German Civil Code; however, there are significant differences between linguistic parameters of the two English versions and those of the Corpus of US Supreme Court Opinions (SCOTUS) and the legal sub-corpus of the British National Corpus (BNC).The major reason for this is that Anglo-American civil legal texts belong to case law instead of statute law, which prefers descriptive judicial discourses to prescriptive code discourses.(2) With respect to the English translation of terms concerning parties to civil legal relations, both English versions are faithful to the original, and mainly adopt correspondence strategy with a rather small proportion of simplification and explicitation.In addition, there are some differences in diction between certain legal terms of the two English versions, and in some rare cases, both English versions fail to maintain the consistency of translated terms.

     

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