Dilemmas in translating legal terms between Chinese and English

Abstract

People have been translating for thousands of years. Translation has always played an important part in the cultural evolution in China’s long history. Legal translation was a relatively late comer. The translation of Western legal texts into Chinese started in the late 1800s and the translated legal language and legal concepts in those early days laid the foundation and formed the building blocks for the modern Chinese legal language. Similarly, the early translation of Chinese imperial laws into English and other Western languages also helped people in the West gain an understanding of the Chinese cultural and legal world. Such exchanges via translation also revealed the gulfs between the Western and Chinese legal orders and the roles of law in the societies in the West and China. Even for seemingly basic words such as “law”, “rights”, “justice”, and “court”, there are considerable differences when translated or understood in Chinese and English respectively. This essay focuses on translating legal terms between English and Chinese. It explores and highlights sources of difficulties and peculiar challenges in such translation. It also raises the issue of subjectivity in legal translation.