The E-C Translation of Long Sentences in Legal Texts—With the Translation of an Agreement for the Sale and Purchase of Shares as an Example

Abstract

Since the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy, international exchanges between China and foreign countries have increased enormously. In order to guarantee the smooth progress of such economic activities, parties involved tend to establish official trade relationships through signing commercial contracts. Given that such contracts are usually drafted in English, which is the most common language in international communication, it is indispensable to translate them into Chinese for the convenience of Chinese companies. Although legal English tend to be simplified nowadays, there still exist many long sentences with complex structures in legal texts, the translation of which has long been regarded as the most difficult thing in legal translation. In this paper, the author will introduce such practical methods as Cutting, Reversing and Recasting for translating long sentences in legal texts with examples from an Agreement for the Sale and Purchase of Shares. It is hoped that this paper can become a reference for other legal translators.