1. “茲證明”的翻譯
我國(guó)公證書公證詞多以“茲證明……”開頭,其英文翻譯(English Equivalent)應(yīng)該是:“This is to certify that…”。
2. 公證詞翻譯應(yīng)忠實(shí)于原文(Conformity)
筆者曾在翻閱卷宗時(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)如下譯文:
This is to certify that Wang, who is male and was born on May 1, 1964, and Hao, who is female and was born on October 19, 1965, registered marriage on October 1,1992 at the registration office of Civil Affairs Department, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.
這篇譯文的缺陷之一在于時(shí)態(tài)。筆者認(rèn)為“Registered”一詞為動(dòng)詞的過去式,表明的是過去發(fā)生這一登記結(jié)婚的事實(shí)而不能證明現(xiàn)在的婚姻狀況是離異(Divorced)、喪偶(Widowed)還是分居(Separate)。這樣便不能滿足法言法語(yǔ)的周密性、準(zhǔn)確性要求。因此,筆者認(rèn)為將時(shí)態(tài)該為現(xiàn)在完成時(shí)態(tài),以表達(dá)“一直持續(xù)到現(xiàn)在的狀態(tài)”要妥一些。缺陷之二在于譯文不夠簡(jiǎn)潔。建議該為:
This is to certify that Wang (male, born on May 1, 1964) and Hao (female, born on October 19, 1965) have been married since on October 1, 1992 at the registration office of Civil Affairs Department, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.
還有,有的公證員在翻譯諸如畢業(yè)證公證書時(shí),將《畢業(yè)證》等按照中文的習(xí)慣在翻譯中加上書名號(hào),使人覺得十分滑稽。我們知道在英語(yǔ)中是沒有書名號(hào)的,在嚴(yán)肅的公證文書翻譯中出現(xiàn)這樣的錯(cuò)誤是很可笑的。正確的方法是將漢語(yǔ)中應(yīng)該加書名號(hào)的部分斜寫(Italicized)、劃下劃線(Underlined)或大寫(Capitalized)。