DU Jinbang

Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

 

DIT is said to be applicable to written and spoken discourse analysis. With respect to this, it can be extrapolated that it can be applied to legal translation, either written or oral.

With the understanding of informational structure of the legal discourse, the translator can process the content of the discourse better. For example, when he is aware that some messages should focus on the obligation, he can purposefully choose certain types of information knots to fulfill it. When he decides to transfer the content “faithfully”, he can examine the information units one by one, to see whether something is unexpectedly missing in his translation.

When the translator wants to make sure whether he unintentionally omits some details, he can examine the information elements one by one, to decide whether all the elements in the source text are desirably expressed through his management of the languages.

If a legal interpreter hopes to check whether she transfers the details of the speech into the target discourse in a similar way and no heavy loss of information is incurred, she can examine the information units and information elements. With such examination, her evaluation of her own work can be more objective.

For the teachers training legal translators and interpreter, DIT can offer direct help. Analysis of discourse information can concretize teachers’ theoretical and abstract expressions which trainees cannot easily understand. Trainees can even check their own progress in the translation and have self-evaluation, which otherwise may exert heavy burden upon the teachers.

According to the principal framework of DIAAS (Discourse Information Analysis Based Assessment System), evaluators can assess translators’ works objectively conveniently. This may encourage the evaluator to shoulder great tasks of evaluation he previous would dread.

For your convenience, Table 1 provides the information elements to be used for information element analysis. You are also referred to other sources we publish on this website.

 

Table 1 Information Elements

References

Du, Jinbang 2010. Application of discourse information element analysis in advanced legal translation teaching [A]. In Yu Suqing (ed.), Legal Language and Translation [C]. Shanghai Translation Publishing House.

Du, Jinbang 2012. A study on assessment of legal translation quality: from the perspective of discourse information, The Second International Conference on Law, Translation and Culture Hong Kong, June